Put yourself out there: A Q&A with Stephanie Berger
Stephanie Berger of Centered Insurance Solutions shares the unique challenges and opportunities of being a benefits broker in California.
Stephanie Berger is the president of Centered Insurance Solutions.
How did you get your start in the benefits industry?
Like most people, I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be an insurance broker. When I graduated from college, I didn’t have the most marketable degree, so I found an entry-level position at a general agency on my college job board. That was how I started in the industry and I worked there for about five years, helping to build up their middle-market department. I was very curious and intrigued by the industry and eventually took a big leap. I was young and didn’t really know what I was doing, but I decided, “I’ll be a broker.” I just jumped in with both feet and decided to start on my own. In hindsight, there were probably easier ways I could have started my career.
After a lot of hard work and 16 or 17 years later, I now have my own book of business since my partner recently retired at the end of last year. So we rebranded at the beginning of 2021 and I now have my agency.
Tell me a little bit about your company.
We really pride ourselves on being a boutique firm, and that’s something I’m going to hold firm to as we move forward. Our goal is not to become a huge agency. There are five of us now, although we could probably use another person to round out the team, so we’re exploring that. We do everything from Medicare up to larger companies with hundreds of employees. Our main focus is in the agricultural space, so we work with a lot of farms due to the area where we’re located in California.
What are the unique challenges and opportunities in working with these types of employers in your part of the country?
It’s been so rewarding for us to be able to help educate the farm workers and get them the coverage they need while they’re here in California. Many of them go back and forth between Mexico and California, so helping them be covered while they’re here and making sure they understand and use their benefits helps them understand they’re valued by their employers. That has been a great opportunity for us.
In the past, they’re used to working here but then if they need care or something happens, they go back to Mexico. Now, they have the opportunity to get that care here and not disrupt their children who are in school or that type of thing. We do a lot of counseling to help them understand their benefits and how they work. That’s a huge part of what we do–educating them about the opportunities they have here to utilize services.
I’m sure that helps the employers with retention and loyalty, as well?
It really does. It also helps with the workers’ comp, which isn’t something I work with, but I do hear from employers often that it helps because they use their benefits instead of filing a claim.
But one of the challenges is the education piece. In many cases, these employees are very wary of insurance benefits, so it often takes a while to build up a relationship to a point where they trust us to help them. When I first started, that was something we had to overcome before we could improve our enrollment numbers.
We also have bilingual members of our staff, who are fantastic. Our account manager does a lot of work with the employees.
How has this journey so far shaped who you are and your perspectives on being a broker?
I try very hard to be empathetic, especially over this past year or so. During the pandemic, so many business owners are struggling; it’s been a really hard year. Now they’re hiring to hire talent, which is the current challenge. I try to be very empathetic about what they’re going through; even if I don’t have any control over some aspects of what’s happening, I try to work as a partner with them. Even when I do have to deliver bad news, it makes a difference.
What changes from the pandemic will have long-term or permanent implications and what will likely fade away?
I recently spoke at the NAHU convention about how the pandemic will affect workplaces. One of the most interesting things that I think has come out of this is the increased flexibility of employers. I don’t think that’s going anywhere. A lot more employees now have flexibility in their work schedules and are able to have a hybrid model of work. I think that will stay.
I also think the increased use of technology we’ve seen during the past year and a half will stick around. We’re in a weird situation in California right now, because the mask mandate just came back in LA county, which borders our county. It’s a very interesting situation and we’re kind of waiting for guidance. But that said, we can still do in-person meetings right now; we can be out with people, but we still have clients who like being able to do virtual enrollment where they can share the info with their family at home. I don’t think that’s going away. I think we’re going to have a lot of hybrid approaches that will stick around after the pandemic, when it comes to how we interact with clients, and how our employees interact and work.
I don’t know what will go away. I think we’ve learned a lot from this. I think we’ll go back to some kind of normality, but this has been a huge learning experience. Everyone has learned to use Zoom or other platforms to communicate, and I think that’s given everyone a little bit of grace. Before, we would have been so embarrassed if we were on a call and the dog started barking, or your kids were screaming, or someone walked past the camera in their sweatpants, or whatever. But those things are all normal, and I think it’s created better connections and authenticity between people.
What are some of the areas you’re watching when it comes to issues around innovation, cost and quality?
Our agency has some clients who are self-funded, and it works very well for them. But when it comes to the reference-based pricing conversation, that’s not currently as relevant here as it is in some other parts of the country. A lot of employers we work with haven’t been presented with self-funding in the past, so this is a very new opportunity for them. Many still want to see a recognizable logo on the business card, or they’re very concerned about how the networks will be affected. There aren’t a lot of other agencies around us who do self-funding, so that has been a unique opportunity for us.
Another area I’m watching is the broker compensation and transparency bill that goes into effect at the end of the year. Compensation disclosures are going to be game-changing for our industry. In California, a lot of agents don’t charge fees; that model is not widely used. It’s going to be interesting when this all rolls out.
This transparency movement is going to hit the industry hard, because there are still a lot of old school people who don’t want to talk about compensation; they don’t want to talk about what they make and it’s an uncomfortable conversation for them. They don’t see it as a value proposition, but we’re going to take the approach of, “Yes, this is what we make. We also provide a lot of value.”
The whole thing is very exciting to me. When the ACA passed, I saw the opportunity that it presented for all of us. I think this will be another chance like that to really either rise up or to kind of fade away into the distance.
I’m also watching the hospitality pricing transparency conversations that are happening. I’m a regulation geek!
Can you talk about the growing impact of transparency and data? What has been holding it back or creating obstacles for this movement?
If you’re in an area where there are three large hospitals, things often don’t break loose until one of them makes the first move. Also, I think the fees they are charging for non-compliance are so low. This is a costly endeavor to be in compliance and I think for some, not complying is actually more cost-effective at this point. That’s pretty sad.
But I think you’ll see the pendulum swing. We’ve seen more people and more hospitals getting on board with this and then fees will start going up and then we’ll see it becoming more normal. I think we’ll see that eventually; I think it’s going to happen.
How much attention do you pay to the universal health care conversation?
I don’t let it rule my life, but I do keep an eye on it. In California, we hear about it often. The year that I was President of the California chapter for AHU, we had a special section focused on single-payer. It didn’t come to fruition and the same was true during this last legislative session, when there was another bill introduced that didn’t move forward.
On the national level, there are a lot of states that are considering the public option, as well, so that’s going to be interesting. Generally speaking, what California does with legislation tends to trickle across the country. I think the conversation continues to be, “Do you really want single-payer, universal health care, or do you want coverage for all?” And I think that’s always been our conversation in California: “Do you want everyone to have access to coverage or do you want to implement a true single-payer system?” Those two things are very different.
So I do watch it; personally, I think many Californians just want health care to be a right and they want everyone to have access to health care. And with Covered California, our state has done a good job of opening up access to more people.
Are you optimistic people in our industry can create change and fix this without government intervention?
I am optimistic. There are so many innovative brokers, benefits professionals and companies out there who are forcing the hand of change that there is hope for things to turn around without a public option or a single-payer system. But I think we need to be diligent and accept that there are broken parts of the system and actively be part of the change in order to prevent government intervention.
The pandemic was the most recent example of disruption in our industry, but there have been many other examples. Can you talk about the effects of change and disruption?
It creates a sort of “survival of the fittest” mentality. Every time we’ve seen one of these big shakeups in the industry–the ACA, COVID, transparency–people get very scared initially, and then you see the people who maybe already had one foot out the door anyway lose interest and leave. Every time there’s a big disruption, those people fade away and then you have the core group of people who really want to be impactful and they’re the ones who succeed and take advantage of the new opportunities.
And then you have the people who are kind of in the middle, who are treading water and waiting. I think our industry would be stronger if more of those people who are treading water would get more involved and work with those who are creating change. I’ve always said you need to be involved with our industry in order to impact change. If you’re just going to sit back and not be part of the cause, you will never be as successful as those who are involved.
I’m seeing much more collaboration these days, though. And my relationships with other brokers have taught me so much. There’s plenty of business to go around; there are so many areas and demographics that are underserved. The whole “this is mine” mentality isn’t going to work as well as collaborating with others and learning from them.
What advice would you give to someone who’s new to the industry?
I would tell them to get involved in any way you can with other agents, carrier reps or others in the industry. Put yourself out there, get involved and learn. There are mentorship programs out there; NAHU has a local chapter in your area. That’s going to be one of the best things you can do, because then you can begin to better understand how the industry works, meet people who can mentor you and then start to collaborate.
What is one thing you know now that you wish you’d known when you started your career?
Be diligent and don’t get frustrated. This is really hard. People don’t just call you up and work with you! Unless you put yourself out there, it won’t work. You have to put yourself out there and try some things that won’t work so that you can learn and do better the next time.
How do you stay motivated and positive?
My employees have probably seen me cry more in the past year than ever before, because of frustration about what’s been happening. We’ve lost a lot of people to COVID and that wore on me. That has been grueling.
Some of my best friends in the whole world work in this industry, and I’m so thankful for those relationships with people who understand exactly what I’m going through. So I did lean on my friends a lot this year, even more than usual.
It’s also really important to me to stay active and take that time for myself, whether it’s riding my Peloton or whatever it may be to keep my energy up. Because I have to be able to reset in order to come to do this every day.
What are your favorite things about your job?
I have fantastic clients. A lot of them have become friends. The whole reason I started doing this is that I wanted to help people and make a difference. And that’s what keeps me going; when someone who has been struggling to have a baby sends you a picture of their newborn, or you get a call from someone telling you their loved one wouldn’t have received such great care if they weren’t enrolled in the plan. Those are the wins for me; helping people with the highs and lows of their lives.
How can the industry do a better job of attracting new talent, while becoming more diverse and bringing in young people to keep its momentum going?
One of the biggest things with our industry is that it needs to be better about being inclusive. We really need to do a better job of leading with inclusivity. That means having mentorship programs. I participated a few years ago in a program through the LA NAHU chapter that was working with all of the local colleges. No one’s going to graduate from college and say, “I want to be an insurance agent.” It doesn’t work that way. So we need to set up programs to foster younger talent coming in and to show them the value and the benefits of our industry. We also need to be open to meeting new people and collaborating and helping everyone feel included. That’s what is lacking. If they don’t feel welcome, they’re not going to come back.
We’ve seen a shift in recent years toward having more women in leadership in the industry, but we have to continue this. Women have to step up and believe that they can do it. That’s been so exciting for me to see that positive shift in our industry and having more women involved at all levels, whether it’s in the trade associations or at the carrier level, it’s people being recognized in the industry. We had a women’s summit out here two years ago and we’ll be doing that again in March. The turnout was fantastic.
Finish this sentence: The key to success in this industry going forward is…
Being open-minded.
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