Today we went to the Aetna office in Woodland Hills for Aetna Career Training. Romesh Sagadevan, Atena’s top sales rep, greeted us and gave us an overview of Aetna’s history. He also explained his role as a Sales Director. Romesh is Gallagher’s point guy at Aetna. Whenever a consultant has an issue with an Aetna client, Romesh is the one who hears about it. He is the liaison between the brokers and the underwriters; the person who sells the plan to the client; and, most importantly, the person responsible for taking the consultants to Lakers games[i]. Romesh was our Aetna tour guide and organized the entire day.

Kevin McCaffrey was our first presenter. Kevin walked us through the various components of a request for proposal (RFP) and the process his team goes through to submit a quote to clients. Kevin told us that on average 7% of RFP’s turn into deals and in the Woodland Hills office they receive about 750 RFPs per year. He described some examples of case positives, such as carrier persistency and census data. He also explained some case negatives, like low turnover and participation waivers. It was interesting to learn what really happens once a RFP is submitted and Kevin helped us understand the carrier role and perspective.

After learning about the sales and underwriting process, we spoke with Dr. Barry Smith who explained Aetna’s unique approach to wellness. This session was especially useful because we have been researching wellness programs as an intern project. In theory, wellness programs are great and there seems to be a great amount of buzz about wellness; but finding return on investment (ROI) is almost impossible as it is, essentially, a moving target. The programs make sense in terms of cost control and prevention; but sifting through all the bells and whistles to find empirical data to support all the hype has been a challenge to say the lest. Aetna, however, feels so strongly about the benefits of wellness programs that they offer the program free of charge to their fully insured clients. Romesh explained that it’s Aetna’s money that is going to people with conditions that can be treated with simple wellness programs, so Aetna feels that the program is worth the investment. Aetna’s self-funded clients can access the wellness program for a fee.

Following lunch, we listened to Lisa Palmer discuss her role in Sales Support. Romesh said he receives approximately 750 RFPs a year. Of the 750, only about 65-75% are quotable. That still leaves about 490-560 RFPs to sift through, which is where sales support plays a key role. Lisa also helps close deals when Aetna makes finalist presentations to clients. Her team puts together all of the presentation materials. She said that carriers compete against to win over the client and that a sharp presentation is a tremendous asset. Lisa said the key to closing the deal is to know the “hot button” items and focus on those points.

Finally, we heard from Rob Radius about Account Management. He discussed some of his responsibilities by guiding us through a Standard Report for the City of Vernon. Rob is responsible for the operations of an account and to ensure that both the carrier and the client follow their contractual obligations.

It was an extremely long day but we walked away from Aetna with a better understanding of how all of the pieces of the insurance pie fit together.

- The Los Angeles Based Interns

Once upon a time there was an intern called Evan. Evan was afraid that his internship would require him to toil for hours doing useless and futile paperwork, but he was ever so wrong. He did not know what an internship at Gallagher would be like. He did not know he would be spending his days working with fantastic people and doing meaningful and interesting work.

One day, Evan found himself frolicking in the Huntington Library’s gardens amongst the paintings and Guttenberg Bible. It was quite a sight to be seen. His job was to sit at the VSP table and explain the vision plan to employees. It was great fun. He helped people understand the plan and what it could do for them. Everyone could see the value in his work.

But then, there was trouble. The representative from Aetna had to give a presentation and the nice lady from Gallagher told the Aetna representative, who was ever so worried about leaving her booth unmanned, that Evan could mind her table while she was away. The man from Gallagher’s retirement program took over the VSP table and Evan uncomfortably sat at the Aetna table trembling with fear and worrying that someone would ask him a question. Sure enough, a man enquired unto Evan about the three plans offered by Aetna.

“I am on the Aetna HMO plan,” the man said, “but do you think it is right for me?”

Evan swallowed hard and, with all the courage he could muster, asked the man to tell him about his family and his needs. Evan explained the merits of the Aetha HMO plan verses the POS plan and even talked about the elusive and confusing Consumer Driven Health Care plan. The man thanked Evan for his help and said that now he knew he was on the right plan for him and his family. The peasants rejoiced; but then Evan realized that he had called the POS plan a PPO plan the whole time. The peasants, however, did not care and still rejoiced.

Now Evan is going to return to the Huntington Library next week to give a presentation about voluntary AD&D insurance and is very excited.