Health Plan One or HPONE Liars, cheats and thieves. Gilbert Nationwide

I was hired-on at Health Plan One in Sep.2015 as an insurance broker. My understanding was that I would be a permanent/fulltime employee since my goal was to establish a career and not some part-time situation. Also, I was to work on the Brokerage-side of things to sell multiple states and multiple carriers. It soon changed to sales agent for one product line (Texan Plus). I completed the training and passed all the necessary exams only to have to wait on the TX license and then subsequently wait for the necessary certification from Texan Plus. I and we were told that we would have an opportunity to make a lot of money according to the commission structure that they laid out for us in a meeting with management.

Anyone who knows Medicare, Open-Enrollment is from Oct. 15th to Dec. 7th. I was unable to sell Texan Plus during the first couple of weeks because of the aforementioned delays. HPONE instructed me to act as a customer service rep to forward sales calls to other agents while I waited on my license from TX and the certification from Texan Plus. Everyone knows that Open-Enrollment is prime selling time and I was already at a disadvantage.

Soon after, I was asked to sell for a new program encompassing Walgreens and their customers. I was assured that I would have the ability to sell Prescription Drug Plans as well as Medicare Advantage Plans each with a set dollar amount in earnings/commissions per sale. After another reorganization at HPONE, they encouraged me to sign a contract regarding the Walgreens program. I did and quickly learned that the majority of these leads were for Prescription Drug plans only, thus drastically limiting my earning potential since there were very few Medicare Advantage Plans to sell to these particular clients. Again, disadvantaged.

My first 8 weeks at HPONE was considered a training period and so the commission structure was different as it was also an hourly paid position. I was promised certain dollar amounts for sales during training and I signed a contract detailing those commissions as well. After receiving my fist check and my commission’s statement I realized that I did not get paid what I was told and HPONE's story had conveniently changed. I repeatedly asked for some clarification and understanding of the changes and I was told (repeatedly) that they would look into it. Finally I was told that for what I was asking, there was no such contract. This of course was not true based on the contract that I signed and from the advice of management from the beginning of training. To this day, I am still fighting to have them pay me what they owe.

When I refer to they, I am referring to HPONE and the two individuals that I consider to be the main culprits in this deception; Ben Robbins (Sales Manager) and Don Trippie (Supervisor). These two people knew just what to say in order to serve their needs. Looking back, it seemed that there were not many truths coming out of their mouths. 

After completing the open enrollment period and producing many policies, and considering all the delays, issues and  changes….they fired me. They told me that I was not one of their top producers and therefore they had to let me go. During my interview and up to my termination, it was never indicated to me as to performance or rankings being a factor to determine my continued employment. If I was informed properly from the beginning, I never would have accepted the job. Like I said earlier, I was hired as Permanent/Fulltime. I did everything they asked of me. HPONE management always told me that I was doing a great job and that after open enrollment; I was to move back into the brokerage side of things. I was advised to just roll with the punches and continue to produce policies.

HPONE also conveniently coordinated my termination to within 90 days so that they could avoid having to pay my 20+ hours of PTO which I earned. Because of their ridiculous commission/draw pay-out schedule I worked many hours off the books in order to avoid having to pay back hourly wages. I never asked for payment for those hours, mostly because I was assured throughout, that I would have a job after open enrollment ended and because those hours would’ve somehow counted against me and my draw.

Now I am not the only one these people lied to. A good majority of employees experienced similar issues with HPONE. Some were fired as well and some are still there, biding their time. There was only less than a hand-full of agents that got paid what they were promised and that is only because they were being fed the "good" leads. I learned that there was certain lead coding that filtered to the few "chosen" agents.

Ultimately it came down to this: The concept of dangling the carrot was extremely prevalent….especially for permanent employment. There was a whole lot of politics, stories and changes. Employees were only in the know if it suited HPONE and their scheme.   Most employees that were/are retained are not there because of performance, but because of whom they are friends with within the company. HPONE made many promises and did not keep them. Micro-management was evident in all areas. Bonuses, commissions, programs, rules….everything changed from day to day. There was a lack of stability and a significant lack of support and training at almost all levels. Each carrier had different rules according to individual contracts. Employees moved around different projects regularly. The only consistency with HPONE is their inconsistency. They are a churn and burn and they lack employee stability and security.

I would encourage anyone interested in HPONE to run away! Save yourself the trouble and aggravation and look for employment opportunities elsewhere. There are other legitimate insurance brokerages out there. HPONE is not one of them.