Complaint Review: UNITED BENEFITS OF AMERICA LLC - Nashville Tennessee

As a former member of the managment staff at United Benefits of America I can finally clear my concious and reveal how this company misleads the public, harms people who are in need of medical insurance and reaps huge profits from the suffering of others. As the CEO Tim Thomas often said in sales meetings "If I can help only 1 person today then its been a successful day". What he negelcts to include in that statement is that if you attempt to help 100 people and only reach 1 and help them, then its a good thing. You cannot however Harm 99 in order to help 1 and call that a good thing.

Here is how it works from the inside: The Aggregated plan: The use of more then 1 insurance company (or bundle) in order to provide health benefits. For starters you can do this on your own without any assistance. United Benefits of America simply does this for you. The Founder, Tim Thomas, recognized 2 basic human flaws and siezed in the chance to profit from them.

The first flaw is that the average person lacks the knowledge that they can do this on their own and the second is the fact that many people are to lazy to do so. Anytime a human shortcoming has the potentiel to produce a profit, predetors like Tim Thomas will swoop in like vultures to road kill in order to reap the benefits.

During Training of new Benefits Specialists (Telemarketers), of which I was an instructor on many occasions, the concept of being dishonest with clients is promoted time and time again. For example, the concept of the 'Open Enrollment Period". New Reps in training are told to tell clients that an open enrollment period exsists with the plan trying to be sold in order to create the illusion that if they do not buy immediatly they could miss out on this open enrollment and not be able to enroll again for a number of months. The reality is that none of the companies United Benefits of America sells for has an open enrollement period.

In training and in practice on the sales floor this open enrollment statment is used as a pressure tool. In one training class I was a part of my fellow instructor said "Look, we all know there is no open enrollment but the average idiot you will be speaking to does not. These people could make a choice to find water if they were on fire quickly, so we have to help them along and use whatever tool we have to get that sale done on the spot".

The 126 Company Lie: Someone seeking a quote for health insurance goes onto what they believe is a secure internet website and give personal information such as name, phone number, address and person medical information in order to get an idea how much health insurance will cost them.

What they are unaware of is that there information is then sold to companies like United Benefits in order to attempt a sale. When a rep from United Benefits calls they are trained (and the words actually appear in a script) to tell a potentiel victim "I have submitted your information to 126 different companies we work with in order to get you an approval". The Reality? United Benefits buys blocks of Insurance from 6 Companies: IAB (International Assocation of Benefits), Assurant save rite PPO, AIG Insurance, Fairmont, US Fire Insurance and Aegies. At no time is information submitted to any of these companies for approval.

Before the call is even made to a client the rep has decided what plan to try and sell. In 95% of these cases the choice of what plans to sell is based on how much the plan is worth to the Representitive in Commission or how many points it will bring that rep toward his\her weekly quota. Rarley if ever is the plan chosen to best suit or help the client.

Complience: United Benefits of America has 1 complience officer who is meant to monitor 70+ telemarketers. The only stop gap measure in place to prevent lying to clients is a fine system. The largest fine is $100. For the top producers $200, $300 or even $500 dollars a week in fines is worth the risk when they are lying to clients and making $2,000 to $3,000 per week in commision. I have, as a manager, been witness to reps getting fined and repremanded for lying to clients, baiting and switching plans, adding plans the the customer does not want and even telling clients they were with major medical companies on a tuesday only to have that same Rep singled out by the CEO in a Wednesday sales meeting for being a top producer and handed an award for his\her efforts. How can this be precieved as anything less then an endorsment by the CEO to continue lying in order to sell. After a while top producers are no longer monitored by complience once they have shown they can sell consistently.

Can I see something in writing? Reps are told, when asked by clients "Can I see something in writing", to inform the client that they work for a non for profit association that cannot advertise to non members lest it would affect there non for profit status. The reality is that United Benefits is buying blocks of insurance from some non for profit companies but United Benefits itself is an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). The are far from a non for profit company, brining in 10's of millions of a year.

The fact is that sending something in writing would cost United Benefits money and would delay potentiel sales. Its the same reason we as managment advise reps to try and avoid having potentiel clients go on our website. When the client can see what United Benefits has to really offer in black and white, its far less attractive.

It is also the practice of the CEO to hire convicted felon's as reps. His reason for doing so is that he knows they do not have the same moral values as someone with a felony conviction. He knows that without those same moral values it will be more likley that these individuals will do or say whatever it takes to sell the plans....Does this make a top producer or does it make a criminal? The CEO also used managment and staff as layers to cushion himself from direct knowledge thereby giving him plausable deniabilty.

In Conclusion, United Benefits of America provides a service at excessive fee's that anyone can do on there own for no fee. They promote and encourage their representitives and managers to be dishonest in order to sell health benefits. They train reps and managment to not be concerned with the health of an individual but rather to keep their concern on selling and achieving goals. United Benefits rewards the dishonest reps and dismisses the honest ones.

IF YOU REALLY HAVE A PRE EXSISTING MEDICAL CONDITION THAT PRECLUDES YOU FROM TRADITIONAL MAJOR MEDICAL INSURANCE YOU CAN ATTAIN AN AGGRAGATED PLAN ON YOUR OWN. YOU CAN PURCHASE PLANS FROM DIFFERENT COMPANIES JUST AS UNITED BENEFITS DOES AND YOU CAN DO SO WITHOUT THE FEE'S. UNITED BENEFITS EXSISTS TO EXPLOIT SUCH PEOPLE AND TO INCREASE THE WEALTH OF A MAN WITHOUT MORALS, VALUES AND FAITH.

Wildcherrypreacher

Nashville, Tennessee

U.S.A.