Insurance industry adapts to market-driven changes

The state's 9.3 percent unemployment rate is a level that hasn't struck Missouri in more than 25 years, and in many industries, amid layoffs and cutbacks, hiring prospects aren't bright.

But for some types of insurance companies - particularly those in life and supplemental health - having too many people for too few jobs isn't a problem.

"I wish we could put up a billboard that just says we're hiring," said Steven Miller, Springfield district sales manager for Mutual of Omaha. "The insurance industry is always in growth mode."

One company that's looking for people in southwest Missouri is Liberty National Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Texas-based Torchmark Corp.

Liberty National held a job fair Aug. 19 in Springfield to fill up to 50 jobs in its two Springfield offices, marking the second round of major hiring in six months. The company hired roughly 200 employees when it opened two local offices in March.

The company filled roughly half of the available jobs, said Jeff Miller, manager of Liberty National's Springfield branch. He said the large-scale hiring is due to a change in the company's business focus, working more with small businesses to provide supplemental health and life insurance products.

"I can't speak for all companies - especially property and casualty - but in the life and supplemental health insurance industry, we think that area will grow very rapidly," Miller said, noting that the potential for health care reform could mean the introduction of a federal government insurance option into the market. "We feel like (people are) going to need a life policy or a supplemental health product to go with that national health insurance."

Mutual of Omaha's Steven Miller said that while his company, which has 14 agents in Springfield, isn't looking for a set number of new hires, there seem to be plenty of eager applicants. The company is recruiting recent college graduates as well as those who want to change careers, and Miller attributes candidate interest in the openings to the lagging economy and the fact that new agents start as independent contractors and control their own hours.

Although many companies - including Mutual of Omaha - offer training and don't require previous sales experience, Miller warned that the job can be overwhelming.

"I was a schoolteacher in my former life, and when I started in this business it scared me to death because I didn't know anything - it was like trying to eat an elephant with a spoon," he said.

Not all sectors, however, see potential health care reform as a source of growth.

The same national health coverage that could create new business for supplemental and life insurance also could create increased competition for companies providing primary health insurance benefits.

"We're concerned (a federalized) type of plan will not be competitive - rates can be artificial, and they can undercut us," said Deb Wiethop, spokeswoman for Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Missouri, a subsidiary of Indiana-based WellPoint.

Anthem has 185 employees at its Springfield claims center, 3534 E. Sunshine St.

Wiethop points to a study by the Lewin Group that estimates about 114 million people would switch to a new federal health plan virtually overnight following health care reform, in addition to the 95 million currently covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

Lewin Group is owned by Ingenix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.

"That means two out of three people would have government health insurance, and there would be even more cost-shifting to the private side than what is going on now, which would really hurt us," she said.

For example, an August report by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation focused on improving the U.S. health care system, said that the average Missouri family health insurance premium in 2008 was $11,557, up 29 percent in the last five years.

Yet despite the threat of government competition, Wiethop's company is holding steady on employment

She said Anthem cut about 1 percent of its nationwide work force at the beginning of the year, mostly due to the last phase of consolidation with WellPoint, which purchased Anthem in 2004.

Wiethop said that, while there has been a slight decrease in the number of people covered by her company's products overall, there has not been a decline in the number of businesses on the company rolls.

"It's interesting that right now, even in tough times, a lot of individuals and businesses are trying to stay insured and maybe go to a less expensive product," she said, adding that a federal insurance option may not offer that same flexibility.

Despite the specter of government intervention hanging over the health insurance sector, Mutual of Omaha's Miller said companies will continue to seek employees for the foreseeable future.

"You will always see the industry in hire mode," he said, "because that's how we market our products: through our people."[[In-content Ad]]