Insights

By Jason Mickool Year-end planning has a way of turning every strategy into a deadline. Indexed universal life (IUL) insurance is especially vulnerable to that treatment because its tax advantages sound compelling to those who have already filled their traditional retirement buckets. But IUL isn’t a last-minute tax deduction. Premiums generally aren’t deductible, and the …

By Katherine Pauley Long-term care (LTC) has spent too many years sitting at the edge of the financial plan, waiting for consumers to ask about it. Most never do. People generally assume their financial professional will raise a risk if it deserves attention. Financial professionals might hesitate because the subject feels personal, expensive, or difficult …

By JC Moreno Consumers choosing health coverage for 2027 may face higher premiums or changes in available plan costs. The plan they want may no longer fit comfortably within their budget. The pressure is already showing. In 2026, the average monthly premium paid by ACA Marketplace consumers increased 58%, while more people moved toward lower-premium …

By Federico Guardia Medicare Advantage enrollment is still growing, but not evenly. More than 35 million people carry an MA card, a 3% year-over-year increase. Special Needs Plans (SNPs) drove 85% of net MA enrollment growth, while general-enrollment individual plans grew by just 224,000 members, their slowest pace since 2007. Who’s winning as UnitedHealthcare and …

By Justin Brock Before I built anything at BROCK, I spent five years at kitchen tables and personally enrolled more than 2,500 beneficiaries. I didn’t keep those clients because I had the best pitch. I kept them because they knew I’d pick up the phone in July too. Today we train more than 20,000 licensed …

By Matthew Graham AEP receives most of the attention each year from licensed insurance agents, and understandably so. October 15 marks the beginning of Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period, when beneficiaries can begin making coverage decisions for the coming year. Agencies build calendars around it, licensed insurance agents prepare for it, and marketing teams spend months …