Health insurance agent vs broker

The differences between health insurance agents and brokers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a broker has an average salary of $124,861, which is higher than the $49,934 average annual salary of a health insurance agent.

The top three skills for a health insurance agent include HIPAA, health insurance and customer service. The most important skills for a broker are brokerage, financial services, and insurance products.

Health insurance agent vs broker overview

	Health Insurance Agent	Broker
Yearly salary	$49,934	$124,861
Hourly rate	$24.01	$60.03
Growth rate	6%	5%
Number of jobs	112,235	2,770
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	46	49
Years of experience	-	-

What does a health insurance agent do?

Health Insurance Agents are salespeople whose primary product is health insurance. Insurance companies hire them to reach sales targets. They are trained to sell insurance to individuals or groups of people. They are expected to be familiar with all the products of the company. Health Insurance Agents should assess their clients' needs and recommend the best health insurance product that fits their needs. They should be able to explain the product's features and answer any inquiries that the clients may have. Health Insurance Agents should also know how to compute insurance premiums and estimate payouts.

What does a broker do?

Brokers can either be a firm or an individual acting as an intermediary between a securities exchange and an investor. They often provide services to individual investors and traders who cannot engage directly with security exchanges, which only accept orders from their members. They provide investors and traders with an investment plan, market intelligence, and research. They may cross-sell some financial services and products offered by their brokerage firms. They are also typically classified as discount or full-service brokers.

Health insurance agent vs broker salary

Health insurance agents and brokers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Health Insurance Agent	Broker
Average salary	$49,934	$124,861
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $72,000	Between $68,000 And $227,000
Highest paying City	Tacoma, WA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Alaska	New York
Best paying company	DialAmerica	Child Guidance & Family Solutions
Best paying industry	Finance	Insurance

Differences between health insurance agent and broker education

There are a few differences between a health insurance agent and a broker in terms of educational background:

	Health Insurance Agent	Broker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Southern California

Health insurance agent vs broker demographics

Here are the differences between health insurance agents' and brokers' demographics:

	Health Insurance Agent	Broker
Average age	46	49
Gender ratio	Male, 43.5% Female, 56.5%	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 4.9% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 6.9% White, 70.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	7%	13%

Differences between health insurance agent and broker duties and responsibilities

Health insurance agent example responsibilities.

Manage communication points between corporate advisers, providers and patients for medical service advisory requests.
Sold/Enrol individuals in ACA health plans over the phone by making cold calls on a daily basses.
Explain healthcare benefits cover by major insurance carriers under the ACA.
Post CPT codes and ICD-9 codes for every patient at check-out.
Verify clients' eligibility and check clients' status within CMS and UHC system.
Initiate appeals process on behalf of members, and assist with online web portal services.

Broker example responsibilities.

Manage, lease and sell office condominiums on site.
Retail trader, fix income securities; manage client account activity; properly allocate client funds to appropriate investment options
Manage indexes, options, foreign equities, and short-selling positions that are compatible with clients' long-term investment goals.
Expand and maintain professional relationships with trading accounts including banks, hedge funds and portfolio managers.
Specialize in finding undervalue and/or overbought commodities by using fundamental and technical analysis that exist throughout the markets.
Install the oracle client for windows.

Health insurance agent vs broker skills

Common health insurance agent skills

HIPAA, 57%
Health Insurance, 11%
Customer Service, 8%
Health Insurance Products, 3%
Health Insurance Sales, 2%
Inbound Calls, 2%

Common broker skills

Brokerage, 17%
Financial Services, 9%
Insurance Products, 7%
Risk Management, 6%
Client Relationships, 6%
Real Estate Transactions, 5%

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Sales Industry
Health Insurance Agent
Health Insurance Agent vs Broker

Updated January 8, 2025

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