Insurance clerk vs insurance agent

The differences between insurance clerks and insurance agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an insurance agent has an average salary of $51,936, which is higher than the $33,089 average annual salary of an insurance clerk.

The top three skills for an insurance clerk include patients, insurance verification and data entry. The most important skills for an insurance agent are customer service, insurance sales, and health insurance.

Insurance clerk vs insurance agent overview

	Insurance Clerk	Insurance Agent
Yearly salary	$33,089	$51,936
Hourly rate	$15.91	$24.97
Growth rate	-3%	6%
Number of jobs	147,755	67,977
Job satisfaction	2	5
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 29%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Average age	44	46
Years of experience	4	-

What does an insurance clerk do?

An insurance clerk usually works to process insurance, reinstatement, changes, or cancellations for a company or an individual account. They are responsible for monitoring, processing, and organizing different insurance claims for a client. They usually work closely with the company's insurance agent to provide necessary information to process the clients' application. This career requires a broad knowledge of local and state insurance policies, good attention to detail, excellent communication skills, customer service skills, and administrative skills.

What does an insurance agent do?

An insurance agent is responsible for inviting potential clients to the insurance company by offering different insurance services. Insurance agents must have a comprehensive knowledge of insurance types to provide the clients with the best insurance option in the market. The insurance agents should evaluate a client's long-term needs and financial goals to create individual packages as the insurance company allowed. An insurance agent also handles policy renewals and keeps customers' insurance files for reference.

Insurance clerk vs insurance agent salary

Insurance clerks and insurance agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Insurance Clerk	Insurance Agent
Average salary	$33,089	$51,936
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $39,000	Between $30,000 And $88,000
Highest paying City	Henderson, NV	New York, NY
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	Hawaii
Best paying company	Lenoir Memorial Hospital	Z Capital Group
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between insurance clerk and insurance agent education

There are a few differences between an insurance clerk and an insurance agent in terms of educational background:

	Insurance Clerk	Insurance Agent
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 29%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Insurance clerk vs insurance agent demographics

Here are the differences between insurance clerks' and insurance agents' demographics:

	Insurance Clerk	Insurance Agent
Average age	44	46
Gender ratio	Male, 8.3% Female, 91.7%	Male, 51.6% Female, 48.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 13.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 3.9% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 4.9% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	11%	7%

Differences between insurance clerk and insurance agent duties and responsibilities

Insurance clerk example responsibilities.

Manage front office check-in, insurance verification and certifications from doctors.
Establish and implement procedures for completion of patient super bills with proper diagnostic coding utilizing ICD-9 and CPT code manuals.
Maintain patient medical records insuring diagnosis codes (ICD-9) are itemized correctly and name and address of insurance carriers record.
Schedule and obtain authorization for outpatient procedures for patients via private insurance, worker's compensation, and Medicare/ Medicaid.
Complete several ICD-10 training courses.
Perform medical coding with most accurate and descriptive HCPCS code.

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Insurance agent example responsibilities.

Used consultative upselling techniques to provide leads
Maintain personal and confidential Medicare & Medicaid customer information following all HIPAA.
Follow all applicable HIPPA and privacy regulations.
Explain medical plans to Medicare / Medicaid eligible clients to ensure best fit.
Identify and solicit sales prospects in agency database and in the general marketplace.
Develop productive business relationships with key marketplace players by identifying the right products and services.

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Insurance clerk vs insurance agent skills

Common insurance clerk skills

Patients, 25%
Insurance Verification, 7%
Data Entry, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Insurance Coverage, 5%
Computer System, 3%

Common insurance agent skills

Customer Service, 25%
Insurance Sales, 8%
Health Insurance, 6%
Life Insurance Products, 6%
Financial Resources, 6%
Auto Insurance, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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