Duck and weave: A Q&A with Caitlin Hodge

Caitlin Hodge works in the benefits division at HJ Spier, where she specializes in self-funded health plans.

Paul Wilson: How did you get your start in the benefits industry?

I graduated early from high school and immediately joined the Army. When I came back, I worked at a credit union for about five years and moved up into a sales position. I really enjoyed that and excelled in that role.

My father has been in the benefits industry for more than 30 years and owns a local agency here in Indianapolis. He'd mentioned that it would be great if he could get me into the industry, because he'd eventually like to retire and have the family take over. But I didn't have any experience in benefits, so I ended up going to work for Aflac. That's where I started gaining experience in the industry, and then he said, "If you'd like to come work for me, let's see if it's a good fit for you." We took the plunge five years ago.

PW: How has your journey so far helped shape your mindset as a broker?

I think one of the main things is being able to duck and weave when changes come. You learn to accept change and be excited about it. Being in the military gives you a strong mindset and does a lot for your confidence; you learn to take hard hits.

PW: What challenges have you faced as a young advisor?

I look even younger than I am and have been told I look like I'm still in high school. To top that off, I'm a woman and most of my clients are middle-aged men who own a company, so you need a strong personality to break through that perception of "Who's this young person trying to tell me what to do with my benefits?" That's been an adjustment, but the more experience I get, the easier it becomes.

PW: What strategies and innovations are helping your clients?

Transparency is a big one. Over the past three years, we've moved all of our clients to a fee-based structure. That's been a great tool to build partnerships with our clients. It's nice to say, "We're going to charge a fee and you'll know what it is, which holds us responsible to continue to do our jobs and bring value to you."

We've worked for a number of years now with a company called Rx Help Centers, a prescription advocacy firm. We work with them on programs where we carve out specialty medications from the health plan, drugs that cost thousands of dollars a month. They're able to get the medication at 100 percent covered through different foundations and discount programs.

We're also doing a lot with medical management and directing quality and low-cost care. We just had our first group offer a plan that is zero deductible—employees have no out-of-pocket expenses if they work with nurses to find the highest-quality, lowest cost facility or physician. That's a big goal: Figuring out how we can lower the out-of-pocket burden that employees face.

PW: How receptive are clients and prospects to new ideas and strategies?

That's probably been the biggest learning curve for us. You have to judge what a client or prospect is ready for at any given time. It's easy to bombard a prospect or client: "Here's a plan with five different new things we can do and we're going to blow everything up." It sounds great to us, but they may be thinking, "Wait a minute. How do we implement this?"

We had to learn how to approach that. Discussing the end goal but also explaining the different points of progress along the way and emphasizing that it doesn't have to stick to a strict timeline. We could do it all at once, or it may take five years to get there. Most people realize the system is broken and that we need to do something, but we're proposing very different ways of doing things and that can be scary.

PW: What are the hardest parts about being an innovator or disruptor?

It's easy to be excited about the concepts, but when you have to actually implement it, that's the hard part. Most people are used to having a PPO network, doing what the doctor says and going wherever they want. It's a different way of doing things. It is disruptive and there are challenges. That's where it can go wrong; if you don't educate correctly and have a support system in place before you introduce a new product or solution.

Caitlin Hodge

PW: How do you keep up with the pace of change and filter out the noise?

Every time you go to a conference, there are a ton of new tools and all of them say they'll save you thousands of dollars; but you can't implement everything. You have to find a niche or space where you understand what you're doing. When looking at new solutions, make sure they're going to be a good partner for you and will help ensure that things run smoothly. You also need to work with other advisors and use each other as resources to vet the different options.

We're members of the NextGen Mastermind group. There are 40 or so advisors across the country and we meet quarterly. It has been very beneficial to our agency and our growth to be able to bounce ideas off of them.

PW: Are there any challenges or opportunities unique to your part of the country?

Indiana has been a largely self-funded state for years. It was one of the first states to go in that direction, which really helps when we go in to meet with clients or prospects about these ideas. It helps that the majority of groups are already self-insured and if not, they've at least heard about it and understand it. We've heard from people in California and New York who couldn't implement many ideas even if they wanted to because of all the regulations, so that's definitely something we don't take for granted.

PW: This industry has long been seen as stodgy and reluctant to change. Do you see that changing?

I do feel like it's changing pretty rapidly, but I don't know if that's because I'm in the middle of it. As much as you see change on social media, in articles and on certain news sources, you still run into a lot of old-school advisors on the street.

To keep the momentum going, I think we just need to continue to do what we're doing. LinkedIn has become something I see industry people using more often. And you see more articles like this out there about change and more groups coming together to bring about innovation. We have to continue down that path and bring the excitement back. That will continue to attract the younger generation. I'm young and this industry is exciting to me. We need to keep this energy going.

PW: Anything else that will attract new blood?

We have to spread the message that we're making a real difference. Health care is a hot topic for many people of my generation. They know it's broken, but they don't have access to information, so we need to make sure it's out there. Millennials are all over social media, so I make sure, even on my personal pages, to talk about what we're doing and how it's making a difference. We need to show people that there is a way to fix this and it can be fun and exciting. We need to get them involved so they become part of that change.

PW: What are your favorite things about your job?

Every day is different. Every client is different. I love being in front of a group of employees and explaining a new solution. A few weeks ago, I was out in Ohio for employee meetings, and an employee stopped me and told me he needed shoulder surgery. He'd been putting it off for years because he couldn't afford it, but the plan we were implementing made it possible to have it done for free. He immediately called his wife and told her. That's the fun part; being able to see the excitement.

PW: Where do you look for inspiration?

Music has always been my biggest passion, and I love going to concerts. If there's a concert locally that I want to see, I try to make sure that I'm able to get there and do something for myself.

Family is definitely another place where I turn for inspiration when I'm feeling worn down. We have three girls who are 9, 6 and 3, so as busy as I am at work, I'm probably busier at home. We go to a lot of movies together, and my eldest daughter is in competitive gymnastics, so we spend a lot of time at the gym.

PW: Finish this sentence: The key to success in this industry going forward is…

Courage and partnerships.

Read more from our Face of Change series:

NOT FOR REPRINT

Paul Wilson is the editor-in-chief of BenefitsPRO Magazine and BenefitsPRO.com. He has covered the insurance industry for more than a decade, including stints at Retirement Advisor Magazine and ProducersWeb.