Hi there! My name is Catherine, and I am an employee benefits specialist. I’ve been in this field, in one way or another, since 1996.
Right now, I’m working as a product specialist for an independent, nationwide general agency. In the past I’ve worked as a benefit specialist in government and in corporate human resources offices. I was also an account manager for small group retail agencies while living in Georgia. In other words, I’ve encountered and experienced administration of employee benefits from several different angles.
I’ve been the person in the human resources office who manages new employee orientation, who reconciles the monthly benefit invoices, and who manages annual and open enrollments. I also spent a few months in a call center, before becoming the person (in the benefits broker’s office) that the human resources office calls when an employee gets stuck in red tape that can’t be unwound quickly or easily. Now, I’m one of the people who creates resources that the benefits broker uses to sell and service plans — and I work in several more states besides my own.
I hold North Carolina Agent License #17076072. Feel free to run a verification query anytime.
Like nearly everyone I’ve met in this field, it’s not the career I set out for. Rather, I “fell in” to it thanks to another situation, and discovered that I loved it.
In my case, it all started when I was a personnel clerk assigned to do new hire orientations and provide low-level benefits assistance to employees. Answering the low-level questions was truly fascinating, and I did some of my own research on it to learn more. By the time I was done, I nearly literally had the NC State Health Plan’s administration guidelines memorized. (They have changed significantly since then.) The State Health Plan itself sometimes called on me to give other HBRs ad-hoc assistance!
Learning how to administer the State Health Plan as an HBR required that I learn much of the vocabulary of the employee benefits field itself. This was when I learned what COBRA coverage was, how subrogation works, the difference between copayments and coinsurance, and more. In this position, I didn’t need an insurance license because I did very limited claims assistance work. However, learning that vocabulary meant that when I took a licensing pre-exam some years later, I passed it. Cold.
It was a low pass, so I did benefit from the formal pre-licensing classwork. But in my case, the classwork made the difference between a low pass and what I have reason to believe was a high pass.
Since then, I’ve noticed that my knowledge of the vocabulary (and the associated concepts) is not particularly common. This makes sense to me; I likely wouldn’t have this knowledge either, except for the fact that I had researched it in connection with my job. I’ve also, several times, had family and friends come to me with their benefits questions. If I haven’t been able to answer them, I’ve usually had access to the resources I need to find the answer.
They, and my performance reviews, have consistently included the sentence:
When Catherine explains it, it makes sense.
All right then, I finally realized. Perhaps, then, I should share some of those making-it-make-sense conversations for others to read. That’s the purpose of this blog, which I’ll explain further in a future post.
On a more personal level, my social media bio says it best: In alphabetical order: Catholic, crazy cat lady, distributist/localist, employee benefits specialist, gardener, Generation X, media fan, needleworker, new feminist, photographer, reader, southerner, writer.
So, let’s get started! I’m planning a posting frequency of once a week (excepting the Network Contract Watch) to start out.