Vemax Insurance Agency celebrates its first year with well-earned success

 By: Diana Bello Aristizábal

 

Vemax Insurance Agency celebrated on Jan. 3 its first year of operation as a growing and successful boutique style agency; last November was awarded by South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as the small business champion of the year, while Humana, Devoted Health and United Healthcare considered them as one of the top agencies of 2024 in Miami-Dade.

With headquarters in Doral, the company helps residents within Miami-Dade, Broward, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa find their most suitable health insurance plan, focusing especially on Medicare.

Founded by Sandra Ochoa, who has 18 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and her husband, Serlet Reyes, the agency started as a family project that seeks to educate and aid the community around the world of health insurance. “We wanted to create something small but powerful by combining my experience operating clinics and my husbands’ as a firefighter and paramedic,” Sandra says.

She has contributed to the rapid success of the company by building strong relationships with health insurance companies and clinics, as well as with the media and the community, and Serlet has made his part by overseeing the education and structure portion of the business; he has trained the approximately 35 brokers the company has today.

“Although there are many insurance agencies in Florida, ours goes the extra mile: We visit our patients’ homes or work office at their most convenient time even late at night or talk with them over the phone or virtually because we try to be as flexible as possible and reach our patients wherever and whenever they need us and that’s what make us stand out,” says Sandra Ochoa.

Even though their main focus is Medicare, they also work with Obamacare, life, family and group insurances. For the latter, they deal directly with business owners interested in offering health insurance to their employees. Their goal is to tailor the available options for diverse needs and circumstances. 

 

Your personal health insurance assistant

Whenever a potential patient approaches them, they make sure to ask all the right questions in order to connect them with the insurance that best fits their needs considering their age, income and medical background.

“The first thing we inquire about is age. Based on that, we know if the person is eligible for Medicare or regular medical insurance. If an individual qualifies for Medicare, we don’t stop there as our aspiration is that the patient gets the most coverage by combining that policy with a health insurance that addresses 100% of their needs,” Sandra explains.

To do so, brokers ask relevant questions like what medicine they are taking or what specialists they need to visit. Based on that information, brokers then can match them with one of the 18 health insurance companies in Florida that Vemax represents.

Those that don’t qualify for Medicare also make up a portion of their customers. Since they qualify for what is known as the Health Insurance Marketplace, their insurance plan would be based on their income or estimated annual earnings.

In these cases, Vemax brokers have also proved themselves to be useful. “Let’s say a mother no longer has a dual income because she got divorced. We assist her in determining what insurance plan has the best premium for her and give her a quote; we can help her see which of the different health plans will cover her and her children the most.”

But brokers do much more than just providing a quote, since they even call the specialists the patient needs, the ones they are already seeing and/or the ones they are seeking, to check if they accept the health insurance the company is recommending.

They also verify if the insurance covers the medications already taken by the patient and if that’s not the case, the broker seeks another health plan that does include them. After a plan is selected, brokers enroll the patient and by the next month it becomes effective.

And their work doesn’t end there as they also find additional benefits patients may qualify for such as Medicaid, food stamps or aid with utilities bills. If they are eligible for any benefit, the agency provides assistance in completing the application process.

The relationship patient/broker extends when the latter continues to monitor everything is up to the standard. Brokers typically double check with the patient that the insurance card arrives home, while they also make themselves reachable to solve any issue the patient may have like a prescription change the insurance doesn’t cover.

They also educate them because most patients have never received a detailed explanation of how their insurance works, and that can create a lot of confusion. But when they receive an educational session on what exactly their health insurance covers and how it works, they feel at ease.

 

Now, the agency wants to help more people as they grow as a company. Their plan for this year is to add 50 to 55 brokers and expand their operations to Jacksonville and Tallahassee, and possibly other states such as Texas and Georgia by next year.

 

“We started with five brokers, and they have helped us attract organically more brokers that have joined our team. Our goal is to make our brokers successful, and we have delivered. Another sign that the company is going forward is our patient satisfaction evidenced in the more than 98% retention rate we hold.”