EXCERPTS:
"Among the first to feel the effects of the nation's health-care system overhaul are insurance salespeople, whose commissions for selling policies are themselves getting overhauled.
The new law requires that insurers use at least 80% of the premiums to pay for medical care for patients rather than administrative costs and profit-taking. But many companies that sell health insurance to individuals and small businesses maintain a lower "medical loss ratio" because they use more of the premium to cover administrative expenses, including sales commissions.
The commissions typically run between 4% and 6% of a policy's premium, but can be as high as 30% for the first year.
A recent Senate report found that companies targeting the market for individual policies paid only 74% of their premiums for medical expenses in 2009, while firms that target large employers generally met the law's required ratio.
