Education before enrolment
Every seminar, webinar and guide on this site exists so that fewer people arrive at an appointment already confused. Nothing is sold in the room.
Since 2016, Chattanooga
An agency built around the question you actually have
Southline exists because the honest version of this advice is not complicated, it is just never given. We are independent, we are paid by carriers, and we would rather lose a sale than place you badly.
Why this exists
Nine years of explaining bills that should not have been a surprise
Renata Okonkwo spent most of a decade inside a carrier call centre. The calls that stayed with her were not the angry ones. They were the ones where somebody had done everything right, bought the cheapest plan on offer, and then discovered in March what a deductible was.
Southline was built to have that conversation at the front instead of the back. We are independent, which means we can compare across the panel we represent rather than defending one company. Southline is an independent agency. We are not captive to a single carrier, so we can compare the whole panel we represent.
Most of our clients file a 1099. Photographers, framers, stylists, drivers, developers, physical therapists on contract. That audience needs something a retiree-focused agency rarely provides: an honest conversation about an income estimate for a year that has not happened yet.
Southline, counted
Where we are, in numbers
1,840+
households enrolled since 2016
11
states we hold a licence in
$0
what our advice costs you
carriers pay us
4.9/5
average from 312 client reviews
The money question
How we are paid, in one paragraph
Our help is free to you. We are paid by the carrier you choose, and the premium is the same whether you use us or enrol on your own.
- Health and Medicare plan rates are filed, so the premium is identical whether you enrol with us, with the Marketplace directly, or on your own at midnight.
- Carriers pay a commission out of their own margin when you enrol, and a renewal commission if you stay. There is no fee to you at any stage.
- We do not charge for a consultation, a comparison, a second opinion, or for helping with a claim afterwards.
- Because we are paid on renewals, placing someone badly is worse business for us than a smaller commission today.
Four things we will not trade away
The trade-off, out loud
Every plan gives something up. A network, a drug tier, a deductible, a rate that rises with age. We say which one before you sign, not after.
No urgency we did not earn
Deadlines are real. Pressure is not. If a window is three months away we will tell you that and let you think.
We stay on the file
The renewal and the referral are the business. That is why a client who is wrongly placed is worse for us than a smaller commission.
Renata Okonkwo
Founding advisor, individual and family
ACA Marketplace, self-employed households, subsidy reconciliation
Renata built Southline after nine years inside a carrier call centre, where she spent most of her day explaining bills that should never have been a surprise. She handles the 1099 income forecasts and the mid-year reporting nobody else wants to do.
- Licensed health and life producer, TN and GA
- Marketplace-certified agent, current plan year
- Producer licence #0000000
English, Portuguese
Marcus Bledsoe
Medicare advisor
Turning 65, Advantage and Supplement comparisons, Part D drug lists
Marcus runs the autumn re-run: every Medicare client's drug list and physician list re-checked against next year's plans before December 7. He will talk you out of a plan with a good brochure and a bad formulary.
- Certified annually for Medicare plan marketing, current plan year
- Retirement Coverage Planning Associate (RCPA)
- Producer licence #XXXXXXX
English
Priya Raghavan
Group benefits and ICHRA
Two to fifty employees, participation modelling, employee meetings
Priya handles employers. She quotes a group plan and an individual coverage HRA side by side for every prospect, including the ones where the honest answer is to wait another year.
- Licensed health and life producer, TN and GA
- Group Benefits and HRA Consultant (GBHC)
- Producer licence #0000000
English, Hindi, Tamil
Tobias Marchetti
Social Security and retirement timing
Claiming-age analysis, break-even modelling, Medicare overlap
Tobias models the claiming-age decision against your Medicare start date, because taking benefits early triggers automatic Part A enrolment and that ends Health Savings Account contributions. He is the reason we ask about HSAs at 63.
- Retirement Coverage Planning Associate (RCPA)
- Licensed health and life producer, TN and GA
- Producer licence #XXXXXXX
English, Italian
Alma Reyes-Santana
Bilingual client services
Spanish-language enrolment, document collection, carrier follow-up
Alma runs enrolment appointments in Spanish and English and chases the carrier when an ID card does not arrive. If something is stuck, she is the person who unsticks it.
- Licensed health producer, TN
- Marketplace-certified agent, current plan year
- Producer licence #0000000
Español, English
Dee Whitfield
Client service and claims support
Claim questions, ID cards, provider disputes, renewals
Dee is who you call after you are enrolled. Billing that looks wrong, a claim processed at the wrong tier, a provider who says they are out of network when the directory says otherwise: that is her queue.
- Licensed health producer, TN
- Carrier service certifications, current plan year
- Producer licence #XXXXXXX
English
Credentials, explained
What those letters after a name are supposed to mean
Five designations on this desk, and what each one is actually for.
CPBA
Certified Plain-Benefits Advisor
Trains advisors to explain a plan without jargon, then tests them on it.
Awarded by the Southbridge Institute of Benefits Practice.
SEBS
Self-Employed Benefits Specialist
Variable 1099 income, mid-year reporting and year-end reconciliation.
Awarded by the Guild of Independent Benefit Advisors.
RCPA
Retirement Coverage Planning Associate
Claiming age, break-even maths and the Medicare overlap.
Awarded by the Larkfield Academy of Retirement Coverage.
GBHC
Group Benefits and HRA Consultant
Participation, contribution modelling and individual coverage HRAs.
Awarded by the Guild of Independent Benefit Advisors.
BEC
Bilingual Enrolment Counsellor
Enrolment appointments and carrier follow-up in Spanish and English.
Awarded by the Southbridge Institute of Benefits Practice.
Come and test how independent we actually are
Ask us which carrier pays us best, then ask why we did not recommend it. That is a fair question and we will answer it.
Our help is free to you. We are paid by the carrier you choose, and the premium is the same whether you use us or enrol on your own.