There are substantial benefits in paying higher than the minimum or even the prevailing wage.
You will get many more applicants, and from those you can choose the best.
Of course, you have to find a way to use their higher productivity, or you have to raise your price — unless your customers are not sensitive to prices.
Minimum wage is intended for UNSKILLED employees. I would assume that insurance company employees have to possess SOME skills so he has probably been shorting them for a long time already.