CMS asked to cap commissions

[retread]

I admire your determination.

I think the big difference in what you were doing and trying to navigate the CMS maze is that when you were a pilot you were receiving a salary. With trying to market MA plans, if you don't make a sale today you "don't get to eat dinner tonight".

I am not going to mess with it simply because in the time it takes to jump through all of the hoops and satisfy the multitude of rules and regs I can sell several Med Supps. I know what I will be paid and I know my new client is going to be happy with the coverage.

I don't deal with Medicaid people. The prospects I call on are more than capable of paying for a Medicare Supplement policy and want the kind of coverage a Med Supp provides. Not all seniors are poor and broke as some agents would have us believe.

I also know that I'm not putting my insurance license as risk when I call and/or go see a prospect. If my prospect says they want a PFFS plan then I will suggest that they contact another agent.

Want the referrals? If so I will have "my team of attorneys" contact your attorneys and schedule a meeting and let them figure out what needs to be done to keey "big brother" happy.

I understand your point of view, Frank. However, I have a different take on what I am trying to accomplish. As a retiree, I am trying to return something to the community. I don't mind helping the poorer members that may be on Medicaid. For what it is worth, there are some very nice people on Medicaid, and I can see the value of the social safety net we provide for them. Then there are those that are deadbeats, on the dole their whole life with no ambition. I sometimes would like to give them a kick in the ***.

Regardless, I give them my best effort. I just spent the better part of a day last week helping a disabled lady in Odessa on SSDI aging into Medicare. She didn't have a clue what the difference was between SSDI and SS retirement, so I educated her on that.

Furthermore, she thought that now she was qualifying for Medicare, she would lose her Medicaid. She told me that "You can't have both", because that's what she was told. I had to explain to her that she indeed could be dual qualified, but that taking an MA plan (which she had asked for) would cause her to increase her financial liabilities in co-pays because there were no co-ordinated MA plans available in her service area. I told her to just stay put and she would be fine.

You see... I am out there with a purpose. I may not always make a sale, but I am always successful.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ok.. clarification.

retired corp. flunky = someone that couldn't or didn't make it working for a corporation so now they are desperate and willing to take adantage to any and every situation to make a buck.

college kid = has no desire to stay in the business, will change his phone number in April, also willing to do anything it takes to get the signature. This kid is sitting down across from Mr/Mrs Jones and cares about one thing.. the $300-500 price tag hanging from their nose.

housewife = I didn't say female career agent like those most likely in this forum. I mean some gal with NO experience beyond buying her own auto insurance from her American Family agent. Actually this reference came from a lady I met in Appleton City, MO. I saw a Today's Option brochure on her car seat when I got out of my car. She was exiting the store so I introduced myself. Long story short... she just started, no experience, would return to being a full time wife/mother in April. From our conversation I got that making a few thousand bucks in a few months was all she's interested in.

I get your drift... and I agree with your assessment of those definitions. I think you might do well to refrain from painting with a broad brush, though. There are, indeed, unprincipled among us from all segments of society.

My point is that the largest population of unprofessional agents are illiterate, not that there aren't highly educated crooks.

As a matter of fact, you can take a prison inmate, give him an education, and on release he will more than likely be just a smarter crook. It is what is in a man's character that drives his behavior.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I understand your point of view, Frank. However, I have a different take on what I am trying to accomplish. As a retiree, I am trying to return something to the community. I don't mind helping the poorer members that may be on Medicaid. For what it is worth, there are some very nice people on Medicaid, and I can see the value of the social safety net we provide for them. Then there are those that are deadbeats, on the dole their whole life with no ambition. I sometimes would like to give them a kick in the ***.

Regardless, I give them my best effort. I just spent the better part of a day last week helping a disabled lady in Odessa on SSDI aging into Medicare. She didn't have a clue what the difference was between SSDI and SS retirement, so I educated her on that.

Furthermore, she thought that now she was qualifying for Medicare, she would lose her Medicaid. She told me that "You can't have both", because that's what she was told. I had to explain to her that she indeed could be dual qualified, but that taking an MA plan (which she had asked for) would cause her to increase her financial liabilities in co-pays because there were no co-ordinated MA plans available in her service area. I told her to just stay put and she would be fine.

You see... I am out there with a purpose. I may not always make a sale, but I am always successful.

Ed,

I think you misunderstood what I said. I was not putting down people on Medicaid nor saying that I didn't want to deal with them or that they weren't "very nice people". I just don't have them in my Prospects database.

The lists I purchase have income parameters and as a result I don't get names of people who are on Medicaid.

I live and work in the country. I don't have large areas where most of the people are on Medicaid like there are in St. Louis and KC. I would have to go searching for people who are on Medicaid or order a special list with totally different income requirements.

I only sell Med Supps and people on Medicaid are not viable prospects for me. I refuse to sell PFFS plans for a multitude of reasons. That only leaves the option of offering Med Supps in the areas I work.

I think your efforts to help those who are less fortunate are admirable. Some times I also spend a substantial amount of time helping a prospect and don't make a sale. It is what professional, career agents do.

 

[retread]

Ed,

I think you misunderstood what I said. I was not putting down people on Medicaid nor saying that I didn't want to deal with them or that they weren't "very nice people". I just don't have them in my Prospects database.

I apologize, Frank.... I think I am just sensitive to so many put downs about what I do. I even had a sales manager of one of my carriers (with a dual-eligible plan, no less!) ask me why in the world did I even bother with them.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I apologize, Frank.... I think I am just sensitive to so many put downs about what I do. I even had a sales manager of one of my carriers (with a dual-eligible plan, no less!) ask me why in the world did I even bother with them.

Thanks. Not a problem, it is so easy to misinterpret what someone has typed as opposed to what they actually say.

I think there would be less disagreements on the board if that didn't happen so often but it always is a hazard when one types as opposed to speaking.

You never have to apologize to me. I know who you are and how important ethics are to you. I just didn't want you to think that I was putting Medicaid people or you down for giving of your time to work with them.

Glad we got that cleared up.

 

[Winter_123]

I do take umbrage at your myopic view of the problem agents. If only these problematic agents had a college education! The ones I have come across are poorly educated and because of that can't understand the regulations, let alone have the drive to study them. They are helped along by carriers that lower the required test difficulty to a grade school level so they can pass. I think this is the largest category of unprofessional agents.

</IMG>

Umm. I don't know. That is true where it is true. The disatisfaction or problems with agents in regard to MA's cannot be dismissed though as just unprofessional types. A highly competent, highly professional, and highly compliant agent can take a look at MA's and say "I have no frigging idea what the rules are or are going to be or will be interpretted to mean and as consciencious as I may want to be, I may still get caught in a trick process where whatever I do will ultimately be determined to be not allowable." Good agents try to avoid that kind of entrapment or gravitate toward parts of the industry that are not toxic. I dont doubt that if someone wants to make a personal challenge out of figuring it all out and spend months out of every year analyzing what the heck is coming down the pike that they can make it work. We are already getting into AEP and significant issues remain unanswered. By the time those are figured out, we will be into figuring out what the election means for MA's and then there will be a whole new round of CMS rules and interpretations to punish agents for screwing up this season.

 

[retread]

Umm. I don't know. That is true where it is true. The disatisfaction or problems with agents in regard to MA's cannot be dismissed though as just unprofessional types. A highly competent, highly professional, and highly compliant agent can take a look at MA's and say "I have no frigging idea what the rules are or are going to be or will be interpretted to mean and as consciencious as I may want to be, I may still get caught in a trick process where whatever I do will ultimately be determined to be not allowable." Good agents try to avoid that kind of entrapment or gravitate toward parts of the industry that are not toxic. I dont doubt that if someone wants to make a personal challenge out of figuring it all out and spend months out of every year analyzing what the heck is coming down the pike that they can make it work. We are already getting into AEP and significant issues remain unanswered. By the time those are figured out, we will be into figuring out what the election means for MA's and then there will be a whole new round of CMS rules and interpretations to punish agents for screwing up this season.

I can't disagree with this argument one bit. My point, however, is that MOST of the problems lie with the poorly educated agents, and my beef is that no one presses this issue. FMOs are too eager to recruit whatever walks in the door, and carriers are too eager for sales to make certification tough enough to weed out the weak.

 

[the producer]

Rev. Wright-"goddam america" -"goddam insurance salesman"

 

[retread]

Rev. Wright-"goddam america" -"goddam insurance salesman"

Please take your crass remarks elsewhere. I don't appreciate them.

And before you jump to political conclusions, I am a McCain supporter.

 

[G.Gordon]

Please take your crass remarks elsewhere. I don't appreciate them.

And before you jump to political conclusions, I am a McCain supporter.

+1