I challenge any single agent to show me he has 1000 mapd active

[sshafran]

Not sure many agents have over 1,000 Med Adv.

Over 1000 mixed is much more common.

One idea: do you instruct them to "Call you anytime for anything" or do you ever indicate "the carrier has a customer service center - the number on their card - and they can help with the details of the daily use of the plan."

That might sound lazy but I don't think it is. Sometimes I ask them to call the number on the back of their card if they need help with something I'm not sure on - like using their OTC, or using the POS element for out of network dental... Or something like that. Delegate to the carrier...

 

[sshafran]

They are licensed and help answer client questions like what's the donut hole, dr prescribed this random med not on my formulary, moving old med sups to new ones to reset rates, calling carriers to confirm LEP has been removed, ACA issues (proof of income, uploading docs to HC.gov) etc. The tricky thing is when the client calls in on a med sup and question moving to an MAPD as that needs a little more expertise than what they can handle at the moment. Many times they are chatting me the client question and I'm firing the answer back to them to relay to the client.

We have 3 high volume agents at the moment that produce enough business to keep these people pretty busy during non aep and very busy during aep but are starting to move some of those benefit guys into sales roles and then hiring to fill their void.

Nice! That's a good machine!!

 

[ICACharleston]

All those service calls make me wonder what pond you're fishing in. I don't have a thousand MA book but I sit around with the Maytag repairman betting on whose phone will ring. Only a few duals and LIS but they all seem to get on fine without me.

 

[DonP]

All those service calls make me wonder what pond you're fishing in. I don't have a thousand MA book but I sit around with the Maytag repairman betting on whose phone will ring. Only a few duals and LIS but they all seem to get on fine without me.

My mapd book will be over 1000 after next aep . About 52% of it is dual / lis down from 77% 12 months ago . No question a lot of the calls lis/ dual . To sell mapd at a very high level ( 40 or more a month yr round ) it’s a necessary to work that ). I have around 25-30 that call 1-3 times a month . But by answering my phone quickly it’s given me incredible persistency for that mkt . United is the king of persistency in my area .

 

[MedicareAgent]

I have a book of just shy 700 and I do just fine handling it, good customer service and teaching the customer is key.

 

[ICACharleston]

but they all seem to get on fine without me.

Actually, some of the duals make their plans work for them in ways I didn't know about. One gets paid mileage for driving herself to appointments instead of using that erratic transportation benefit. Another (not a dual) got treatment at M D Anderson and I only heard about it after the fact. If she had asked me, I wouldn't have known they would take her.

 

[sman]

What has more service a mapd or med sup?I know several single agents with 1000-1500 med sups in force . I know of no one single agent managing 1000 mapd’s . Personally I think it’s impossible to continue producing and manage 1000 mapds single handedly . Unless you answered calls 8-5 it can’t be done . Like I said mapd has so many moving parts from copays to extra benefits the calls and potential issues endless .

Therein lies the problem with working the DSNP market. We've all seen the statistics on persistency in that market. I talked to a guy once who was heavy in that market who said at his peak he had about 1,100, but he was down below 900 at the time. Of course not all were DSNP, but that was his primary market.

I'm all about making my life easier. I have maybe 3% of my book that are DSNP. And virtually all of them qualified for Medicaid after the fact and we moved them to a DSNP plan. They were already loyal clients prior to the change. I just don't want to work a market where I might lose 20%-30% of my clients each year because of the latest and greatest thing. For me, there isn't a ton of service work between January and October. The heavy lifting comes during AEP. And for my Med Supp clients, which is about 65% of my book, the only service work is every few years making sure there isn't a lower cost carrier for them.

I wish I still had the drive to work leads, but I don't. I work off of referral and I'm ok not writing 40 new cases per month. I'm content with adding 5-10 new clients per month and 20-40 during AEP. I'll leave the hustling to guys like you.

 

[NWSINS]

Since DonP will soon be a member of the 1000 member club, I decided to take a look at my business. This is what I found:

732 MAPD
260 Med Sups
14 Standalone PDP
46 Under 65
24 Small group plans that comprise of 151 members. All but two renew during AEP.

For those who are complaining about service work, your fishing in the wrong pond. Oh, I only have about 5 DNPS customers. My biggest service work is the Med Sup PDP plans. Last AEP was a doozy. I moved over 50 members.

Phone hasn't rang since last Wednesday. I'm getting board....

 

[sman]

Since DonP will soon be a member of the 1000 member club, I decided to take a look at my business. This is what I found:

732 MAPD
260 Med Sups
14 Standalone PDP
46 Under 65
24 Small group plans that comprise of 151 members. All but two renew during AEP.

For those who are complaining about service work, your fishing in the wrong pond. Oh, I only have about 5 DNPS customers. My biggest service work is the Med Sup PDP plans. Last AEP was a doozy. I moved over 50 members.

Phone hasn't rang since last Wednesday. I'm getting board....

I bet you're also getting bored

 

[DonP]

I h

Since DonP will soon be a member of the 1000 member club, I decided to take a look at my business. This is what I found:

732 MAPD
260 Med Sups
14 Standalone PDP
46 Under 65
24 Small group plans that comprise of 151 members. All but two renew during AEP.

For those who are complaining about service work, your fishing in the wrong pond. Oh, I only have about 5 DNPS customers. My biggest service work is the Med Sup PDP plans. Last AEP was a doozy. I moved over 50 members.

Phone hasn't rang since last Wednesday. I'm getting board....

Lol . I’ve actually had tremendous persistency on duals but it’s a hell of a lot of work . I spend 1-2 days a month saving 5-8 plans . But i agree dsnp a tough mkt . As the yrs go on I’ll be thinning out dsnp business and only taking referral dnsp.My journey started 25 months ago and its the easiest place to start .