June 1, 2010

Appreciate the feedback. I had scaled back this past season with MA's and PDP's. I'm debating inwardly to what lintensity I want to do MA's. Hence the questions.
 
I'm usuing my wife's login: This is G.Gordon

We stayed away from the MA market, but use the PDP market to serve the clients. We got over 40 new clients this year from word of mouth around town that we'd help with drug plan choices. Naturally if you help in one area they are willing to listen/trust you for another area.

G
 
but use the PDP market to serve the clients. We got over 40 new clients this year from word of mouth around town that we'd help with drug plan choices. Naturally if you help in one area they are willing to listen/trust you for another area.

An excellent point.

There are some on here who won't deal with it, say refer it to someone, etc., but when you do that - you always run the risk of someone coming in behind you to upset your realtionship.
 
I like helping new clients enroll into the rx plan. I can't always write the plan myself, I check and see what plan does the best job for them also. The problem I have, going on the 4th year is how in the heck can you help them all in a 45 day period. This is where I'm waivering. I started telling new clients to call 1-800-MEDICARE or speak with their pharmacist. It's best if they know how to shop each year on their own because to try and help 300 or 400 people durinng AEP is immpossible.
 
An excellent point.

There are some on here who won't deal with it, say refer it to someone, etc., but when you do that - you always run the risk of someone coming in behind you to upset your realtionship.

It's okay Paul. You can say it is me who said that.

There are several reasons I don't either recommend or sell PDP plans. Neither of them are because I don't want to provide service to my clients. My clients get pristine service.

I always offer to help them if they have any problems but initially suggest that they take their list of meds to their pharmacist. One of the main reasons I do is because of the way the formularies are set up.

A drug can be covered when I look it up and three months later that med can be off of the formulary and now my client has to pay full price. Lipitor may be $40 when it is on the formulary and $140 if it falls off. Who is going to be the "bad guy" when that happens? Who ever recommended that PDP plan to them.

I am not going to put my credibility on the line and my Med Supp policy with them to earn a couple of extra bucks. If they want me to do the research then I gladly do that for them. However, I will recommend the "top" three I found and leave it up to them to choose one. Again, I offer to help them with the process, however, I am neither going to make that decision for them nor write the app.

Most of my clients know and trust their pharmacist. Most of the pharmacists I have talked to about it appreciate me suggesting that to my clients. It also gives them an opportunity to proved a service to their clients. They in turn will recommend that a senior talk to me about their Med Supp if they are looking to switch.

I am not even remotely concerned about "someone coming behind me" and rolling my Med Supp policy over a PDP plan. I still have seniors as clients who I wrote Med Supps on when I first started in 1993. Any idea how much commission I have collected in sixteen years?

I guess if an agent is not staying in touch with their clients and all they did is sell them a policy then I can understand why an agent may be concerned about another agent taking their business away from them.

Wait, that agent who just took their business away from them would be me!
That's how I sell Med Supps. :D By picking up the slack that other agents leave behind.

PS I had the pleasure of talking to Paul last week. He is one of he nicest, funniest guys I have talked to in a long time.

That is except for all the agents using YIO. :D
 
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Although we can only speculate at this time, it is conceivable that after the reduction of government money the HMO's are currently receiving all those little extras may not be offered in the future.

Just another thing that we need to be watching for.
Couple that with the very distinct possibility of an increase of premium for the MA plans. The lack of premium is a huge selling point for MA and MAPD plans. If these plans are going to have premiums attached to them that are anywhere near the premiums of the new structure, I see MAPD going bye-bye very quickly. Why pay a premium for a network if I can get by with paying a premium with similar coverage without the network?

I personally am looking forward to the new plans, and the opportunity to tell every senior I come into contact with about them!
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I really like the idea of standardized Part D plans. When working with seniors, PDP plans can be very difficult to understand. PDP is one of the hardest senior products to learn, and therefore hardest to educate prospects about.
 
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Couple that with the very distinct possibility of an increase of premium for the MA plans. The lack of premium is a huge selling point for MA and MAPD plans. If these plans are going to have premiums attached to them that are anywhere near the premiums of the new structure, I see MAPD going bye-bye very quickly. Why pay a premium for a network if I can get by with paying a premium with similar coverage without the network?

I personally am looking forward to the new plans, and the opportunity to tell every senior I come into contact with about them!

If not going "bye-bye" right away, I can see a lot of them starting to pack. Plan M is going to kick ass and take names. If the govt does what they are saying, there can't help but be an increase in cost for HMO's.

I have said it many times before, I think we are looking at a huge explosion of Medicare Supplement sales. It sounds like you are ready for the "gold rush" and I know I am.
 
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