Med Supp for a client taking a blood thinner?

[vic120]

Is there something about Medico that I am not aware of? I have not heard any bad things about them in this neck of the woods, but I do financial planning primarily and have maybe 115 Medicare clients that just happened along the way of retirement distribution planning. Medico's market analytics on CSG doesn't look bad from what I see but I am always up to be enlightened.

they are like other carriers some area have had low increases and other not so much and a few very high increases

 

[Thomas Mead]

I am always leery of small cap carriers that are overly aggressive, especially in a market where they have nominal penetration. CSG shows S&P rating N/A. Perhaps they have been in TX for a while. They entered GA in August, 2021 and have 236 lives on the books here (per CSG). I have two carriers where my block is over 250 with each of them.

I will paste below what CSG shows for zip 76049;

Parent: American Enterprise Group
Plan: G
Years in Market: 30
AM Best Rating: A (Outlook Stable)
S&P Rating: n/a
Effective Date: 09/01/2021
Rate Type: Attained age
Rating Class: n/a

He is 68 years old and is non-tobacco.

 

[somarco]

CSG can be misleading . . .

Years in the market is not the same as the number of years a carrier has operated under that name in a particular state.

Some of the national carriers have multiple subsidiaries that will enter and leave the state on a 3 to 4 year cycle. What is important (to me) is how long carrier X has been in my state. When a carrier leaves the state that block is closed. Healthy people should leave and go to another carrier. Some do, some don't. Those that stay (choice or no options) are part of a group getting older and sicker. They will experience higher renewal rate action vs a pool that is stable. Eventually that closed block will go into a death spiral and renewals will be double digits . . . sometimes exceeding 20%.

I will not recommend a carrier that has not operated in Georgia, under the same name, for at least 5 years. That approach keeps my block relatively stable with generally lower rate renewals plus higher persistency.

The carrier you mention MAY have been in the market for 30 years but they have been here since August, 2021. You will only know that if you are active in the Medigap market and are not relying on CSG to provide information.

I can also see the number of lives covered nationally and in my state, as well as their national LR and the same for my state.

I am not a big producer but my Georgia block exceeds theirs by almost 4x.

 

[LostDollar]

I will not recommend a carrier that has not operated in Georgia, under the same name, for at least 5 years. That approach keeps my block relatively stable with generally lower rate renewals plus higher persistency.

Caveat, NOT an agent.

A possible disadvantage in that approach is: it could just put you that much closer to the time when the Parent Company closes that particular subsidiary's book and starts with a new subsidiary and book.

I believe that Medico and another carrier I was interested in both had histories in KS exceeding 5 years but they (I think in 2021) both closed those existing books and started with new ones recently.

I am not absolutely sure, but I think I am seeing the a similar thing with a TX agent's posts in the last 6 months, that a carrier she had been using for several years suddenly had some significant rate increases and she is busy switching clients she can switch to another company.

 

[LostDollar]

I will paste below what CSG shows for zip 76049;

Parent: American Enterprise Group
Plan: G
Years in Market: 30
AM Best Rating: A (Outlook Stable)
S&P Rating: n/a
Effective Date: 09/01/2021
Rate Type: Attained age
Rating Class: n/a

He is 68 years old and is non-tobacco.

Caveat, NOT an agent.

I am a Medicare Beneficiary. I had a Medico HDF plan for almost 5 years.

Here is are examples of what somarco is talking about.

If you go to American Enterprise Group website, you see Medico has 3 subsidiaries.
[EXTERNAL LINK] - American Enterprise Group

I bought (through an agent) a Medico HDF plan in late 2016 from Medico Corp Life Insurance Company. In early 2021 I dropped that coverage. In mid-late 2021 Medico closed their sales in KS under the Medico Corp Life Insurance Company name and went solely to selling under the Medico Insurance Company name.

I bought (through an agent) a Banker's Fidelity Life Insurance Company HDF plan in early 2021. Some time after that, probably mid 2021, Banker's Fidelity stopped selling in KS under the BFLIC name and now sells only under the Banker's Fidelity Assurance Company (BFAC) name.

(And incidentally, that leaves me in the situation agents don't like to see their clients in, a member of a closed book plan that cannot switch, at least currently, because of health conditions.)

The KS Insurance department does not show closed companies in their Medigap quoting system, so I am unable to verify the following statement (the one in quotes) but I believe it to be true.

"Medico Corp Life Insurance Company and Banker's Fidelity Life Insurance Company were both in business in KS in Oct 2016 so I believe both of them were in business here longer than 5 years."

I am not going to take the time to hunt up the accurate information, but I believe in approximately 5 years on the Medico HDF plan I had three 5% rate increases. I was getting a household discount.

My personal, non-agent opinion is that whatever carrier you decide on, you are just going to have to tell your client that Medigap insurance carriers have two common business practices: a) they raise their rates and b) most of them eventually close a book of business under one subsidiary carrier name and start a new book under a different subsidiary carrier name. And you can't predict what will happen in the future of this specific situation with this specific client.

Guy in the washing machine parts store yesterday was great.
Me: (part I went for) and washing machine hoses.
Him: How long?
Me: Um-Uh about 5'.
Him: Metal or rubber?
Me: Which is best?
Him: Well the metal ones are pricier.
Me: Will they last longer?
Him: He mumbled something I didn't quite catch, and then -- looking off in the distance (not at me) "Which ones do you want?"

Absolutely GREAT job of putting the decision on me.

This Medigap Sale and Purchase is the same kind of thing, a decision has to be made even though the future events are unknown.

 

[goillini52]

CSG can be misleading . . .

Years in the market is not the same as the number of years a carrier has operated under that name in a particular state.

Some of the national carriers have multiple subsidiaries that will enter and leave the state on a 3 to 4 year cycle. What is important (to me) is how long carrier X has been in my state. When a carrier leaves the state that block is closed. Healthy people should leave and go to another carrier. Some do, some don't. Those that stay (choice or no options) are part of a group getting older and sicker. They will experience higher renewal rate action vs a pool that is stable. Eventually that closed block will go into a death spiral and renewals will be double digits . . . sometimes exceeding 20%.

I will not recommend a carrier that has not operated in Georgia, under the same name, for at least 5 years. That approach keeps my block relatively stable with generally lower rate renewals plus higher persistency.

The carrier you mention MAY have been in the market for 30 years but they have been here since August, 2021. You will only know that if you are active in the Medigap market and are not relying on CSG to provide information.

I can also see the number of lives covered nationally and in my state, as well as their national LR and the same for my state.

I am not a big producer but my Georgia block exceeds theirs by almost 4x.

Medico's been around a long time. They're sisters of American Republic (Jack Benny was their spokesman in the 70's) and Great Western (Final Expense).

I had them a few years ago, and never found the need to use them. To me their products are inferior and over priced.

 

[goillini52]

Caveat, NOT an agent.

A possible disadvantage in that approach is: it could just put you that much closer to the time when the Parent Company closes that particular subsidiary's book and starts with a new subsidiary and book.

I believe that Medico and another carrier I was interested in both had histories in KS exceeding 5 years but they (I think in 2021) both closed those existing books and started with new ones recently.

I am not absolutely sure, but I think I am seeing the a similar thing with a TX agent's posts in the last 6 months, that a carrier she had been using for several years suddenly had some significant rate increases and she is busy switching clients she can switch to another company.

Almost all companies that stick around play the MOFO shell game now.

I was stuck in Liberty Bankers (just switched to BCBS because it's now cheaper than LBL and they're GI). LBL has 2 new Med Supps on the market since they closed the LBL book. Capitol Life and American Benefit Life. I think they they have another carrier they haven't used yet.

 

[LostDollar]

Medico's been around a long time. They're sisters of American Republic (Jack Benny was their spokesman in the 70's) and Great Western (Final Expense).

I had them a few years ago, and never found the need to use them. To me their products are inferior and over priced.

Caveat, NOT an agent.

I am confused about this comment ("inferior") when thinking about Medigap plans. If Medicare automatically sends all Part B bills (except from hospitals) to the Medigap plan and all Medigap plans of each type are the same, how does one carrier's Plan G become inferior to the other carriers' Plans G?

Although I held a Medico Medigap plan for around 5 years, my claims experience was quite limited, but when there was a claim I promptly received an "easy to read EOB" ( italics are my technical terminology). Because of the HDF plan type, they never made any actual payments on my behalf. Overall they seemed ok to me as far as Medigap customer service goes.

 

[goillini52]

Caveat, NOT an agent.

I am confused about this comment ("inferior") when thinking about Medigap plans. If Medicare automatically sends all Part B bills (except from hospitals) to the Medigap plan and all Medigap plans of each type are the same, how does one carrier's Plan G become inferior to the other carriers' Plans G?

Although I held a Medico Medigap plan for around 5 years, my claims experience was quite limited, but when there was a claim I promptly received an "easy to read EOB" ( italics are my technical terminology). Because of the HDF plan type, they never made any actual payments on my behalf. Overall they seemed ok to me as far as Medigap customer service goes.

Their Med Supp isn't inferior (they're all the same coverage), but in Illinois they've always been over priced. I should've been more clear. I was referring to their FE and Ancillary products(DVH, HIP, etc.) as being inferior and over priced.

 

[LostDollar]

Their Med Supp isn't inferior (they're all the same coverage), but in Illinois they've always been over priced. I should've been more clear. I was referring to their FE and Ancillary products(DVH, HIP, etc.) as being inferior and over priced.

Thanks for the clarifications.