Medicare Supplement policy persistency

[Yagents]

hold up hold up . What your saying is less than 1 out of every 100 people you write die yearly ? I call you on that . We deal with a lot of old sick people .That’s mythical!!!

I have about 800 med supps on the books, and I get maybe 3-4 deaths a year. Maybe it's because they have Orig medicare vs MAPD? Or maybe wealth does determines health?

To the OP, it of course depends on the state. In AZ and FL, the book with UHC doesn't move, especially if you stay in contact with your clients each year.

 

[Newby]

Hardly anyone leaves with Med Sups. We have several hundred of them that are past 6-years and no longer paying commissions and can’t be moved due to health. That kind of blows for the agent. But fortunately most can and should move by the 6th year due to rate increases.
So if you’re asking about persistency with one company it’s going to be fantastic long-term for the unhealthy ones. But it’s going to be terrible persistency by the 6th year for the healthy people.
But if you’re counting it as persistency as staying with the agent even if they switch companies it’s very very good for everyone. As long as the agent does an annual review and services his client base you hardly lose any Medicare supplements.

 

[Midlevel]

Hardly anyone leaves with Med Sups. We have several hundred of them that are past 6-years and no longer paying commissions and can’t be moved due to health. That kind of blows for the agent. But fortunately most can and should move by the 6th year due to rate increases.
So if you’re asking about persistency with one company it’s going to be fantastic long-term for the unhealthy ones. But it’s going to be terrible persistency by the 6th year for the healthy people.
But if you’re counting it as persistency as staying with the agent even if they switch companies it’s very very good for everyone. As long as the agent does an annual review and services his client base you hardly lose any Medicare supplements.

Must really be different by region because all I do is replace Med Sups all year long from other agents. Another reason I'm glad I only have 15 on Med Sups is because everyone else I get paid lifetime renewals on so no need to try switching them.

 

[somarco]

The worst part of the death, besides losing a client? Only one of my carriers sends me a courtesy email. For all the others, I have to physically do a search.

Carriers are under the mistaken belief that policyholders are THEIR clients and agents are just an unnecessary appendage.

 

[sshafran]

A question for agents who've been selling Medigap for at least 5 years (or longer). WHAT WOULD YOU ESTIMATE IS THE AVERAGE PERSISTENCY FOR A MEDIGAP POLICY? (How long does it stay on the books?).

I'm looking to gather informal info because can't seem to find any statistical data from insurers, etc.Many thanks.
Jesse Slome
American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance

I would estimate that my med supp clients:

- Stay with me, on my books, with about 95% persistency over a 5-yr period (not counting death) [I specified because I don't think I lose 5% yearly, but I'm sure I lose about 5% over 5-yrs]


Of those that don't leave for another agent (i.e. of the 95% of medigaps I write):

- Stay with me, with one medigap carrier - never moved to another med supp or to an mapd, probably 70% of the time over 5-yr, whereas the other 30% get moved due to price to a different medigap, or to MAPD conversion -- I do put a lot with UHC and they've been a good stable place for the clients, so I don't do a ton of switching over price.


Also, of those that stay w/ me....
- Stay with Medigap - regardless of carrier - probably 85-90%. I bet only 10-15% that pick med supp in the beginning end up switching to MAPD.