Good grief, where do you people do all this business?
21 supps in one week?
40 MAPD plans in one week? During lock-in? When you can't really make attempts to contact people other than mail or events/referrals?
Is this one of those deals where we have to divide the number stated by a factor to get the actual number?
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All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly.
I know!
I was waiting for somebody to reply so I could brag on MY numbers....
Last week I wrote:
- 60 Final Expense policies at a minimum of $125 monthly premium per plan
- 24 Long Term Care policies, but they were each a husband and wife, so it's really 48 Long Term Care policies
- 32 MAPD plans
- 12 Med Supps, because I ran out of time at the end of the week.
This week I sold 21 Medicare Supplements and ZERO Medicare Advantage plans!
People are hearing the president's message loud and clear -- MA's are toast!
So because one agent in one area sold more med supps then ma's, that means ma's are done for? Don't get me wrong, MA sales are down from where they were in years past and that might very well be a trend, but they're not going the way of the dinosaur yet. If Obama really wanted to make MA's less attractive then he and his should have focused on enhancing the Original Medicare benefits instead of letting part b slide to $110.50 in premium and inpatient hospitalization go to $1,100. If Original Medicare was as good of a program as Obama tries to give everyone the impression it is then seniors wouldn't have such an incentive to switch to MA plans.
Not for nothing, but with an election next year and while 30% of Americans strongly approve of the job the President is doing, 40% strongly disapprove of the job the President is doing. Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports
If Obama really didn't like the MA program he should have done that before he used up all his superman bonus points pushing through things like CARS (cash for clunkers) or handing out this bailout money that the government apparently has just laying around. BTW- It's hard to believe how much the Pharmaceutical companies are making off of Medicare Part D, I very much doubt that if Obama wants a chance at a second term he can afford to lose them, apparently he does to: Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma
Like it or not the MA business is a good industry for politicians to support when it comes time to take action, regardless of what they like to say in speeches.
Sure you can. If they have their term-letter in hand you can write them up now! These are all January 1st effective dates.
My past posts clearly indicate that I write both MedSupp's and MA's. People tell me they want off the MA roller coaster. I think an agent needs to explain the difference and let the consumer decide.
I have nothing to gain by inflating my numbers. Again, look back at all my posts... Maybe I should have left the number out. But, then some wisenheimer would had questioned that.
Tom,
Sure you can. If they have their term-letter in hand you can write them up now! These are all January 1st effective dates.
My past posts clearly indicate that I write both MedSupp's and MA's. People tell me they want off the MA roller coaster. I think an agent needs to explain the difference and let the consumer decide.
I have nothing to gain by inflating my numbers. Again, look back at all my posts... Maybe I should have left the number out. But, then some wisenheimer would had questioned that.
I'm not calling BS on you at all. I would like for you to qualify your statement and the premise of this thread though.
You wrote 21 med supps this week, and now you say they'll be for effective dates of Jan 1 and that they had their term letters.
How did you meet these 21 people?
Could you consistently make these kinds of numbers every week?
What is the term letter about - is it a MAPD/PFFS plan that sent it? If so, I would think they may be a little bitter on medicare advantage, too.
Why could you not conclude, based on your previous posts, that CMS is moving to the goal of having just a handful of national or regional MA providers, and this is all part of thinning the herd?
I'm trying to move out of medicare advantage myself because I'm seeing the handwriting on the wall too. Many of the people I see are fed up with having to evaluate their options every year and filter through all the crap, always wondering what their new copays will be and if they can keep going to their doctor. To me, med supps solves this problem, and med supps have been solving this problem a lot longer than medicare advantage has.
I'm not calling BS on you at all. I would like for you to qualify your statement and the premise of this thread though.
You wrote 21 med supps this week, and now you say they'll be for effective dates of Jan 1 and that they had their term letters.
How did you meet these 21 people?
Could you consistently make these kinds of numbers every week?
What is the term letter about - is it a MAPD/PFFS plan that sent it? If so, I would think they may be a little bitter on medicare advantage, too.
Why could you not conclude, based on your previous posts, that CMS is moving to the goal of having just a handful of national or regional MA providers, and this is all part of thinning the herd?
I'm trying to move out of medicare advantage myself because I'm seeing the handwriting on the wall too. Many of the people I see are fed up with having to evaluate their options every year and filter through all the crap, always wondering what their new copays will be and if they can keep going to their doctor. To me, med supps solves this problem, and med supps have been solving this problem a lot longer than medicare advantage has.
Here in Michigan many of us are working at the Blue Cross walk in centers. Blue Cross is getting rid of options C & D of their PFFS. So, we have an SEP going on right now. But after doing this for a few weeks, I have found that Med Supps would be better for a lot of people, but they can't always afford the price. So, I make outside appts to talk about companies other than Blue Cross with better rates.
I'm not calling BS on you at all. I would like for you to qualify your statement and the premise of this thread though.
You wrote 21 med supps this week, and now you say they'll be for effective dates of Jan 1 and that they had their term letters.
How did you meet these 21 people?
Could you consistently make these kinds of numbers every week?
What is the term letter about - is it a MAPD/PFFS plan that sent it? If so, I would think they may be a little bitter on medicare advantage, too.
Why could you not conclude, based on your previous posts, that CMS is moving to the goal of having just a handful of national or regional MA providers, and this is all part of thinning the herd?
I'm trying to move out of medicare advantage myself because I'm seeing the handwriting on the wall too. Many of the people I see are fed up with having to evaluate their options every year and filter through all the crap, always wondering what their new copays will be and if they can keep going to their doctor. To me, med supps solves this problem, and med supps have been solving this problem a lot longer than medicare advantage has.
I'm sure he means their termination letters from plans that won't be offered for next year. My phone has been ringing off the hook for the last two weeks from my Wellcare and Coventry clients. They have all received their termination letters. I'm also getting a lot of calls from my Todays Options clients because of the huge premium increases and benefit cuts.
I'm not doing MA's or PDP's anymore, so, I've been keeping another agant busier than he ever imagined with referrals. I have already moved some to med sups and made then effective for Jan. 1, 2010.
Get it right people. Obama is not the reason Medicare Advantage is a failure and going down the tubes. MA is going away because the MA companies could not deliver on their promise. And lets not forget the underlying promise of the MA companies which was they were going to be able to control the skyrocketing prices the Drs and Hospitals were charging. Instead of MA fulfilling its promises of controlling medicare costs the MA plans became a contributing factor to rising medicare costs as these plans now cost 15 to 20 % more, MA plans are going away because they are not the solution they are now part of the problem. With the babyb boom knocking on the door of medicare eligibility the last thing on earth we needed was something like Medicare Advantage to come along and make things even worse. This new Helath Care reform bill is going to be lame but I think they will say that the MA plans can stay they just can not be reimbursed anymore then traditional medicare is costing, That means that Humana and United Healthcare and the handfful of other Ma companies are going to have to take 15 to 20 % profit cuts. They may just say screw it and take the profits they made and close down in the next few years. And yes Obama and myself and inteliigent cost concious americans can live with that!
My phone started ringing in August. Today I wrote two more MedSupp applications, so I can add two more lives to my twenty-one.
Look, I work long days and into the night. Tonight (Saturday), I returned my last call around 7:30pm. I still have a few openings next week...
My original post was all about how a quarter of our senior population is getting screwed. Most of them are pissed off. None of them blame the insurance companies. In fact they really like their insurance company.
I'm sorry I"m not telling you kids what you want to hear. The MA plans are bad for the financial future of medicare and they are bad seeds that need to go away. Its not my fault or Obamas fault or anybodies fault but the MA plan companies who have not been able to deliver on their promises. These MA companies failed and as in all businesses the price of failure is you go out of business. .
My phone started ringing in August. Today I wrote two more MedSupp applications, so I can add two more lives to my twenty-one.
Look, I work long days and into the night. Tonight (Saturday), I returned my last call around 7:30pm. I still have a few openings next week...
My original post was all about how a quarter of our senior population is getting screwed. Most of them are pissed off. None of them blame the insurance companies. In fact they really like their insurance company.
Am I not an Intelligent Cost Concious American?
I wasn't meaning to bust your chops. I'm just trying to find my own way here after a wayward couple of years captive with a crappy MA company.
I know there are people here who are full of hot air, and people here who can back up what they say. I've seen you to be one of the legitimate success stories here, and I'm just trying to learn from people like you.
Would that make me intelligent or concious?? Not reall cost concious, but concious??
I'm sorry I"m not telling you kids what you want to hear. The MA plans are bad for the financial future of medicare and they are bad seeds that need to go away. Its not my fault or Obamas fault or anybodies fault but the MA plan companies who have not been able to deliver on their promises. These MA companies failed and as in all businesses the price of failure is you go out of business. .
You're an idiot because:
1. The reason why the government is paying these high reimbursements is because the government decided to set the rates where they did. It's not like the carriers are jumping in and stealing tax dollars the way you seem to claim they are.
2. If the government hadn't have raised the reimbursements so high then there would not be so many companies doing this and making so much money in the process.
3. The companies have made commitments, but none of them were to save the government money. Perhaps some of the folks in congress supporting these plans have used that as part of their rhetoric, but that's not the promise that the companies have made. The promises the companies have made is to provide certain services for a mutually agreed upon price. In fact, the reimbursement structure is completely unilateral, the companies that are in this market either take what the government is offering or pull out, there is no negotiation and bidding process.
4. I don't think the MA program is a failure, millions of seniors are getting access to better healthcare and are more likely to get routine tests to prevent serious illnesses. It's easy to argue that these programs are expensive, but it's the responsibility of the government to ensure the programs they regulate meet their expectations. Many companies could offer viable plans at less than 100% of what "medicare costs" are, but if the government is handing out extra money, why shouldn't they be taking it?
5. The companies aren't failing. They're making plenty of money and the ones that don't feel like they want to stay in the business are pulling out of the market because they're not interested in working under the new rules and/or don't feel the reimbursements are high enough to be viable for them. They did the proverbial "get while the gettings good" and now they're getting out.
Getting Things Straight
It's difficult to realistically blame Obama for the "failure" of the MA program when it was started before he was even 25. The problem that most of us either have or should have with the Obama's current agenda is that even if anything he did was deficit neutral we have the larger problem of both Medicare and SS not being adequately funded to begin with. When he says he's "not taking one dollar out of the Medicare Fund" he's also not saying he's finding any ways to put money into a fund that will be bankrupt in less then 10 years. Should we really be giving him a pat on the back for ignoring the financial disaster that will be the year 2017 or so? Medicare | Medicare Hospital Fund Will Be Insolvent by 2017, Two Years Earlier Than Expected, Trustees Say - Kaisernetwork.org
Ignoring the fact that Original Medicare is costing more and more to administer and that benefits are continually getting cut to the point where seniors aren't receiving healthcare because they simply can't afford their cost share is something Obama should be held accountable for.
While we're on the subject of seniors and things Obama should be held accountable for ignoring, let's mention once again that SS is bankrupt by the time most infants this year graduate from college. Report Warns of Insolvency for Social Security, Medicare - washingtonpost.comWhy shouldn't Obama care about what happens when people his age go to retire and there is absolutely no money to pay them?
MA's Outta Here
Re: MA's Outta Here
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