Insurance Agent Forum

[kdover]

I just received a response from Mr. Thomas regarding my email sent two days ago. I wish I could copy and paste his exact reply here, but I am afraid I will be breaking confidentiality rules.

He says that I was given "misinformation" and claims CMS "never" told the plans that enrollments in MA of people previously enrolled in a PDP and Original Medicare would be compensated at the initial rate. He goes further to say that the only enrollments in 2009 that would be compensated as initials were those who were brand new to Medicare or who were not previously enrolled in an MA, Cost or PDP.

Please take time to email him as well as all of your Carriers and let them know this is wrong and we intend to fight until it is corrected. At this point I don't know who to believe, but I will be BARKING at everyone involved. Keep getting LOUDER . . .

[COLOR=maroon][COLOR=#000000]Here is his contact info:[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=maroon]Chevell L. Thomas[/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]| Marketing Team | Division of Policy, Analysis & Planning | Medicare Drug and Health Plan Contract Administration Group | Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice [/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | [/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]7500 Security Boulevard[/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d], Mail Stop C4-22-04| [/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]Baltimore[/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d], [/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]MD[/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]21244-1850 [/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]410-786-1387/[/COLOR][COLOR=#1f497d]410-786-8933 [/COLOR][COLOR=navy][COLOR=#800080]chevell.thomas@cms.hhs.gov[/COLOR][/COLOR]




[COLOR=red]My email to him is below . . .[/COLOR]


Mr. Thomas,

I am an independent insurance broker representing several Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and Part D Carriers. I have assisted and advised close to 1,000 new Medicare beneficiaries over the past 3 years. I constantly hear them speak of how confusing and overwhelming the “Medicare Process” is to understand. As a responsible independent agent I explain ALL of their options until they understand; then help them choose the plan that meets their needs. I take pride in what I do and deserve to be compensated appropriately. I am completely exhausted and angry at the fact the CMS has determined the best way to compensate me. I had been told in writing from your office that I would be compensated on beneficiaries who were “NEW” to Medicare Advantage or Part D. That compensation was to be called “1st year or Initial ” commission payments and were to be double the amount of the “Renewals” which I would receive for years 2-5.

I took your word, invested several thousand dollars in marketing and spent many hours in the homes and on the phone with clients. I have been waiting now 6 months for my “True UP” balance . . . only to find out that CMS lied. I will only be receiving the “Renewal” commission / Half pay on clients that previously had PDP’s, but had never been part of the Medicare Advantage Plan. This was not the agreement that CMS handed out to all the insurance companies and I would like to know who made this change. CMS’s decision will cost me and my family $5000.00. Please let me know when to expect the remaining balance that is owed to me.

Regards,

[stormtracker]

That man is an out and out liar. Furthermore, CMS did NOTHING to dispel that agreement during the entire AEP and OEP.

[policy doctor]

Yeah...thanks for that alert. I got one too and the response was basically that plans have misinformed us.

Thinking out loud here....even if a beneficiary had a previous Part D plan + Orig Medicare...we still should be paid full initial commission because they're new to MA. Didn't matter if new MA sale or new MAPD...commiss were the same $400.

Renewal commiss on Part D is what.....$10? ok...deduct that from the MAPD commission if i replaced that PDP. Such crap.

My response also said he was a staff analyst at CMS....not the higher up we were led to believe. But he would have exceeded his authority (if he has none) in responding to us personally instead of steering us to another dept/person.

OK...let's contact our politicos...and keep calling CMS.

[Russ]

Reads like ya'll are fighting the Government, which is extremely hard to win against.

Good luck.....

[stormtracker]

Originally Posted by Russ

Reads like ya'll are fighting the Government, which is extremely hard to win against.

Good luck.....

If you can't lick 'em, join 'em. Let's all get jobs at the DOI's and then we can tell everyone else how they ought to sell and sit back and reshuffle the stacks on our desks every day...

[kristin]

Everyone needS to email this department. I find it strange that every company I write for and every agent was on the same page about original medicare with a pdp changing to an Mapd for the first time would be an initial commission. THE FIRST REPORT THAT CMS SENT OUT ON MAY 1ST TO THE INSURANCE COMPANIES INCLUDED ALL OF THESE PEOPLE. I was paid and than a new report deletes them. THE PERSON WHO RAN THE FIRST REPORT INTERPERTED THE LAW JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD!!!!WE NEED TO FIGHT THIS!!! EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET INVOLOVED, DON'T LET A FEW OF US DO THE DIRTY WORK!!! GET YOUR FMO INVOLVED, THE COMPANIES THAT YOU WRITE FOR, ETC.

[policy doctor]

You mean you're just a bystander? Guess you have no skin in the game. After all your whining about Shenandoah Life, and getting whacked commiss by MOO because of Tricare, and other issues i can't recall now....guess Neimeyer was right. First they came for....but i was not a .... then they came for...but i wasn't that either...then when they came for me...no one was left to fight. (ever hear that one?)

[Jim]

These CMS guys have been paid for by the carriers best to go to your representative.


Jim Sowder
Family 1st Insurance Brokerage
304-640-8914
[COLOR=#0000ff]jimsowder@family1stinsurancebrokerage.com[/COLOR]

[Russ]

Originally Posted by policy doctor

You mean you're just a bystander? Guess you have no skin in the game. After all your whining about Shenandoah Life, and getting whacked commiss by MOO because of Tricare, and other issues i can't recall now....guess Neimeyer was right. First they came for....but i was not a .... then they came for...but i wasn't that either...then when they came for me...no one was left to fight. (ever hear that one?)

Who are you talking to? If it's me, no I'm not involved. I never wrote MA plans, but I hate to see agents getting lied to and screwed.

MoO because of Tricare?

[policy doctor]

Yes Russ....that was directed to you because all agents need to support fairness in this industry, even if you don't sell that product. They talk to us about EHTICS...where are theirs'? Re Tricare...i may have mixed you up with another agent who lost commiss when they brought in that program. In my case, MOO even went back 6 months and refunded their premiums, and chargebacked to me. Client was slow in signing up with Tricare.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by policy doctor

Yes Russ....that was directed to you because all agents need to support fairness in this industry, even if you don't sell that product. They talk to us about EHTICS...where are theirs'? Re Tricare...i may have mixed you up with another agent who lost commiss when they brought in that program. In my case, MOO even went back 6 months and refunded their premiums, and chargebacked to me. Client was slow in signing up with Tricare.

I lost about 20 grand a year in renewals when Tricare started, but I wasn't writing for MoO then, so maybe you have me confused on that end.

Whining about Shenandoah? Bitching about them maybe. They weren't that great to begin with and I have saved quite a few, money by switching to other companies that offer the same for less and are in business.

As far as MA's...it's the Government...they can do what they want to. I don't trust them. I'll have time next week and will voice my opinion by email. I'll make that promise. I'm not directly involved, but quite a few are and it's not right the way agents that did write MA plans are being treated.

[kennethbroyles]

This is political.... so IMO we need a full spectrum offense. We need politicians Senators and Congressmen to work for us. I have called mine here in GA. I don't think as many agents as we think are even aware of this situation. I just got my mailed statement from UHC today in the mail. Craig Ritter is a loud voice and being very active. Thanks Craig I am going to contract/team with on on MedSup business.

[jdeasy]

He is correct, CMS never told you anything about the commission levels. Everything came thru the companies and they gave their version of what CMS was supposedly saying.

[kristin]

Who is correct? What are you talking about. Cms is in charge of the regs. That's what we are talking about not the amount of commission!!

[mississippiagent]

The commissions need to be talked about also because it is not enough... the insurance companies are not paying what they
Said,a thief is a thief
What do you think will happen will advantage in the next year?

[jdeasy]

Originally Posted by kristin

who is correct? What are you talking about. Cms is in charge of the regs. That's what we are talking about not the amount of commission!!

I'm talking about the op. He sent an email to the CMS guy accusing CMS of lying. The CMS guy said they didn't lie, that what they are saying now is exactly what they told the companies all along.

I belive that is probably correct. If you go back and look at my post from last fall thru now I've said that this would be the outcome. I wish I was wrong as I'm owed the second half on about 70 plans.

Can you show me something from CMS that says different than what they are saying now? I certainly never got anything from CMS and I represented about 8 different MA companies. Everything I got was from the companies or from an FMO telling me what the regs were. I would love see something that came directly from CMS last AEP that says differently than what they are sayiong now.


Surely you have such evidence to attack me in such a manner?

[kdover]

No need to be attacking each other. Nobody knows where the responsibilities lie. CMS says one thing, the companies say another. At this point we need to be screaming at CMS, all the MA Companies as well as our Congress men and women.

Call your FMO and ask them what they are doing on your behalf. I have heard NOTHING from mine!!!

Kudos to you Craig Ritter.

Call your MA companies and let them know your aren't going to lay down on this one. Email Mr. Thomas, unless someone has a better contact and scream some more. Finally and probably most importantly contact your local Congressman or women by clicking the link below. Enter your Zip Code in the top right hand of the page, then click on each Representatives/Senators name; Click contact; then contact by web form and write them an email.

Congress.org - Congressional Directory

Don't stop being LOUD!!!

[Joe H]

"Can you show me something from CMS that says different than what they are saying now?"

The CMS regs from last Nov & Dec have been posted multiple times on these boards....and they say basically ....if new to MA from Original Medicare will pay initial year......

[AgentOrange]

I think they could have went either way and they took the lazy road of just cross referencing all pdp subscribers to 09 OEP enrollees. Agents get jacked by everyone, FMOs, carriers, and the Gov ...

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ManagedCareMa...emo_011609.pdf

CMS requires organizations to pay the renewal rate for all enrollments except those of beneficiaries newly entitled to Medicare or enrolling in an MA plan, Cost plan or PDP for the first time. This means for example that for 2009 MA plans with an initial year commission amount of $400 will pay a commission of $200 to their agents and brokers, unless the enrollment is for a beneficiary newly entitled to Medicare or enrolling in a MA plan for the first time.

[jdeasy]

Originally Posted by Joe H

"Can you show me something from CMS that says different than what they are saying now?"

The CMS regs from last Nov & Dec have been posted multiple times on these boards....and they say basically ....if new to MA from Original Medicare will pay initial year......

Then you should be able to show me something you got directly from CMS that told you what you would get paid for enrolling someone into an MA plan.