Telemarkeing Rules Regarding Med Supps

insuranceoh

New Member
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I am sure this has been discussed many times here. I know that there are very strict guidelines regarding Med Advantage and Part D, but I get conflicting info about medicare supplements. I am in Ohio, and I have been told cold calling to seniors regarding supps is against the rules...then I have been told it isn't. And then try calling into the Ohio Department of Insurance and actually speak to someone about it (Good Luck with that)

I am thinking about returning to med supp sales, but I would like to do it over the phone and focus on replacement v. t-65. Can I do this in Ohio, and if not, which states am I able to do this in?

Very confusing!
 
I am sure this has been discussed many times here. I know that there are very strict guidelines regarding Med Advantage and Part D, but I get conflicting info about medicare supplements. I am in Ohio, and I have been told cold calling to seniors regarding supps is against the rules...then I have been told it isn't. And then try calling into the Ohio Department of Insurance and actually speak to someone about it (Good Luck with that)

I am thinking about returning to med supp sales, but I would like to do it over the phone and focus on replacement v. t-65. Can I do this in Ohio, and if not, which states am I able to do this in?

Very confusing!

Mary Taylor decided after 3 complaints that cold calling for medicare supplements should be outlawed here in ohio.

It's in a bulletin at the ODI- I'm on my phone so I can't link to it. But, we are one of the only states - if not the only State- to outlaw it.

Having said that, if you talk to ANY senior turning 65, their phone has been ringing since they turned 64. So all the out of state non-res agents are still cold calling. Likely some in state agents as well who don't know the rules (or who don't care).

(Aside, I'm exaggerating that Mary Taylor decided after 3 complaints. I don't really know. I heard that there were a small number of complaints back when she was the head of the ODI and the solution seemed a bit overkill to me. Cold calling is not "predatory.")
 
The Ohio Department of Insurance did ban cold calling to seniors for the purposes of soliciting Medicare beneficiaries regarding MAPD Part D and Med Supps several years ago. Some agents still call and asks if the person wants to participate in some sort of health care survey. So they get around the rules by not coming out and saying the call is about Medicare, its about health care. These agents can then schedule an in-home appointment. How that would work with phone sales, would be challenging. I am in Ohio, and when I tried to go that route, I got appointed in Indiana. It wasn't easy. the TM I had calling was very good on the phone and he was only able to get a hold of several people, like 1 per hour. I would suggest if you go this route, regardless of where you call, you should use a dialer.
 
The crazy thing is when a state makes rules that are unusual they don't have any way for non resident agents to easily know those rules. So basically they just limited the Ohio agents from calling Ohio seniors. But 49 other states will call them and never know the difference.

Got to love politicians and lawyers.
 
Can you call the 65+ crowd to sell siding, or water softeners, or cars, or medical equipment? Is it just limited to health insurance products?
 
Okay, so can you call for FE, and then ask them if they are happy with their medicare supp and would they be interested in discussing options with someone?
 
The crazy thing is when a state makes rules that are unusual they don't have any way for non resident agents to easily know those rules. So basically they just limited the Ohio agents from calling Ohio seniors. But 49 other states will call them and never know the difference.

Got to love politicians and lawyers.

I agree.

Just like how they make the state retirees use an (often incompetent) "exchange" - it only takes money away from local Ohio agents. But, oh wait, they did it because the "exchange" would be unbiased, but the local Ohio agents are "so greedy." (literally, this is what was explained during the roll-out a few years ago).

So, Arizona, South Carolina, and Florida agents are probably selling a significantly higher amount of policies in Ohio compared to their other non-res states because the local agents aren't cold calling and competing with them over the phone - because we know we can't.

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Can you call the 65+ crowd to sell siding, or water softeners, or cars, or medical equipment? Is it just limited to health insurance products?

As far as I know - yes. I think you can call a senior for a new roof, but not a med supplement.

The bulletin by the ODI was specifically for Med Supps. This also came out when they added the form for Ohio - the 'solicitation notice' with every application.
 
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