Prepping For Medicare

By Phil Calhoun

July is a great issue, and we enjoy the many article contributions all centered on Medicare. Our next special issue is Group/Employee Benefits and will be the September issue. We appreciate our new advertisers, and we look forward to working with new advertisers and hope each of our subscribers give our advertisers a long look to do business with them in the future. Finally we welcome your client success stories too.

Prepping for Medicare AEP and Employer Open Enrollment

AEP last year was filled with changes, especially last-minute changes. With Wellcare PDP forcing major adjustments made on the fly with PDP clients during AEP many brokers “lost” commission income. To prepare for this year, take a look at Elliott Martin's article. Last AEP, the Martin Agency had success using video to educate clients to self-serve in many cases. The thought this AEP we are hearing from the street is how educating clients to self-direct through the process to get PDP quotes, when possible, can save time. Prerecorded videos made available via email, live Zoom client meetings, and then placed on an agency website seem to be options to get the client work done while using tech to save everyone time. Carrier changes with local marketplace provider changes is something to keep an eye on for all clients. Providers dropping plans due to "cost management” seems to be a real option as looming concerns rise up again. Providers are facing possible cuts to MediCal and an increase in the number of uninsured people landing in the emergency rooms. The response last year was providers either moving hard into managed care plans or hard away from MAPD. Add to this the MediCal trend how some medical groups in rural areas often make changes due to carrier contracting disagreements toward

year end, and this AEP could be a rough ride for brokers. Keep an eye on Med Supp carriers as both increases in premiums and reductions in commissions are being used by carriers to cover their costs.

Focusing on New Business

With many ways to grow your Medicare book, focus first on what your FMO can provide. Then, if you want to find how other FMOs focus on new business look at two articles which offer solutions to grow new business. First Sierra's and Financial Grade's articles on this topic provide tips and valuable tools to add new business. These two FMOs know how to grow new business. While each has unique tools they share in the commitment to their new business model which is focused on how to help brokers with personal support to either enter the Medicare business or grow more business with advanced technology and other tools.

More ways to grow new business can be found in the article covering books of business acquisition, and the outline on how to work with a team of planning experts to grow clients in the future by protecting another broker’s commissions as the Successor - Buyer. Also, for existing clients, read how to find ways to identify problems you can resolve. Most common needs for Medicare clients is to address the cost of long-term care as well as finding a Dental plan with the largest provider network in the US and a $10,000 annual max. You can find these ideas covered in the articles by Marc Glickman, CEO of Buddy Insurance and Sam Melamed, CEO of NCD dental plans.

Hope you all enjoy the summer months and we will see you at the Medicare Summitt in September.