2 Months to Go & No Info

[bluediamond]

Well the colored company I represent is saying the 5 levels will coincide with the current tier level's we have and are expecting to pay the same currently, with the exception of platinum I hear will be less. So we have 4 tiers and there are actually 5 levels starting with cat plans. I would imagine a Tier 3 now will equal a gold plan. Don't know for sure, but our agency is releasing to us today what they have been told. You will make your money in volume.
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Oh, they are going to put a disclaimer on what they release to us and that is if the colored company changes commissions they will also.

 

[RayNY]

Our colored company went to $5 PMPM already, and filed for similar going forward (indy off-exchange filings are all we have, but like stated before, it should be the same on/off)

(Specifically, they filed for 1.44%, which is roughly $4-$7, average of just over $5, and 1.91% on SG, average of just over $8: https://myportal.dfs.ny.gov/documen...+HealthChoice+HMO+_IND+HMO_AWLP-129002159.pdf page 184 for indy, https://myportal.dfs.ny.gov/documen...re+HealthChoice+HMO_SG+HNY_AWLP-129002174.pdf pg 153-155 for SG )

They are proud to say "this represents increased commissions for our brokers". While they filed for a percentage, the vibe we get is that it will be PMPM.

Did I mention we have one of the highest costs of living in the nation, and some of the most expensive plans?

 

[bluemarlin08]

So what happens if one company pays like mentioned above, where many of us won't participate with that product, and another company pays ,say 10%. The first company might be the better deal but agents can't afford to sell it.

 

[RayNY]

BlueMarlin, hahahahahahah 10%, you're funny. We haven't seen double digits in at least a decade. The highest (exchange) filing we had was 6.1% from Aetna on SG and 5.5% from EasyChoice on Indy.

But, on a serious note, I would assume the same thing that happens now. People will get pushed into a "good" plan even if a "great" option is available because of compensation. The low/no comp plans will get written if needed, better to have the client and cross sell/swap plans down the line than burn the bridge after you spent time building it. We've had carriers cut popular products down to 0 comp a few times already. Plans still got written, but much much less than before.

 

[AllenChicago]

It's interesting that when Congress and their hundreds of assistants (aka "enforcers") left Washington for vacations earlier this month, meaningful announcements from HHS, CMS, IRS, States and Exchanges slowed to a trickle.

In fact, it seems like CMS uploaded Part I of Exchange Certification Training ahead of schedule (On August 1st) and then high-tailed it out of town themselves, forgetting to finish Part II (Identify Verification and ID Assignment) of the course.

From my association with Government workers, I've learned that they have a lot of secret parties and slip away very quietly on multiple vacations. They don't want the public upset with them, but they enjoy what the public's tax dollars deliver in the way of benefits. When the cat's away (Congress), the mice (all govt agencies) will play!

 

[bluediamond]

Well this is ridiculous that this is late August (of course one more week) and the 2nd part of certification isn't ready. You're must be right Allen all of D.C. went on a long vacation. I am ready to get this thing moving on, in fact if open enrollment started tomorrow it would suit me just fine. Either get it moving or scrap it and let me move on with my life as a Walmart greeter. Oh, can't do that I heard they scrapped the greeter's or they should have called them geezer's.

But seriously why can't our govt do anything efficiently? When the 2nd part is available with all the agents going on to get er done it will probably crash the system.

 

[Norwayguy]

Welcome to dealing with CMS it was not to many years ago when CMS took control over what carriers could pay agents for commissions on Part C & D and that first AEP the amounts to be paid were revised many times while AEP was ongoing so as to change the commission even after the policy was written.

 

[rugerred]

Well this is ridiculous that this is late August (of course one more week) and the 2nd part of certification isn't ready. You're must be right Allen all of D.C. went on a long vacation. I am ready to get this thing moving on, in fact if open enrollment started tomorrow it would suit me just fine. Either get it moving or scrap it and let me move on with my life as a Walmart greeter. Oh, can't do that I heard they scrapped the greeter's or they should have called them geezer's.

But seriously why can't our govt do anything efficiently? When the 2nd part is available with all the agents going on to get er done it will probably crash the system.

That's the problem with the whole situation. The government can't do anything efficiently. They are multi millionaires with absolutely no clue as to how society and business works. The rules they make don't apply to themselves so where is the incentive. They sign it say look how I helped you, vote for me again bye bye.

 

[somarco]

I seriously doubt you are missing much. How many people do you think will really buy the first day or week? Especially if they learn they will have to pay (or at least set aside) the first months premium for coverage that won't be effective until January?

Let the tire kickers and looky-loo's waste someone else's time.

I see no reason why this will be any different from Medicare AEP. Yes, you get a flurry of activity the first few weeks but most don't do anything, especially if they are first time buyers, until the last 3 weeks of open enrollment.

 

[bluediamond]

Welcome to dealing with CMS it was not to many years ago when CMS took control over what carriers could pay agents for commissions on Part C & D and that first AEP the amounts to be paid were revised many times while AEP was ongoing so as to change the commission even after the policy was written.

Oh I have been in this quite a while and know the workings of CMS and the govt I was just venting a bit. I hated this to begin with and still do, but it's boiled down to my income depends on this now. Yep, my fault should have left my captive agency year's ago and went independent, but too late at my age to start completely over.

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I seriously doubt you are missing much. How many people do you think will really buy the first day or week? Especially if they learn they will have to pay (or at least set aside) the first months premium for coverage that won't be effective until January?

Let the tire kickers and looky-loo's waste someone else's time.

I see no reason why this will be any different from Medicare AEP. Yes, you get a flurry of activity the first few weeks but most don't do anything, especially if they are first time buyers, until the last 3 weeks of open enrollment.

I don't even thing their system will work the first week, I believe it will crash, just like it did between Christmas and New Year's the first year for PDP. But you are right they will wait until the last possible minute if they sign up at all. The colored company down here expects to do most of the business after the first of the year. Could be true but at last count I have around 350 prospects to call back that want 1st of the year enrollment. After I found out the other two carrier's in the main county I do business is much cheaper (or so I was told) it may not be a cake walk to enroll people on the lower end of the FPL, even though one of the company's never has sold an individual in our market and the other has never been a player. But cheap is cheap to some people. One thing that will help is our network.