I know there is a dedicated section for website questions, but I wanted to get feedback specifically from agents in the senior market. When I search on Google for Medicare sites, they almost always focus on Medigap plans and not MAPDs. There are plenty of websites from individual sales reps that focus on Medicare Supplements, but the MAPD sites all look very "corporate" like they are more for lead generation than being a site for a specific local agent. That is not the case for many Medigap agent sites. Is this because of all of the compliance rules? Or are there just that many more agents marketing Med Supps than MAPD plans? I know generating traffic to an agent site is a full-time job, I am just wondering why there aren't more MAPD sites. I would love to start my own MAPD agent website and generate some leads that way.
Are MAPD Agent Websites Viable?
- Thread starter timeflies
- Start date
and perhaps of other insurers as well. So laws & regs regarding agency don't adequately clarify a broker's path to appropriately serving his/her clients, who are Medicare beneficiaries, rather than any given insurer.
- 1,432
You can't talk about the plans, but you can talk "around" the plans. I have a CT medigap and Medicare Advantage blog where I write about IEP, AEP, what to do if you will continue to receive employer-sponsored coverage beyond age 65, how income affects your options, VA coverage past 65, etc.
You can still generate a lot of content even though you can't write about the plans themselves with any specificity. I only have a few posts on the site, but I have about 50 scheduled to be published over the next year.
If you take notes when you speak with clients, you will see that certain questions come up a lot. This is where I come up with a lot of my blog post topics.
Exactly what I was saying and it's exactly what I do on my site. I have a med advantage section.
But it seems like in the OP's post he was asking why the pages he finds doesn't get into local info. I take that as in what your local plan will cover.
Contact Ritter Their site is supposed to be compliant. Free for agents contracted with them.
- 1,452
Some carriers dont even want their logo listed next to their competitors logo without their permission. I dont think you need to get into specifics of each company in your area anyway. Sell yourself, and the value you provide. Speak in general terms, and if you need to, just tell the consumers that your arent allowed to go into specifics because of the cms rules.
I'll add my two cents. Another reason many agents don't make an effort to promote MAPD programs is that in a great many counties, the coverage provided by a MAPD is not materially better than just plain Medicare + a stand-alone drug plan. In my area, MAPD's are selling in the mid-$60 range per month. A stand-alone drug plan that better fits their list of drugs can typically be had in the mid $20 range. That's $40/year, times 12 months, or about $500 net premium on the year to have the "advantage" part. But very few people will actually see any advantage once the $500 additional premium is factored in; in many cases, they could actually be more out of pocket. And don't forget, with 30+ drug plans offered in the local market, the customer can usually have a lower net drug bill with the stand-alone than offered by the MAPD. Moreover, the MA plans are notorious for denying, or at least attempting to deny, benefits that plain Medicare wouldn't give a second thought to; this happens almost routinely with the skilled nursing (rehab after surgery/stroke/heart attack) section. I won't mention the name of a company that starts with an H that did that to my own father (he's on a group retirement MAPD from his former employer). Sure, I sell a few of them to fit very specific cases. But since I see integrity as more important than making more money, I often send people out of my office with plain Medicare + a stand-alone drug plan (their health doesn't permit a low-priced supplement sale). I lose some of those customers: some will fall for the illusion of wonderment (yet somehow compliant) ads on TV, where H makes the MAPD sound like the greatest thing since even before sliced bread, or some slick salesman who knocks on their door clean-sheets them for a med supp sale. I do wish the state regulators would set up sting operations to put the clean-sheeters in prison (insurance fraud is a felony), but that's another issue for another day.
Anyway, for the general issues noted above, that is the reason most agents across the nation don't bother with putting MAPD programs on their personal websites.
Anyway, for the general issues noted above, that is the reason most agents across the nation don't bother with putting MAPD programs on their personal websites.
I have no clue what your first paragraph says because it's impossible to read but the reason agents don't have MAPD plans on their website is CMS compliance, period.
Ritter has an consumer facing MAPD website called "Medicareful" that works really well and is available at no cost to agents who work through them but they went through an enormous amount of work to make it fully compliant and still don't have all of the plans available for online enrollment.
