Buying a Medicare book of business?

[somarco]

If your clients trust you, and rely on you to give sound advice and take their calls when they have questions or concerns, they will not leave you. The information you provide to them is not readily available anywhere else.

Saving a few dollars here and a few there is not as important to them as the peace of mind that lets them know they can get an appointment with almost any doctor at any time. Knowing they can be treated by the best and not have to worry about how much it will cost is a feature, not a bug.

I talked to a lady this week whose mother had 3x bypass surgery followed by discharge to a rehab center. A few days later her carrier said she would have to leave the facility because they would not authorize additional days. She lives alone and cannot take care of herself.

She has an Aetna MAPD, and in addition to being shorted on her care, she has no idea if she can afford to pay the medical bills when they come due.

Her daughter turns 65 in January and doesn't want to face the uncertainty of dealing with managed care. However she is in a bind because she says she can't afford the Part B and Medigap premiums . . . but she also can't afford to pay the OOP costs when her health changes.

 

[hockeyday]

Why would I pay a staff, it's my license on the line, I would not risk it by having "staff". I'm good the way I do it.

So doing a 3 way call with a company that you have told the person to sign up with on a recorded line total gives you a free pass, good luck

 

[sshafran]

wrong, It's a 3 way call, I've been in business 20 years, I think I am doing ok.

Why 3 way call when you can do it in 4 minutes on Medicare.gov and sign as "person helping."?

I'd imagine that takes a lot of time just an idea that might save you some time.

 

[sshafran]

I stopped writing part D this year, it's a complaint waiting to happen with these prices, I give them the phone number and have them call in.

650+ PDPs on the books. Zero complaints so far. Nothing to worry about if you are acting in good faith and being thorough.

 

[Chazm]

650+ PDPs on the books. Zero complaints so far. Nothing to worry about if you are acting in good faith and being thorough.

Yup. In 14 years I’ve had zero PDP complaints. Do the plans get worse and worse every year? Yup.
But I record the calls and tell them the copays and DED. It’s not that tough.

The only tough thing is explaining why their generic drug is a T3 with a $545 DED and MAPD plans have it as a T2.

 

[Midlevel]

Yup. In 14 years I’ve had zero PDP complaints. Do the plans get worse and worse every year? Yup.
But I record the calls and tell them the copays and DED. It’s not that tough.

The only tough thing is explaining why their generic drug is a T3 with a $545 DED and MAPD plans have it as a T2.

There is one dude on the forums that says deductibles and copays don’t matter on PDP’s and I’m a tool for thinking they do.

 

[somarco]

T3 generics don't bother me, neither do T1 or T2

GoodRx & SingleCare is my go to work around for ridiculous generic copay's. Almost all my clients use discount cards to save $$$.

They also know how and when to use . . .
Cost Plus Drugs
Blink
Eagle Pharmacy
Canadian pharmacy

 

[Yagents]

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Mapd wins when it comes to drugs vs pdp which is a "financial" win.

Med supps win when it comes to health care access which can be a life altering win.

I choose good health and life over money, 100% of my clients agree.

 

[Midlevel]

T3 generics don't bother me, neither do T1 or T2

GoodRx & SingleCare is my go to work around for ridiculous generic copay's. Almost all my clients use discount cards to save $$$.

They also know how and when to use . . .
Cost Plus Drugs
Blink
Eagle Pharmacy
Canadian pharmacy

Am I wrong to say a client wouldn’t want to be on the Wellcare VS if they start taking Eliquis? I haven’t found a lot of discount cards that do much good for Eliquis.

 

[sshafran]

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Mapd wins when it comes to drugs vs pdp which is a "financial" win.

Med supps win when it comes to health care access which can be a life altering win.

I choose good health and life over money, 100% of my clients agree.

I can understand that.

But a lot of people are pretty satisfied knowing that the doctors they're using and the systems that they are affiliated with will work with their insurance.

They don't feel the need to pay ___ extra for "no network" when the network is not a problem, and quite broad. You can disagree - in your mind you can't put a pricetag on no networks and no PA. I don't think it's that big of a deal.

But I can't put a pricetag on a specialty coffee that I buy from a roaster in Columbus Ohio that I use in my Breville espresso machine and have shipped to me fresh after roasting. Others buy foldgers and think I'm nuts for "overspending." But I'm not going to stop buying my coffee.

Most of my NC clients on MAPDs want to make sure they can go to Duke if needed. Yes, they can on the plans in my area along the coast.

Most of my Columbus OH clients want access to at least one major system (Mt Carmel or Ohio Health). Not hard there. Pretty universally they want to know if they can go to "the James" if they get cancer (OSU's Arthur James Cancer).

I sell plenty of Plan Gs and Ns. Have more on the books than most agents, north of 800, so it's not a lack of ability to sell them.

But I think MAPDs are just fine - I'm not convinced that when I sell them these plans that they're making a poor decision.