Extra secret comp for MA plans?

[MedicareWAA]

So I have a friend who sells in one of these large telephone agencies that advertise on the television all day long.

She said they afford the commercials because a few of the MA plans give them a bunch of extra money for marketing. Like MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars on top of the commissions and the overrides and stuff. They don't even mention the plans in their advertising. It's just extra money for them to market themselves.

I have 300 MA clients and my upline isn't giant but they have maybe 100 agents, so we aren't big fish but we aren't minnows either. Why don't street brokers or their uplines get any of this secret money and how is it even allowed in the first place? I can't compete with the call centers getting that much extra money on the side and there's no way the plans giving them that money don't expect something in return.

My upline gets their override but they don't get any extra stash of money unless it's for something specific like paying an appointment fee or doing health risk surveys.

Does anyone here know how this is legal and assuming it is legal, how do I get some of the money to level the playing field?!?!

Not happy right now ...

Walter

 

[GoldenBrotherins]

Most FMOs get marketing money from the carriers. This is how some offer 50/50 marketing co-ops or free leads.

 

[MedicareWAA]

How is that not breaking the comp rules? Because according to this woman it works out to about $200+ per application on top of the street comp and also the override. The marketing money plus the override ends up being much more than the street comp in total!

Walter

 

[Midlevel]

I think marketing expenses and commissions are treated as being separate. They max out the commissions at $539 but the carriers can do 50/50 coop advertising and the more you produce the more they will allow for you. It's common for the companies to pay 50% of your seminar venue, costs for advertising, lead cards, etc. If you have 300 on MA and most are with the same carrier I would be approaching your sales manager and asking for some COOP dollars. What I receive doesn't work out to anywhere near $200 per client but definitely helps when they reimburse me 50% of my costs.

 

[DonP]

Noone's spilling the beans on what the fmo's are making . But I assure you their making $300 override on every mapd and massive marketing $'s in the many many millions . If your putting up 200-300 new mapd a yr you should be getting much better than 50-50 split. Matter of fact you should be paying zip for all your marketing

 

[Travis Price]

Marketing money isn't the same as commission.

 

[MedicareWAA]

Marketing money isn't the same as commission.

Except the rules don't talk about commissions. They talk about compensation (remuneration)

42 CFR §§ 422.2274(a)(1) and (2), 423.2274(a)(1) and (2) "Compensation includes monetary or non-monetary remuneration relating to the sale or renewal of a policy"

That's commissions, bonuses, prizes, awards, referral fees.

Stuff like training and snacks at sales meetings aren't the same as millions of dollars of misc. money for generic advertising.

It's not that I want the money really but that it feels like an unfair advantage over street brokers and not something that would be good for clients. We are suppose to be impartial.

Walter

 

[Travis Price]

We are suppose to be impartial

I'm not impartial. There are companies and plans I don't represent because I think they're garbage.

Except the rules don't talk about commissions. They talk about compensation (remuneration)

Correct. Marketing money is not renumeration. Think of it like this, is it a non-monetary renumeration if a company gives you leads?

 

[Newby]

So I have a friend who sells in one of these large telephone agencies that advertise on the television all day long.

She said they afford the commercials because a few of the MA plans give them a bunch of extra money for marketing. Like MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars on top of the commissions and the overrides and stuff. They don't even mention the plans in their advertising. It's just extra money for them to market themselves.

I have 300 MA clients and my upline isn't giant but they have maybe 100 agents, so we aren't big fish but we aren't minnows either. Why don't street brokers or their uplines get any of this secret money and how is it even allowed in the first place? I can't compete with the call centers getting that much extra money on the side and there's no way the plans giving them that money don't expect something in return.

My upline gets their override but they don't get any extra stash of money unless it's for something specific like paying an appointment fee or doing health risk surveys.

Does anyone here know how this is legal and assuming it is legal, how do I get some of the money to level the playing field?!?!

Not happy right now ...

Walter

There is a LOT of marketing money available to agents who produce.

 

[wehotex]

So I have a friend who sells in one of these large telephone agencies that advertise on the television all day long.

She said they afford the commercials because a few of the MA plans give them a bunch of extra money for marketing. Like MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars on top of the commissions and the overrides and stuff. They don't even mention the plans in their advertising. It's just extra money for them to market themselves.

I have 300 MA clients and my upline isn't giant but they have maybe 100 agents, so we aren't big fish but we aren't minnows either. Why don't street brokers or their uplines get any of this secret money and how is it even allowed in the first place? I can't compete with the call centers getting that much extra money on the side and there's no way the plans giving them that money don't expect something in return.

My upline gets their override but they don't get any extra stash of money unless it's for something specific like paying an appointment fee or doing health risk surveys.

Does anyone here know how this is legal and assuming it is legal, how do I get some of the money to level the playing field?!?!

Not happy right now ...

Walter