Have you heard of Plan G Plus yet?

[somarco]

I did a full analysis on the cost in the article but can paste some of it here to answer your question -

• BCBS Plan G: $120.18
• BCBS Plan G Plus: $142.40

• Most competitive Plan G: $94.33
• BCBS Plan G Plus: $142.40

Commission on the full "premium" (including the upcharge for extra bennies or only commission on the true Medigap part.

And Bob...I love you but at $22/month, it actually is worth it. Curves is more than that. And they all want Curves.

Love you too, sweetie, but most men (real men, not the confused ones) don't care about Sneakers. Anthem offers Sneakers (so does UHC and "Amana") but I don't use the other two. Anthem has been competitive here for G for a few years now. I can offer G with them for the same or maybe less than a competitors G plan.

And . . . they got their commission up to a decent level so I can afford to suggest them.

I don't recall anyone asking me about Curves, LA Fitness or any of the other gyms but they will ask about Sneakers from time to time.

 

[bekahsack]

Commission on the full "premium" (including the upcharge for extra bennies or only commission on the true Medigap part.

Good Q, honestly not sure. We can't contract agents for BCBS - they don't do hierarchies. So our commish is a big whopping $0! This article was really more about the commentary of where Med Supps are going. But it's always fun to get into the weeds.

 

[yorkriver1]

Joe has them on the run. Notably, UHC just added a small network dental benefit on the MedSupp in my state anyway, no extra charge. Not an awesome network in my local zip code, like none--more in surrounding areas. Thrifty sorts may be willing to get free dental cleanings there.
When I was starting out lots of folks of lower and higher income in the mixed income area I was in stopped at my WalMart table to chat and offered all kinds of tips on where to get deals on dental, hearing and vision without insurance. Much like kgmom's advice. It actually gave me the talking points to use so people didn't get overly excited about the ancillary benefits. .

 

[kgmom219]

Love you too, sweetie, but most men (real men, not the confused ones) don't care about Sneakers. Anthem offers Sneakers (so does UHC and "Amana") but I don't use the other two. Anthem has been competitive here for G for a few years now. I can offer G with them for the same or maybe less than a competitors G plan.

And . . . they got their commission up to a decent level so I can afford to suggest them.

I don't recall anyone asking me about Curves, LA Fitness or any of the other gyms but they will ask about Sneakers from time to time.

I get the Curves question all the time. The other ones all have to do with the City Rec Centers. The women want the coverage and the husband says "Honey. Its $50/year. I think we are good. And you know we aren't giving AARP our money"

I have always sold Blue and will continue to do so, but I am making a huge run at UHC/AARP due to commissions. And told Blue, with a detailed explanation.

And heads up, UHC is dropping Silver Sneakers and moving to Renew Active, at least in TX. Which includes Club Pilates.

 

[Travis Price]

1. Dental is stupid all the time. Unless you are getting 1 major service every year, the numbers don't work. Ever. And this one is even more stupid. You get free teeth cleanings. Then Basic services (fillings) are covered at 50%? And then it specifically says "extractions" at 50%. WTF does that mean? They will cover extractions but not crowns, root canals, bridges, etc? What's the waiting period? This is customer service nightmare. Either buy Cigna PPO at $40-ish a month or go without.

Don't let Lost Dollar read this.. he swears by dental and even carries three policies for himself.

 

[somarco]

I have always sold Blue and will continue to do so, but I am making a huge run at UHC/AARP due to commissions. And told Blue, with a detailed explanation.

And heads up, UHC is dropping Silver Sneakers and moving to Renew Active, at least in TX. Which includes Club Pilates.

BX (Anthem) bumped up commissions in GA 2 or 3 years ago. I think they pay 21 or 22% now. It was 11% before. Changed to advanced commissions (which I don't want but no choice) about a year ago. Recently changed from monthly commission payout to weekly.

UHC has been dropping Silver in some states. Still have it here. Still have no reason to use them.

 

[TRG1225]

Now try to convince them to pay an extra $30-$40/month on top of their already high premiums vs. a $0 MAPD. Med Sups just can't compete because they aren't getting the kickback from the Government.

I wouldn't quite say that. When presented correctly, most people with some type of reasonable income will heavily consider a sup. The problem is that on the captive side (ESPECIALLY in call centers), all the agents are pushed to sell MA because that makes the company more money and on the independent side, it's easier to write a person up with something that costs them nothing and if they live for about 8 years or so on your books, makes you equal or more money than a sup.

It definitely doesn't mean sups are a lesser product.

Humana has had these type of sups in certain areas for years. Total waste of money. The dental is never worth it, the vision is barely adequate, and at least for most of the time I worked there, the Medigaps included SS anyway, with or without the added dental/vision.

 

[Midlevel]

They don't have to live 8 or more years to make an agent more money than a Med Sup. Basically make double the first year with MA and then about the same after that with no pay cut after 6 years. Throw in a nice GTL Hospital plan and it's even better. Amazes me some agents still only write Med Sups. It would take a lot for me to have to write a Med Sup these days. Of course we have a heck of a Cost Plan in the Upper Midwest that is great for people who don't like the thought of a $0 MAPD with more copays. I haven't asked a health question other than ESRD in over 2 years between the MA's, Cost Plans and Obamacare and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[TRG1225]

They don't have to live 8 or more years to make an agent more money than a Med Sup. Basically make double the first year with MA and then about the same after that with no pay cut after 6 years. Throw in a nice GTL Hospital plan and it's even better. Amazes me some agents still only write Med Sups. It would take a lot for me to have to write a Med Sup these days. Of course we have a heck of a Cost Plan in the Upper Midwest that is great for people who don't like the thought of a $0 MAPD with more copays. I haven't asked a health question other than ESRD in over 2 years between the MA's, Cost Plans and Obamacare and wouldn't have it any other way.

Ok, I should've clarified a bit...it depends on the sup, and the state it's sold in. In Florida, you make more on sups because the premiums are so damn high. There's also a lot of people with reasonable income in Florida. Let's take a Plan G in Hillsborough County. The lowest premium I'm able to pull is $197.67 for a 65 year old female. That's $2,372.04 in AP. If you're getting 20% of that, then it's $474. $474X6=$2,844 (comm. yrs 1-6).

Assuming the same female signs up for an MAPD, that's now $539 year one, then $270 years 2-6. That adds up to $1,889. Even add two more years to that, and it brings it to $2,429. When I was heavy on the phones, I sold mostly Plan G's, then N's. I train people to start with G, then move to N, unless they hear something definitive in the conversation to justify deviating from that.

Plus, using your example of T65's ("Basically make double the first year with MA"), I'm making $81 the first year off the PDP, and $42 years 2-infinity, but we'll say 6 and 8 years for the sake of the example. That's another $291 in six years, and $375 in eight years.

The other factor in it is that the persistency on sups is going to be much higher than MAPD's. Even if they stay your client when plans change, you still have to put in that work again. That's time that could be used elsewhere. Not to mention, people who get sups tend to be more reliable for referrals. At least that's been my experience. Plan G's begat Plan G's, Super Chieftain.

If you're saying you make double the first year on the MAPD, then you're only talking 65 year olds, which means you aren't asking health questions about sups anyway. Even then, with the sups, they could have ESRD at 65 and still get the sup. So yeah, it was even less underwriting work the vast majority of the time if we're talking T65's ( I know, all of that is moot now as MA doesn't have the ESRD qualification anymore as of 2021).

That GTL hospital plan better have a spit ton of premium in it, my friend. Otherwise, down here at least, it's best to be able to present both MA and Sup like a champ for your clients even if all I was worried about was the money in my pocket.

 

[Midlevel]

T-65 in my area is $85 for a female and $95 for a male. Anyway not here to argue but to say the Med Sup is going to stick longer is totally wrong. Have to change every 2 - 3 years or you will lose them. I have had clients on the same MA Plan as they went on back in 2008 when I really starting selling a lot of them. Sounds like we are selling in 2 different Universes.