No unless the company calls them and enrolls them on the phone . I write 2-3 a week on the wrong plan that are dsnp eligible . I write around 1-2 a week that have nothing and are dsnp eligible . There's millions of new people to Medicare every yr . I find 80% of the people i write haven't seen their agent in yrs or bought over the phone .
Having issues selling Medicare
- Thread starter Pungispy
- Start date
- 717
I sold Medicare Advantage plans to Medi-Medi for several years in Southern California. Like you, I got my leads from a direct mail postcard.
I had decent success. What I found was that these people had been on a dual plan for years and had switched plans several times. They were just tired of switching especially since everything was $0 premium and $0 copay.
Using the MOOP is useless because the governments (federal and state) pay for everything. Dental, vision, hearing and transportation were my selling points. It was extremely frustrating to be talking to a person with only 1 tooth in his mouth, enthusiastically explaining how he could get dentures, and he wanted to stay with his current plan.
I had several prospects who took 2-3 buses to get to their doctors but weren't interested in changing even though my plan offered transportation (a van would pick them up, deliver them to the doctor and then bring them home).
I would ask your agent friend who recommended the DSNP program to you what is the "hot button" he uses to get the prospects to switch over to your plan.
If you still have trouble getting sales, drop the DSNPs and switch to T65 and 67+ age group.
Good luck. Hope things work out for you.
I had decent success. What I found was that these people had been on a dual plan for years and had switched plans several times. They were just tired of switching especially since everything was $0 premium and $0 copay.
Using the MOOP is useless because the governments (federal and state) pay for everything. Dental, vision, hearing and transportation were my selling points. It was extremely frustrating to be talking to a person with only 1 tooth in his mouth, enthusiastically explaining how he could get dentures, and he wanted to stay with his current plan.
I had several prospects who took 2-3 buses to get to their doctors but weren't interested in changing even though my plan offered transportation (a van would pick them up, deliver them to the doctor and then bring them home).
I would ask your agent friend who recommended the DSNP program to you what is the "hot button" he uses to get the prospects to switch over to your plan.
If you still have trouble getting sales, drop the DSNPs and switch to T65 and 67+ age group.
Good luck. Hope things work out for you.
The food card is the hot button in my area . The health ins component is the same in every plan . Only one company has it in my area . But you'll be surprised how little many people know about their benefits and you can find a hot button to switch them .Your going to lose about 15% of your duals a yr as thats the nature of duals . But i think they key is diversifying your book with middle class clients and medigap. But your correct I'm seeing some "fatigue" in people switching as they've switched so many times already.
- 4,202
This is 100% why I like doing marketing that's inbound driven. Most people are pre-sold and I'm just collecting a check.
TRG1225
Super Genius
- 213
Main man (or Main Woman)...you're very new. So unless you had immaculate training, it's difficult to enroll Medicare clients straight out the gate.
Just spitballing off the top of my head here, but it looks like the following:
1. You don't really know the plans in your area. You need to lock down your knowledge of what MA plans are in your area. You need to know the differences of the strengths and weaknesses of what plans in your area have to offer. On top of that, how many carriers do you have to offer? Sometimes, there is just a monster plan in your area that has the networks and benefits in spades. If that's the case, it's just hard to beat.
Start with a popular company in your area and learn the layout of the summary of benefits like the back of your hand. Then do the same with your other offerings. I may be biased because I started out working for Humana, but I found their SOB to be laid out in a great way to present information. So, knowing how to read a Humana SOB inside and out, it was easier to know what to look for in other carriers.
Generally the layout I'm thinking is as follows:
First part: Plan name, service area, eligibility for the plan, plan rate, core benefits and emergency and SNF costs, mental health etc.
Second and Third parts: either dental/vision/hearing or Rx.
Fourth part: Diabetes/Medical supplies, DME.
Fifth part: 'extras' if offered like Silver Sneakers, OTC, transportation, telehealth, extra podiatrist/chiropractor visits, etc.
This is more or less Humana's layout. Everyone isn't going to be the exact same way.
Of course, Ctrl-F is your best friend. Once you have SOB's down, then you can dabble in the Evidence of Coverage for when really sticky situations/questions come about. Ctrl-F will really be your savior when opening EOC's.
Knowing what to know on command about different plan types is huge. This is how I lay it out in most cases:
DSNP: I focus on the 'goodies.' OTC, transportation, dental, vision, flex spending cards, food cards, etc. If they are DSNP, you have to assume they are only going to providers that accept Medicaid, so knowing who tends to offer the best combination of the most robust DSNP network (of course, verify providers EVERY time) and goodies will give you one or two solid goto's in that segment.
HMO: Know who has the most robust networks and lowest copays. Then know the goodies on top of that. The most critical thing with both DSNP and HMO clients in my experience has been making sure their primary is in network. You have to assume every client, no matter what type of client from DSNP to Sup, wants to keep their primary, and most want to keep their specialists (especially if they have a big chronic issue related to the heart/cardiovascular, respiratory, arthritis, ortho, etc.) . Put that concern to bed early, if not, any doubt of being able to go to their providers will come back to haunt you, no matter how robust the plan benefits you're discussing. Of course, you'll still ask if it's a deal breaker, but take it as a pleasant surprise if they don't mind changing primaries or specialists, and knowing your plans will help you take advantage of the flexibility.
PPO: Same as HMO, generally, with more importance on the network. Know if the client either travels a lot and/or has a long list of providers, or just wants more freedom of choice. Quickly address that they are getting a much larger network (and in the case of most of your national carriers, a nationwide network) with a PPO and that's why the copays are higher.
Sups: Knowing their background is even more critical, and knowing how to break down the plans in terms of costs is critical. I always make sup clients write down the monthly and yearly costs between the plans. If I'm doing it in the field, then I write them down if they'd prefer it and make sure they can see it as I'm writing and explaining. Be comfortable with the math. They'll quickly pick up on it if you aren't. I usually start with G-if they don't qualify for F, then N. However, you're in Massachusetts, so the Medigaps are set up differently. Know the chart that can be found here: Medigap in Massachusetts | Medicare
Once you learn that chart, learn about the different carrier rates in the area for each option so you can start getting comfortable with quoting/presenting sups.
Plus, Massachusetts clients are GI on sups all day, every day. That means there isn't going to be much of a sense of urgency unless they just want to get their sup price down, I would think. So the sense of urgency to get T-65's/New to Medicare clients is going to be much higher there, I would also think. IMO, that makes the market somewhat slimmer for MA, but I can't truly verify that without having been licensed there before.
2. You don't know what products are (usually) geared toward what types of clients. As Bibh said, if you're targeting DSNP, was this client who was tired of bills also lower income client who just didn't happen to qualify for Medicaid? If so, you will RARELY get them into a sup, IMO. Sups are not only going to be pretty expensive for a lot of these folks, but if you don't know how to explain it thoroughly, they won't trust switching.
If they are on Medicaid, then you could find yourself in ALL the hot water for selling a sup.
Knowing a bit about your client's previous (and sometimes, current) financial situation and prior health insurance they have had in the past helps you in narrowing down if they are more geared toward HMO's or PPO's and sups. People who had/have decent incomes and had PPO employer health insurance plans are going to be more likely to go toward PPO's and sups. However, you still have to know how to let them know what pluses and minuses come with either choice of what's available to properly button up the sale. I've met well to do people who are cool with an HMO or a PPO, and I've met people who had sparse incomes doggedly value a supplement to make sure they get a fixed cost. The latter doesn't happen often, but you can't be flustered when it does, hence the need of finding out what's important for them before spouting off about saving money or extra benefits.
3. You don't have your presentation/process down pat yet. As Fed Up and Somarco pointed out, you have to presell. I start building trust and qualifying the client at the appointment setting/introductory step. Now this is more or less me speaking for myself, but I wouldn't even go to someone's house for a Medicare appointment without having made sure I know who all of their providers are and what they currently have (so I know what they are used to paying). I also soft sell the close by asking some variation of "Ms. Customer, if I can find a plan that better suits your needs and address (whatever they said their needs are), would you consider changing plans?"
You need to build up an effective needs analysis into your process. It not only serves the purpose of getting you the information you need to offer the right plan, but it will help build credibility.
Knowing how to state what you're doing as a benefit to the client before you do it is essential. For example, "Ms. Customer, the first thing I would like you to tell me is what is the most important thing or two that comes to your mind when it comes to your health insurance?" If you can't directly address what's most important to that specific client, then more often than not, that client isn't moving forward with you.
Then find out what plan they currently have and who their providers are. Average agents find out what type of plan their potential client has, good agents find out the specific plan their client has. Let them know you're asking this to help make sure you're presenting options that address them specifically.
If medication is a big thing to them (like insulin or any more expensive higher tier meds), they tend to let you know in the beginning...if you make sure to ask what's important for them. The more you do it, the more you should be picking up on provider+medication relationships. If someone has an endocrinologist, you know that insulin might be a concern. If they have respiratory issues, an inhaler could very well come up when you get to Rx's. They tend to be tricker to look up costs on in the Rx Calculator if you're not experienced with it. Know if any of your plans offer better pricing with certain meds. I once had a client whose providers were all in the Humana HMO with much lower copays and more dental/vision benefits than her current Aetna PPO, but her tier three medications were cheaper with Aetna, so her overall out of pocket spending would have been higher from switching.
If they don't mention specific medications and/or I don't pick up on some hints, I tend to ask about meds after getting the providers and copays addressed. Might not be the BEST practice for every situation, but it was how I was generally taught.
One more thing that always gets me about how new agents are being trained: I've met agents who don't know what Original Medicare covers. All their upline/employer did was train them on how to offer whatever commishionable plans they have. A good place to start is with the Sup chart. Don't just know that the sup pays the Part A deductible and hospital copay, know what those figures mean and what the amount is. Same for everything else.
I've found this to be valuable not only when discussing sups, but when running into clients who don't have Medicaid but are only rolling with Medicare and a Part D plan. "Ms. Customer, Medicare pays for this, but only partially and/or doesn't pay for that. With this MA plan we're looking at it pays this and you pay this..."
Also, learn about the stages of Rx coverage to where you can explain it in detail when required. I've met too many agents that know the coverage gap, but can't coherently explain the coverage gap. A lot of clients won't require this, but when they get very worried about Rx's, it helps to know. Again, credibility.
Another thing that I've noticed is big especially for field agents in building credibility is that the best of the best KNOW the providers. In other words, they know what medical group or doctor has sterling and poor reputations in a client's area. They know if there are any big name specialist facilities in the area and what plans they accept (For example, down here in Florida, someone is going to ask about the Moffit Center and the Mayo Clinic. In Cincinnati, people with vision issues want to know if they can go to the Cincinnati Eye Institute).
In all honesty, you need to get with a more experienced agent who will train you to do these things and more in a proper, efficient fashion. There's levels to this even past what we all have said that you will have to eventually figure out in order to be a great Medicare agent. Hell, I learn from more experienced people here all the time, like those who chimed in above.
Right now, you might be doing more of a disservice to your clients and yourself without being properly equipped. Does your upline offer assistance with this?
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That is a specialty market . . . at least that is my understanding. Only a few carriers offer those plans. Seems like there is usually one or maybe 2 carriers that dominate.
That isn't my market but I believe those folks can change every month (or maybe once a quarter). Seems to be a lot of cannibalism.
This is from CMS . . .
At the time of plan creation, each D-SNP must identify whether or not if offers Medicare zero-dollar cost sharing. In HPMS, D-SNPs will have the option of one of the following two indicators:
- Medicare Zero-Dollar Cost Sharing Plan, or
- Medicare Non-Zero Dollar Cost Sharing Plan.
Basically, does your client want to pay $0 for the plan and have some OOP, or pay something for the plan and have $0?
Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) | CMS
I may be oversimplifying this, but I never cared for pursuing this segment. Seemed too much like a hamster cage.
Goes WAY beyond apples and oranges.
Phrases like . . .
Listen to that baby purr . . .
It has that new policy smell, doesn't it?
You will be the envy of your neighbors when they see you with your new DSNP policy.
Why don't you take it out for a spin?
I have never sold FE, so can't answer that one either.
I never talk to anyone who doesn't at least have an idea of what they want and are looking for coverage.
About half the time they call me, the rest of the time they fill out a form requesting specific information. Those leads are exclusive, never sold to other agents.
Full dsnps with FDBE,QMB,QMB PLUS and SLMB PLUS Medicaid qualify for all cost sharing benefits and pay no copays or co insurance . Slmb ,QI 1 , QDWI are partial duals and must pay copays at drs offices and copays at hospitals and outpatient. Both have regulated drug costs and never pay over $9.20 for a rx . Yes it is a Hamster wheel as most of the clients Health is covered near 100% so it becomes a benefit game . Who has more in food cards , otc , dental etc . Each company try's to one up each other . They can switch once a qtr . 1000's of fe agents have come in the game the last 2 yrs so it's double cut throat . People are blasting videos about 6 figure renewals not talking about how much will fall off as it's cut throat . I'm figuring a min of 15% falloff a yr . The reason is these people fill out card after card .
- Thread starter
- #18
Thanks for this. Pretty much matches up with what I'm experiencing...at least I know that I'm not the only one who has had issues like this. I wanted to scream to some people DO YOU WANT EVERYTHING COVERED FOR FREE OR NOT?!
I think you might be on to something about switching to t65+ instead of just low income. I hate to "quit" after just starting with the low income side, so I'll probably stick with it for a while to see if I can iron out what I might be doing wrong. Definitely by AEP I'll be hitting up the other crowd.
Take care!
- Thread starter
- #19
do you mind going into more detail about the inbound marketing please?
- 4,202
You're new and need money to eat. You're doing the right thing for your situation.
I focus on referrals from current clients, being found online, and sending out direct mail that forces the client to call me.
They already know why they're contacting me. The rapport building is done before they call me.
It's not something that picks up immediately and takes a lot of time.
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