Here is a question

[MedicareWAA]

I believe that only effected how FMOs are paid and how and if they can pass that $ on to agents. And not on whether insurance companies paying commish or not.

It would have prohibited any compensation arrangement having the effect, or likely to have the effect, of steering.

 

[Yagents]

It would have prohibited any compensation arrangement having the effect, or likely to have the effect, of steering.

Ummmm.....call CMS director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. Only she can can reverse her mistakes

 

[sshafran]

I mean if there was soooo much uproar about the possibility of an agent steering , and effecting what is presented and the choice of a consumer

Then why is in the world is there such a Wisper on plans going $0 commission and how that will effect what is presented and the choice of a consumer?

Am I missing something here?

And 2 days notice from some. The MMofOH plan was strong for CBus. I bet a lot of agents had several appointments lined up for next week.

Now they have to pivot to another carrier. It's frustrating

 

[Special Agent]

Ummmm.....call CMS director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. Only she can can reverse her mistakes

i hear RFK and trump wants to put My Pillow Guy in charge of CMS which is great cause he will be all in for commissions and coupon codes!

 

[goillini52]

i hear RFK and trump wants to put My Pillow Guy in charge of CMS which is great cause he will be all in for commissions and coupon codes!

Lindel's doing pretty good for a former coke addict.

 

[rmhaire]

Lindel's doing pretty good for a former coke addict.

I stopped using the medicine cabinet in my bathroom because of him.

Last thing I need right now is his ugly ass staring back at me.

 

[Yagents]

i hear RFK and trump wants to put My Pillow Guy in charge of CMS which is great cause he will be all in for commissions and coupon codes!

Are you really defending the past 4 years of lequisha? When RFK hasn't started yet

 

[InsuranceGuy29]

1) Or they underestimate the role of an agent and figure (wrongly) in most cases seniors come to agents already knowing what plan they want so it doesn't matter.

2) Or they figure more seniors will chose this the plan if the price goes down because they no longer factor in agent commissions into the price (I don't know if they price charged is actually less but if it were).

3) Or the flip side to #2 if the price stays the same and they pay no commission now they will make more profit

4) And they don't understand the folly of rewarding for A while expecting B (very likely they will learn this is retrospect when they try to figure out what went wrong - resuming they come up with 2 when adding 1 plus 1). This usually taught in business schools, this is an update of the original article for the curious: https://www.ou.edu/russell/UGcomp/Kerr.pdf.

Agreed. The problem nowadays is there are so many stupid and unqualified people doing VERY important jobs in both the government and in major corporations, right now.

Common sense is the furthest thing from common in these arenas, nowadays.

These people are not only not playing chess, they aren't even playing checkers. They're just there.....with zero logical thought or foresight....simply taking up space and "playing important."

My dumbass Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago is a PRIME example......

This absolute moron just got voted down by EVERY single alderman (all fifty........I say again........ALL FIFTY) on the board for his "brilliant" idea to try and raise everyone's property taxes by $300 MILLION dollars.

I mean, do you know how stupid you have to be to get voted down by every single Alderman?? 47 of which are from your own political party.

 

[annon123]

Exactly, theyre here to end seniors faster than necessary.

While I would cynically agree that the goal appears to be to kill seniors faster to decrease budgetary costs - or at least the poorer ones (eg decrease what is spent by the government on medicare A, B, D, C, Social Security, and if they are poorer HUD, SNAP and Medicaid - if they die younger) I do think that not all politicians are high functioning sociopaths. Just like in any other profession some actually care for their "customer" and some care only for themselves and best buddies (the same that I am seeing on this forum as well). The problem is the numbers of people in positions of power who truly care may not be high enough to overrule those who have other priorities when they write the laws or vote in congress.

The ones living to 90s and even early 100s are the ones not eating the crap food and taking the lisinoprils starting age 50, and every other drug pushed upon them as guinea pigs. Same with people on disability and with mental health issues.

I disagree with you here. Not every problem is caused by diet or taking medications. Some issues are hereditary, others are environmental, some are lifestyle, some are a combination of things.

There are medications that are lifesaving - insulin for type 1 diabetes (to leave diet out of it since your body needs insulin and can't make it - people are usually born with this unless they have a damaged pancreas later in life), meds (and other treatments) that cure cancer. Some cancers have genetic causes, etc. It used to be that kids who got leukemia mostly died. Now 90+ percent of them are cured. That is directly because of the development of drugs that were successful for treating that. If you have high blood pressure (since that is the drug you used in your example) research has documented over and over that taking meds to lower that decreases the risk of strokes and reduces other cardiovascular issues. And the list of examples could go on and on.

Our lifespan is longer now than 50 years, and much longer than 100 or 200 or 1000 years ago in a large part due to the advancement of medicine and because of drugs that address problems as well as vaccinations that prevent disease that used to kill a huge number of people. We rarely have polio in this country due to vaccinations and it used to kill or disable millions, if they lived most them, later on, developed post polio syndrome and died younger because of that. My father had polio in the last big epidemic. He was disabled for life and died much younger than he would of due to post polio syndrome. I am thankful that we are no longer at risk of that in the USA. Small pox has been eradicated due to vaccinations so people no longer die of that.

I realize there are some people in this country who are antivax. Fortunately for them enough people take the vaccinations that those who refuse to do so (or can't for medical reasons) are protected. Also as a side note some vaccinations protect you from the disease, others increase the odds that you won't get as sick and die if you do get the illness. But not everyone is protected or fully protected because of compromised immune systems and other medical reasons.

 

[somarco]

@annon123, I mostly agree with your post . . . there are a few minor points that are not worth a debate.

One area where there is a divergence is this. I don't think most DC politico's and bureaucrats really care about the folks they "serve". To many, this is just a job with almost no accountability.

Legislation and regs rarely convey the rhetorical promises of "we are here to help you" when the folks that benefit are often disconnected from the promised gift.

Part D is one of my favorite punching bags. Most seniors (and quite a few agents) really understand how it works. I tell my clients that Part D is supposed to be confusing. It was designed by lawyers who know nothing about health care or health insurance and administered by for profit insurance carriers.

What could possibly go wrong?

And don't think that I am anti-profit. Companies that fail to make a profit will eventually fail. Just look at the number of retail closures and bankruptcies caused by the fallout from the government imposed lockdown. Some of those businesses survived for 80 years or longer, staying around through 2 world wars, plagues and recessions.

All it took to shut them down forever was government mandates like was never implemented before . . . at least not in this country . . .

And the "vax" was quickly rushed to market leaving innocent adults and children who were little more than human guinea pigs. Subsidized heavily by tax dollars with the politicians picking the winners and losers.

The vax, in my opinion, should have been optional, especially for children and young adults for whom there was almost no evidence of infection or transmission. There should have been a cautionary warning for people over 60 and with compromised immune systems . . . they comprised the vast majority of people infected with the flu.

My belief is the majority of the politico's and bureaucrats are self-serving benevolent dictators who could care less about their constituents.