How do you handle medigap price increases?

[vic120]

I let them know upfront all premiums go up and every carrier, I say we try and watch trends for lower averages but that does not mean it wont have a jump in the future

I do let them know we do try and shop the plans every 3 years to stay at the lowest rates as long as we can qualify health wise

 

[T Sparks]

That's interesting, I wonder why some of mine have gone up over $250 or $300 a month

The ones that were stuck on the NAME

They do however have great premium stability in FL,MI,NJ and NY though, CA I believe too but I stay far away from CA now

I do not know about other states besides Tenn..I have enough in my county to keep me busy.

Im also not interested in spending time flipping my book every 3yrs for what?

 

[vic120]

I do not know about other states besides Tenn..I have enough in my county to keep me busy.

Im also not interested in spending time flipping my book every 3yrs for what?

I'm only really only starting to focus here, and mostly MA here for some reason, And yes UHC is a top carrier for that here

But I have some supps here from years before and have been stable with various carriers but Manhattan has been starting to climb, I don't know what AARP has done medsup wise here, But I do know the rates I quote are not the same rates as people who signed up 5 years ago

 

[somarco]

A lot of these are F plans, so I was thinking about showing them G plans like you mentioned. I definitely don't want to play guessing games who will and will not tolerate these larger increases!

You must have sold most of these before 2020 . . .

I started in the Medigap business in 2010 and rarely sold F . . . almost all were G. At the time F plan premiums were often $20 - $40 more per month than G. It was a no-brainer sale.

It is my opinion, trying to sell them G now, probably won't go over very well. Seems like clients will ask why you didn't offer G when they turned 65.

Selling primarily G has mostly avoided big increases. Of course that backfired when I offered the latest Omaha iteration . . . but I learned quickly to take that carrier out of my quiver

telling people things I shouldn't have. It was more about me wanting to get them into a policy when it shouldn't have been.

Consider this . . .

You (should) know more about plans and the market than your prospect. If they are not trusting you to give solid, impartial advice, you are missing something in your approach.

To be successful you MUST offer the kind of advice you would want if the roles were reversed . . . and you must CONVEY that to your prospects. I always told them I would never suggest something that I would not buy . . . I MEANT that and they believed me.

On the rare occasion when they would say they had their sights on a policy or carrier I could not endorse, I suggested they find another agent who would accommodate them.

I don't keep track of lost sales because I really don't care if they go somewhere or not. But if I had to guess there might be a dozen folks who chose someone else . . . and I don't lose sleep over that.

A few have called back a year or so later to say they should have taken my advice . . . and I agree . . . but I never take them back. I shake the dust from my sandals . . .

 

[Travis Price]

G is pretty much still the standard. Maybe the price differential will increase where N makes financial sense, but the with PT miscoding and trying to explain the Excess Charges in a way that doesn't terrify people (even when you tell them it's very minimal that it would happen) It's just easier to go with G from jump.

 

[kstein]

Several of the clients I signed up with medigap are getting their premiums increased, average $20 a month. Admittedly I was very new and these were the first policies I completed, so I didn't tell them to expect this much of an increase (I told them a few percent a year, but several are getting double digit increase). Now I tell people to expect price increases yearly, but I don't give a percentage anymore.

I'm planning on calling and informing these clients of price the increases, so how should I handle this in the best way? See if they want to try and get approved for a different company and or plan (if they can pass UW)? How do you handle these when they happen? Any tips are appreciated!

Great new client your Medicare supplement still pays 100% of everything left behind by Medicare. They even were kind enough to raise my commission 15% so you should see that in your next billing statement. Please refer your friends to me.

 

[sshafran]

Other problem is once the book is big enough, there is not enough time to re-evaluate.

I doubt it. My book is moderate (between 1200-1400) and I just re-wrote two med supps today. Neither call took more than 35 minutes. I have all their info - the Medicare number, etc. Even the bank info on one of the two.

Copy / paste / apply.

 

[sshafran]

Several of the clients I signed up with medigap are getting their premiums increased, average $20 a month. Admittedly I was very new and these were the first policies I completed, so I didn't tell them to expect this much of an increase (I told them a few percent a year, but several are getting double digit increase). Now I tell people to expect price increases yearly, but I don't give a percentage anymore.

I'm planning on calling and informing these clients of price the increases, so how should I handle this in the best way? See if they want to try and get approved for a different company and or plan (if they can pass UW)? How do you handle these when they happen? Any tips are appreciated!

A few carriers send rate adjustment emails alerting us to increases.

For those that do, I have a standard letter that goes out immediately with a business card.

Let's them know what the rate will be and when. It offers to review. I do remind them that if they do want to make a change they don't have to wait until October.

Some call in. Some don't. But they all get my card one more time... #referrals.

 

[DonP]

A few carriers send rate adjustment emails alerting us to increases.

For those that do, I have a standard letter that goes out immediately with a business card.

Let's them know what the rate will be and when. It offers to review. I do remind them that if they do want to make a change they don't have to wait until October.

Some call in. Some don't. But they all get my card one more time... #referrals.

With a book of 1200 plus what % is med sup and what % is mapd ? My book is 1/2 that size and I'm getting bogged down big with 8-10 calls a week now . I think you said you hired and assistant . But an assistant can't do many things like rewrite apps and explain bill questions . There's so many things only a licensed agent can do . Many agents will flip a lot of clients to the next greatest plan during aep . I don't do that and won't . With mapd it's endless chasing the hottest plan .During aep if your reviewing even 15% of your clients plans I don't see how you'd have time to write hardly any new people . I think Kingdom says it best . During Aep she spends it all with existing customers for retention and writes plans during the yr .


Any time I see these you tube videos blasting how selling Medicare your off the hamster wheel with passive renewals for life I just want to slap them . Medicare is the most intensive customer service ins product by far . The product is used many times a month . With car ins you have a wreck on avg every 5-10 yrs maybe . With life ins you only here from them at death .

 

[vic120]

With a book of 1200 plus what % is med sup and what % is mapd ? My book is 1/2 that size and I'm getting bogged down big with 8-10 calls a week now . I think you said you hired and assistant . But an assistant can't do many things like rewrite apps and explain bill questions . There's so many things only a licensed agent can do . Many agents will flip a lot of clients to the next greatest plan during aep . I don't do that and won't . With mapd it's endless chasing the hottest plan .During aep if your reviewing even 15% of your clients plans I don't see how you'd have time to write hardly any new people . I think Kingdom says it best . During Aep she spends it all with existing customers for retention and writes plans during the yr .


Any time I see these you tube videos blasting how selling Medicare your off the hamster wheel with passive renewals for life I just want to slap them . Medicare is the most intensive customer service ins product by far . The product is used many times a month . With car ins you have a wreck on avg every 5-10 yrs maybe . With life ins you only here from them at death .

Def get to the point you need someone for things other then rewrites, My wife does a lot as far as lost cards, misbills, calling carriers for various things, just basic CS stuff, As well as mailing welcome letters, premium increase letters, this is a BIG deal saves a ton of time

Yes much of my time during AEP is Clients and a good amount of Referrals, I don't have much time for outbound marketing during AEP, I am going to try some inbound marketing this year

But thats not a big deal, I would rather spend time working clients, building relationships, and earning Referrals
Then pounding leads during AEP, and replacing lost clients that I could have kept, Also leads are not as easy as they were 4 or 5 years ago