If You're a Cop You Have to Tell Me, Are You a Cop?

[Justin Bilyj]

Ever get the spidey sense tingling like maybe you are getting shopped? I won't go on appointments for Medicare unless I know the doctors, prescriptions etc. first.
This lady keeps calling in wanting to meet in person, wants something for her prescriptions, but the company she keeps calling doesn't have a PDP.
She won't tell me any information on the phone except that she's been on Medicare since 1983!
She sounds like she's in her 50's, which she could be on SSDI, but her current plan doesn't sound like it, because she woulda been put with an MA plan and the company she currently has just brought out an MA plan this year for the first time.

Ever take the time to go to people's houses if they are very evasive on the phone? Doesn't sound like a promising start to having a new client.

Ever ask someone who might be shopping you if they are in fact shopping you? Or is that a foul on CMS guidelines?

 

[axeman462]

Ever get the spidey sense tingling like maybe you are getting shopped? I won't go on appointments for Medicare unless I know the doctors, prescriptions etc. first.
This lady keeps calling in wanting to meet in person, wants something for her prescriptions, but the company she keeps calling doesn't have a PDP.
She won't tell me any information on the phone except that she's been on Medicare since 1983!
She sounds like she's in her 50's, which she could be on SSDI, but her current plan doesn't sound like it, because she woulda been put with an MA plan and the company she currently has just brought out an MA plan this year for the first time.

Ever take the time to go to people's houses if they are very evasive on the phone? Doesn't sound like a promising start to having a new client.

Ever ask someone who might be shopping you if they are in fact shopping you? Or is that a foul on CMS guidelines?

I never asked. But even if they did, they don't have to tell you.

 

[sman]

Ever get the spidey sense tingling like maybe you are getting shopped? I won't go on appointments for Medicare unless I know the doctors, prescriptions etc. first.
This lady keeps calling in wanting to meet in person, wants something for her prescriptions, but the company she keeps calling doesn't have a PDP.
She won't tell me any information on the phone except that she's been on Medicare since 1983!
She sounds like she's in her 50's, which she could be on SSDI, but her current plan doesn't sound like it, because she woulda been put with an MA plan and the company she currently has just brought out an MA plan this year for the first time.

Ever take the time to go to people's houses if they are very evasive on the phone? Doesn't sound like a promising start to having a new client.

Ever ask someone who might be shopping you if they are in fact shopping you? Or is that a foul on CMS guidelines?

So she's just wanting a PDP? No way I'd waste a single minute on her.

Did she say how she got your name and number? Virtually all of my business is referral at this point so if I get a call and they are vague on how they got my name (meaning they can't give me the name of the person who referred them - and yes, it has happened a few times), I'll usually tell them I can't help them. Assuming it's for a MAPD or PDP. And if all they want is a PDP, I tell them I just can't help them.

I know I was shopped once. It was around 2007 or so. I got a call on my home phone from someone (that should have been my first flag). They said they got my name and number from the carrier (second flag). We met at a restaurant about 30 minutes away. This should have been my third flag because surely there were agents closer to him than me.

It was only after the fact that I realized I was shopped. And it pissed me off because I wasted about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of my time. The fact that they would knowingly waste an agents time like that when there is so little time during AEP is ridiculous.

 

[vic120]

I honestly have only done 5 in home appointments ever & not at all in last 18 months. I will never again do another in home appointment unless I am getting multiple sales Life & Health & its closed and Its Not AEP.

There is not enough time to waste on someone over the phone who wont give info needed to get quotes. Forget about in home & suspect to boot. Forget about it.

The best part of not doing in home is when I get some like this I can say you might be better off with someone who is willing to meet you in person call them

 

[Bob_The_Insurance_Guy]

100% of my Medicare business is referral from Investment Advisors, CPA's and Elder Care Attorneys. All of them know to have the person(s) contact me via letter or email, stating who they've spoken to, and that they want to talk with me about their Medicare options. ..."and, oh, by the way, here are the doctors I see and the medications I take..."

I then send them a SOA, get it filled out, then call for an appointment.

I do not accept phone calls from someone who wants to work with me. It MUST be either an email or letter, referring to the individual who they talked to.

On CMS's smartest day, they are not as smart as I am on my dumbest day

People must know me, like me, and trust me, before they work with me. This is one way that I ensure a Medicare Beneficiary wants to work with me. It only works for me. I don't expect it to work for the rest of you.

 

[sman]

I wonder if CMS knows whether or not MA plans cover cataract surgery?

 

[paul43]

I wonder if CMS knows whether or not MA plans cover cataract surgery?

Yes they do. I just had cataract surgery on both eyes done, and my MAPD plan covered the surgery. The only thing I had to pay was my doctors co-pay of $35.

 

[Chazm]

Yes they do. I just had cataract surgery on both eyes done, and my MAPD plan covered the surgery. The only thing I had to pay was my doctors co-pay of $35.

Im assuming there was a joke in there that you missed

 

[fishfortwo]

I wonder if CMS knows whether or not MA plans cover cataract surgery?

I got it! Your too funny!

 

[sman]

Yes they do. I just had cataract surgery on both eyes done, and my MAPD plan covered the surgery. The only thing I had to pay was my doctors co-pay of $35.

Yes, I'm aware as is CMS. But at least one agent on this forum was adamant that MAPD's didn't cover cataract surgery. But he claims to be smarter than CMS on his dumbest days.