Jerry, I'm not trying to put you down with what I am about to say, but the posts here have been trying to tell you something and you are not listening. It appears that you have not been given proper training in the Medicare Advantage plans. All MAOs that I am aware of are required to provide this info to their contracted agents by CMS. You are skating on thin ice here. I suggest you keep your public presentations strictly generic as in my previous post, and in the meantime, get in touch with your carrier or FMO about required training. Perhaps someone dropped the ball when it came to pointing this out to you when you first began selling MA plans. Now that you are aware of the high level of regulations with these products, get that info before you get caught in the crack. (No pun intended) Medicare Supplements do not have these strict rules.... feel free to sell these until you get certified on MAs. My best to you.
MA plans for 2009
- Thread starter tommyk
- Start date
- 115
Don't worry, I'm not taking it that way. I have been selling MA's with numerous companies for the last 3 years and I do realize that there are tight restrictions. I'll look up the actual rules via CMS, but some of the restrictions mentioned here I really don't remember in any of the trainings. I know the rules asking about medical conditions and Rx when it comes to selling MA's (you can't), but I guess I'll have to recheck about asking what drugs a person is on in order to use Medicare's tool to find the most cost effective plan. Stupid rule if it's that strict. As far as I know there is no rule against recording a persons Rx if they volunteer them. This is what happens 90% of the time anyway. My understanding is that you can't ASK the question. If I keep my phone conversations and in-home presentations generic (no specific company or benefits) until that person decides which type of plan they want. Then I go though full discloser of the chosen plan. Honestly, I only remember the term "cherry picking" when it came to MA's not PDP. I will take a quickie refresher on the web. Part of the problem is that Medicare feels the need to constantly tweak the rules. You can't believe how many conflicting interpretations I heard on changing plans during the OEP.
- 115
Bob, where exactly does it say this. I have been scouring the marketing guidelines and training materials and I can't find a reference to this.
- 115
Sorry, I meant Rick.
- 115
Morning all, I'm still trying to find the written rules that say 1) you can't discuss or present more than one product (med sup & MA) at one meeting. 2) What constitutes a meeting (can I walk out the door and then back in)? 3)Asking for the persons drugs to use the Medicare website.
I did find the term "cherry picking", but it didn't get into the definition of the term.
Like I said B4, I contract with about 7 companies for these products each year for the last 3 years, and I take the certification tests over and over. I just can't see myself falling asleep at the exact same time in the trainings, and not remembering these facts.
The trainings do tend to skim somethings, but these are too important to do this. Any help is appreciated.
I did find the term "cherry picking", but it didn't get into the definition of the term.
Like I said B4, I contract with about 7 companies for these products each year for the last 3 years, and I take the certification tests over and over. I just can't see myself falling asleep at the exact same time in the trainings, and not remembering these facts.
The trainings do tend to skim somethings, but these are too important to do this. Any help is appreciated.
- 944
Morning all, I'm still trying to find the written rules that say 1) you can't discuss or present more than one product (med sup & MA) at one meeting. 2) What constitutes a meeting (can I walk out the door and then back in)? 3)Asking for the persons drugs to use the Medicare website.
I did find the term "cherry picking", but it didn't get into the definition of the term.
Like I said B4, I contract with about 7 companies for these products each year for the last 3 years, and I take the certification tests over and over. I just can't see myself falling asleep at the exact same time in the trainings, and not remembering these facts.
The trainings do tend to skim somethings, but these are too important to do this. Any help is appreciated.
I have taken those certifications tests many times with many companies, and none of them ever talk about asking for drugs, or presenting one product...
But its true, you are not allowed to do those things, and ignorance is not an excuse...
I have seen people get taken down for the dumbest things... I was once told a story of a guy that was supposed to go to 101 N Main but knocked on the door of 101 S Main, the lady said she never set the appointment, the guy overcame her objections, walked in the door, replaced her MA, and then called the company for a simple question... She told the operator for the company that this guy was door knocking, and he was reported to the Department of Insurance....
- 115
Where are the actual rules for this? I read the marketing guidelines and after I woke up, I was no more informed then when I started. I didn't see a definition of cherry picking. I either missed something or the info is in another spot. I spoke to the insurance commissioners office and they confirmed that you can't present both at the same time, but that's when sitting in front of the customer, not on the phone. She did say that in order to get around this rule, many agents will come in with two briefcases. One with Med Sup and one with MA. They show one product and then put everything away and then pull out the other product. She said that Medicare doesn't want both products sitting on the table side by side. What??? She also said that agents can record any health or Rx info that the customer volunteers and many agents do something similar to what I said in an earlier post, "Sir, I can't ask you for your RX, but I can gather any information that you give me". ?????
I'm not going to attempt to address the MA/MS issue, but I will tell you how I handle the Rx issue:
In making my presentation, I hand them a drug formulary and say something like "If I were you, I would want to make sure my prescriptions are covered... here's how to use the book: go to the back where the index is located and look up the name of your prescriptions, and find the page number in the formulary where it is found...." By this time, they are either flipping through the book or going to the medicine cabinet to get a pill bottle.
There are some plans that you simply cannot place if you don't know the Rx they require.
- 944
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