MAPD my Worst Decision!

[goillini52]

Holy cow! That is extreme. People turning 65 and they're still in high school!

Haha, I was going to jump on that until I scrolled down and saw you beat me to it.

 

[myinsurebiz]

Very detailed and insightful . . .

Let me correct you TDS.

I have been in the health insurance business for a long time. Many jobs in many different capacities. Employee, employer and independent agent.

But my time in the Medicare market is less than 6 years.

I don't know how you approach things, but perhaps you are trying to convince people that one product is better than the other.

It doesn't matter if you are selling Fords over Chevrolet's or Medigap vs MA.

If your goal is to convince them your product, and your views are right you are doing it all wrong.

If you have never read any of Jeffery Gitomer's stuff I suggest you do so now. His basic premise, and one to which I subscribe is this.

People love to buy but they hate to be sold.

Your job is not to convince but to educate and inform, making it easy for them to make the right decision based on their needs and budget.

You don't decide if they can afford your product or not. You don't decide if one plan or product is better for them or not.

If you do then you are definitely trying to SELL them something.

I talk with literally hundreds of people every year. Some I can help, some I can't. I never sell them anything but I do help them buy a plan they understand and want.

I never assume or ask if they can afford per month. We discuss how Medicare and Medigap works. Once they have an understanding, they buy.

I never talk price until they know how the pieces fit. Regardless of their budget, price is not a consideration.

That being said, I did have a lady call last week. She was trying to find a plan for her husband and wanted HDF. We talked a few minutes and I suggested N instead. I compared the two and pointed out that, even though N was $40 more per month they have a lot less exposure for that $40.

She asked if I could take the application right then.

Of course I can.

I sold her nothing but she bought what she wanted.

If you can't explain the two (Medigap and MA) without ruffling feathers you need more practice. If you want to call me sometime and ask questions I will be glad to help you perhaps find a different approach.

But don't call now. Like everyone else I am busy. After the first of the year.

But only if you want to talk. I promise not to sell you anything.

 

[ExProgrammer]

Haha, I was going to jump on that until I scrolled down and saw you beat me to it.

I just got a new programming gig, or actually a new version of an old one, and this morning before I was really awake I got to thinking I could output the results of a report to a PDP. If you think about it that could be pretty inconvenient. There's enough to read in those anyway. I meant PDF, of course. Mixing programming and medicare stuff isn't always a good idea.

 

[goillini52]

I just got a new programming gig, or actually a new version of an old one, and this morning before I was really awake I got to thinking I could output the results of a report to a PDP. If you think about it that could be pretty inconvenient. There's enough to read in those anyway. I meant PDF, of course. Mixing programming and medicare stuff isn't always a good idea.

Then you're no longer an EXProgrammer...guess you'll have to change your username.

 

[I. M. Green]

I told you so.

Well....maybe not you directly.

But every time a new agent posts on here and says they want to sell MAPD I tell them to sell something else. Not worth the headaches from CMS and now the insurance carriers are your biggest competition, can't compete with them. They bend the rules and do a lot of things you can not. For example, Humana just took away the Telephonic Signature option for enrollments. Makes it a lot more difficult for us.

 

[myinsurebiz]

CMS is still a pain I see . . . But - a large numbers of Seniors can't afford a Med Sup - but, can afford a Indemnity wrap to compliment their $0 premium MA or MAPD . . .

MAPD eliminates the need to have to help the client find a PDP - provided the formulary doesn't rape them . . .

All 3 products can cross sell with FE . . .

I told you so.

Well....maybe not you directly.

But every time a new agent posts on here and says they want to sell MAPD I tell them to sell something else. Not worth the headaches from CMS and now the insurance carriers are your biggest competition, can't compete with them. They bend the rules and do a lot of things you can not. For example, Humana just took away the Telephonic Signature option for enrollments. Makes it a lot more difficult for us.

 

[Ardvark]

The first MAPD plan I sold in North Central Florida was to a rich guy. I assumed he was rich as his Octagon shaped house(on stilts) sat directly on the Suwannee River and after riding the elevator up to the house and walking into the living room I noticed his Flat screen TV was larger than the fireplace in my mobile home.

My boss was on a ride along that day, so I did my presentation for MAPD, then the medsup and reached for the medsup paperwork(I had been trained that if they had money they would want the medsup). He said he wanted the $0 premium plan. I figured I didn't explain it correctly. What about the max OOP and the copays if you run into a problem or the out of network doctors??

"Look, Al" he said, "I can right a check for the max out of pocket". "Here's my situation"

"I see my primary care doctor every three months. He takes my bloodwork and pat's me on the head and says keep taking your pills". "I see my cardiologist twice a year. He does an ultrasound on my heart, checks my bloodwork, pats me on the head and says keep taking your pills". "I am not sending $2400 a year to an insurance company when I am not using services".

I sold him the MAPD.

5 years later, at our yearly call, he says he hit a bump in the road.

Do tell, I said.

He fell over in town, was Life Flighted 60 miles away and they did 110K worth of heart surgery on him. Was out of the hospital in a week. Spent 2 weeks in rehab for a secondary infection. Total bills(not counting followup visits) was under $2000.

Of course, I reply, time for a medsup! He says no way."I figure I beat the insurance company out of $10,000".

That was 4 years ago. Three months ago, his wife signed up for the same MAPD.

Go figure.

Al
(My BOB is about evenly split between Medsup and MAPD. Been leaning more towards medsup since the ACA)

 

[LostDollar]

Go figure.

Al
)

I like this story-and it makes sense to me. But it seems like NETWORK is the key.

Someone else posted a similar type story awhile back, but it happened in TX and the healthcare facilities involved were not in network so the client's costs were considerably more.

(Although I like your client's style, and I bet he would not switch even if the other situation had happened to him and he was now at "breakeven" with the insurance company.)

 

[somarco]

Aardvark, this is a good example of helping the client get's what HE (or she) wants and needs, not what you think they need.

 

[G.Gordon]

Aardvark also demonstrated a way to NOT train new agents. There is no path that you should "expect" a client to take in regards to financial disposition.