Marketing Medicare Supp to Seniors Not in IEP
If I read this correctly, you are naked (for Peeler, that is nekkid) when you open the door the first time.
Glad I am not your neighbor.
That move was a marketing ploy that generated essentially the same results as MOO's Plan N promotion.
All the sick folks get a "free" move.
Here in GA Anthem/ Blue ended the offer 7 months early almost in the middle of the night. Rates for 2012 were increased 13% for 65+ and over 300% for under 65.
I would not be surprised to see another increase in 65+ rates before the end of the year.
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How do you go about setting up the seminars in terms of promotion/advertising, etc.? Very interested in this approach.
True dat... Not sure if placing someone in the Anthem pool is the best thing for them but if they are currently at much higher prems, how do they get hurt.? Certainly we can see acurarily that it doesn't make sense for Anthem, and those rates must give somewhere. In the short term it is a fix for many, hopefully it works out for them.
Recently placed a T65 client with them; he's got the big ca and no doubt will need surgeries and chemo and radiation, and on and on. His $ 1500 yr premium is a drop in the bucket compared to claims they will pay for him over the next few years; ouch. Just part of it I guess. I couldn't justify placing him elsewhere. This brings up a good question, where do other agents place their T65 clients who already have a serious illness which you know will result in salty claims...?
I don't discriminate. I recommend the best overall value without regard to who is healthy, who isn't.
I do this for all lines of coverage. Never occurred to me to put sick folks with carriers that are doing stupid things.
That being said, a few years ago BX was the "Mikey" of major med, they would write anything.
So I accommodated them . . .
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I made a BIG MISTAKE putting some customers in Anthem. Even though Anthem had a 6 month rate guaranteed, they still raised premiums 1-2 months after placement. Now they are "investigating". Also, getting commissions paid has been harder that pulling teeth.
I won't write them again.
I guess the point is, by not placing a potential high claim risk during GI with your more competitive companies, the mindset is you are in some small way protecting or insulating the premiums for all the rest of the clients that you've placed with your A carrier. I'm sure it doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things, but that is my thought process in placing them with Anthem, anyway. They kind of deserve them, is my thought on it.
Also, carriers like New Era say that they are watching these type of placements during GI periods and they try to discourage placement of high risks during GI by threat of termination. [had the convo first hand with a Rep]. Seemed a bit unethical to me really, but that is what was said.
The way I look at it is, I don't make the rules or set the rates. I do my best to play by the rules and do what is best for my clients.
I don't do an inordinate amount of GI business, most is underwritten (about two thirds). This is not by design, just happens that way.
I have a few folks (mostly under 65) that are (almost by definition) in poor health and I placed them where I could even though GI under 65 pays almost nothing. At first I did it as a favor and a learning tool. Now I don't spend much time with them unless there is potential for other business.
I have written a few major med policies on spouses or children of those who are disabled under 65 which helps to offset the lost comp on the U65 GI folks.
One of the first 65+ gap apps I wrote was a guy that changed to an MA plan for the first time only to discover his doc wasn't in network. He has COPD and needed to get back on a gap plan and I accommodated.
I think I made $25 one time off him, even though he was over 65. Had I placed him with BX his premium would have been slightly higher and I would have been paid a standard commission.
That was a learning experience for me since I never paid any attention to the comp for GI folks with that carrier.
You mention New Era, and I do place a fair amount with them but only because it is a fit. Their underwriting is a bit more strict than most so I figure they compensate for the T65 business by limiting what they write that is underwritten.
Also, their rates aren't as competitive starting around age 73 or so which means they don't get any old farts. Most of them go to BX but if Aetna ever get's around to approving my paper work I will try to place as many 75+ with them.
New Era has not given me a "two minute warning" so either my block is doing well or they don't think I am abusing the system.
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