Medicare Advantage....how often do they change?

Mike Siegal

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I was listening to a med.sup speaker the other day who said, his med.sup clients change every 3-5 yrs. (that made sense...price changes). But then it occurred to me, MA clients hardly ever change (am i wrong)?
  • How often do MA clients change their plans?
  • If a client is in a strong Dr.Network, why would they change companies?
It would seem to me that they don't change unless a catastrophic illness takes place and they want to change to a PPO or a Med.Sup.Plan (and then it might be too late).

How often do MA clients change their plan?

Anyone...?

Thanks for your constructive input...
 
I was listening to a med.sup speaker the other day who said, his med.sup clients change every 3-5 yrs. (that made sense...price changes). But then it occurred to me, MA clients hardly ever change (am i wrong)?
  • How often do MA clients change their plans?
  • If a client is in a strong Dr.Network, why would they change companies?
It would seem to me that they don't change unless a catastrophic illness takes place and they want to change to a PPO or a Med.Sup.Plan (and then it might be too late).

How often do MA clients change their plan?

Anyone...?

Thanks for your constructive input...

Some will change every enrollment season. The advertising and agent calls sucks them in. Some of the duals will change several times per year. (When people are real gullible they will meet with any agent that contacts them and will do anything he tells them to do. Just a personality trait of the perpetually broke person.)

Others get taken by agent of record changes.

And if you haven’t lived through a season where your zero premium plan is going to a $45 per month plan yet, hang on for the ride. Those are fun enrollment seasons.

But some will stick on the books for many years. Those are the ones that make it worth it because the renewals are good. Just schedule them for and annual review every enrollment season or your competition will be reviewing the new plans with them for you.

Med Sups are a more stable customer base in my experience. Practically no maintenance or complaints except for when they get rate increases. And the rate increases are just time for you to re-shop their plan for them. You end up making a nice living just maintaining your base after a few years.
 
Depends on where you live but Med Sups in a lot of areas are not the more stable customer base. I've had people on the same MA plan for around 6 years and the Med Sup people want to switch every 2 to 3 years. Even if a new MAPD does come along it's a heck of a lot easier to switch them by answering 1 health question vs. 18 and listing prescriptions. Just my experience.
 
Man I have some MA Clients that call every AEP and want to look at every plan even if they stay for the next year, I also have a little higher drop of on MA then med supp

Some yes stay and dont ask for a lot but some drain you to
 
Depends on where you live but Med Sups in a lot of areas are not the more stable customer base. I've had people on the same MA plan for around 6 years and the Med Sup people want to switch every 2 to 3 years. Even if a new MAPD does come along it's a heck of a lot easier to switch them by answering 1 health question vs. 18 and listing prescriptions. Just my experience.

Different agents may have different experiences. But with my Med Sups, yes they change every 3 to 5 years. But they change with ME. That's the advantage. The Advantage ones seem easier for other agents and TV commercials to pick off. Especially if they have LIS.

And if they can't change due to the 18 health questions then ... they can't leave you. Make sure to offer them Med Advantage and explain it well so someone can't come along and blind side you. But if they are on a Med Sup and unhealthy, they usually ain't going anywhere. Too bad renewals don't last forever on them though.
 
I just got an email from Humana that everyone on SSI billing for 2019 plans is not getting billed correctly and will need to mail their payments in. I don't know if that is a regional thing or bigger than that. But sounds like a pretty fun day at the zoo for agents with a lot of that to deal with.
 
Different agents may have different experiences. But with my Med Sups, yes they change every 3 to 5 years. But they change with ME. That's the advantage. The Advantage ones seem easier for other agents and TV commercials to pick off. Especially if they have LIS.

And if they can't change due to the 18 health questions then ... they can't leave you. Make sure to offer them Med Advantage and explain it well so someone can't come along and blind side you. But if they are on a Med Sup and unhealthy, they usually ain't going anywhere. Too bad renewals don't last forever on them though.

I'm not sure the renewals last forever on MA. I know UnitedHealth, offers only 5 yrs ("in my area'). What about YOUR area?
 
I'm not sure the renewals last forever on MA. I know UnitedHealth, offers only 5 yrs ("in my area'). What about YOUR area?


what area is that?

I have not heard that before, As far as MA commission I have only heard 10 years or lifetime ever since I started in 2011
 
MA plans are about 10% of my book of business and dropping each year. Here are some reasons you may have to move plans:

Service Area Reduction (SAR) - plan pulls out of that county. You do get a SAR SEP that runs after AEP. I think it's Dec 8 thru end of year.

Plans change in the following way:
  • Premiums change
  • Company removes one of their plans and converts them internally the other plan with a letter to the client.
  • Networks change (large dr group opts out)
  • Formulary changes - saw one plan drop 800 meds one time.
  • New plan comes into the area
My experience with MA is that it's hard to build a large book. Sooner or later, one of the above will happen and you cannot see all your clients in enough time to make changes. The new OEP is Jan - Mar 31; it does give you more time but still difficult. In my area there were too many changes to make it work the time to heavily invest in this market. If you had a strong MA plan in your area, there would be very little service work.
 

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