Medicare Advantage Sales

[blessed7458]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, a licensed L&H agent, and trying to align myself with the right company.

Has anyone sold Medicare Advantage products for Aetna, Well Care, or any other company? What are the "true" earnings one can expect? Do you have a life during the enrollment period? Is the sales "high pressure"

I've been reading some very negative comments about Medicare Advantage products in general vs. traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplements.

Would appreciate any insight that can be offered.

Thanks, everyone. I wish you a blessed day!

Jane

 

[Kimber]

Jane,
I think that the type of experience you have as far as high pressure or having a life is entirely up to the agent. I know a lot of agents who are very successful in that marketplace, but don't let it own them. They do what is right for the client. There are a huge amount of companies in that marketplace and some of them are great. I'm sure that some of the agents will be happy to suggest a few for you to look at. (I'm a recruiter so I might be biased

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

GOsh Kimberly, You must be really swamped today.

 

[fostever]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, a licensed L&H agent, and trying to align myself with the right company.

Has anyone sold Medicare Advantage products for Aetna, Well Care, or any other company? What are the "true" earnings one can expect? Do you have a life during the enrollment period? Is the sales "high pressure"

I've been reading some very negative comments about Medicare Advantage products in general vs. traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplements.

Would appreciate any insight that can be offered.

Thanks, everyone. I wish you a blessed day!

Jane

That market is very ruthless and competative. Selling to seniors needs to be very ethical. This market lends itself to the temptation to become unethical because many agents you will be competing against can be that way. However this type of product can be a very good thing for the right client. If you do the right thing for the customer it will follow you and you can become successful. The MA product is an HMO and they offer some great benefits. The main thing you need to keep in mind is that the benefits are based on staying in the network. If they go out of network nothing gets paid. Alot of agents get greedy and try to sign anybody up and aren't being honest about the plan. The best way to go into that market is by doing it as an independent agent and having suppliments you can offer. Alot of selling in that market is switching them from one MA plan to another and that can get ugly. These companies offer alot of incentives to independents. I contract with a company called Healthspring here in Illinois. In 2007 they have the best benefits. Wellcare also has a similar plan. Both Healthspring and Wellcare coordinate with The Illinois Cares presciption drug plan and that is huge because it lowers the out-of-pocket dramatically if they qualify. Humana has a higher out of pocket, but a larger network and better name recognition. Aetna lags behind all those in benefits. Neither Humana or Aetna coordinate with Illinois Cares, but that could change in 08. I don't know what state you are in, but if you go to medicare.gov you can do a side by side comparison of plans in your area.

 

[midwestbroker]

Compensation will depend on the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into this. I would recommend that you have some type of leads source since all the carriers will be mailing info to seniors at or around the same time. Most individual efforts with mailings will be drowned out by the carriers mail pieces.

I would advise that you know Medicare in and out and have a supplement in your back pocket just in case they do not want a MA plan.

Fostever had some great advise about going to Medicare's website and looking at the plan in your area. Just because one company is great in one area, does not mean they are great in another.

Who are the major players in your market?

 

[tommyk]

SAI:

Kimber has time to monitor the site here because she is not emailing me something....LOL

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

SAI:

Kimber has time to monitor the site here because she is not emailing me something....LOL

I had the same problem

 

[michellea]

I agree with Midwest and fostever. It does all depend on where you are at. The service area I work, only has 2 MA HMOs and with both companies 98% of the doctors are in both networks. That being said I still ensure that their doctors and medications are going to be covered, just to be on the safe side.

Me and my fiance are both new to this industry so we started in Medicare Advantage, we both know that we are going to transition at some point to focus on supps, but right now we are happy with what we are doing. Last week he went on 7 appointments. The pay for those 7 appointments will end up being almost $4000 when we add in what I get paid for being the referral broker on 4 of them. So NO we are not killing ourselves to pay the bills. We work 2 days a week, make decent money and get to be with our children when they get home from school!!! I love my job!!

 

[blessed7458]

It sounds like you and everyone else are working as independent agents. I actually have a interview with WellCare tomorrow to work as a salary plus commision Benefits Rep selling MA for them. I'm wondering which is better...independent vs. direct agent?

 

[fostever]

It sounds like you and everyone else are working as independent agents. I actually have a interview with WellCare tomorrow to work as a salary plus commision Benefits Rep selling MA for them. I'm wondering which is better...independent vs. direct agent?

Independent is usually the best because you aren't under the gun to keep up a certain amount of production to keep your salary. However, If this is your only income and you need to pay rent, salary is a temporary fix. MA companies have to train you for compliance monthly because of CMS regulations, so you'll get good training depending on how compliant that company is. It is a great way to learn the senior market and medicare. My company pays $200/app for telemarketed leads they provide free.They pay $250/app for self-generated. Then pay $300 and 350 for over 20+. Dual eligibles pay a little more but you need to tread lightly in that area due to potential chargebacks. They also have contests that pop up for certain time frames like $500 $1000 bonuses for a certain amount of apps. During the lock in period it is still possible to produce, but is limited so you have to do well in the annual and open enrollment period to be successful. I'm independent, so I can focus on other areas of insurance during lock-in. I also get renewals for clients still on the books as long as I produce 5+ apps per month previous to their annual anniversery date. What state are you in? Wellcare has a pretty good plan in Illinois. I'm not sure about their independent contracts, but I was shown a commission scale for a captured agent in 2006 and it was $50/app once you reached 20+ apps for the month then like $100/app after like 30+. I think the salary was around $25,000-30,000 yearly. Don't quote me on this, but it is somewhere around those figures.