More insurance brokers would choose traditional Medicare over Medicare Advantage: Report

[sman]

Agreed

Im going only into 3rd AEP, very rural area. Hell, I'm considered high income here. My spouse is 65 in a few months. He's doing MAPD/GTL combo.

I've been trying my damndest to apply Somarcos ideology here and it just isn't a market here. It's practically dead in the water for a med supp here. All I can think of is Somarco lives in a highly affluent bubble, along with a few others here.

He lives in a decent income area, but like me, has clients all over the place. And like me, he does no marketing. It's all referral for me. Bob is referral and gets some traffic to his website. Bob is looking for a specific segment of the market. Nothing wrong with that at all. Really no different than the person who specializes in the Dual market. That agent definitely isn't looking to write Med Supps. Nobody is accusing that agent of not doing what is right for the client. It's a niche market with a niche product. Also happens to be a more labor intensive market than the Med Supp market, and even the traditional MAPD market.

If you are mostly writing business in the area in which you live and MAPD is the main market, you'd be foolish not to write it. Some of us have clients all over our state (I also have clients in several other states - some are Med Supp, some are MAPD). Which means we talk to people all over the socioeconomic spectrum. But if an agent wants to narrow their focus to Med Supp, he/she can look for the demographic that fits that product. Same goes with MAPD.

 

[Russ]

Agreed

Im going only into 3rd AEP, very rural area. Hell, I'm considered high income here. My spouse is 65 in a few months. He's doing MAPD/GTL combo.

I've been trying my damndest to apply Somarcos ideology here and it just isn't a market here. It's practically dead in the water for a med supp here. All I can think of is Somarco lives in a highly affluent bubble, along with a few others here.

My ratio is like 10 to 1 MAPD over supplements....

 

[rmhaire]

My ratio is like 10 to 1 MAPD over supplements....

And mine is almost the opposite.

 

[kgmom219]

My ratio is like 10 to 1 MAPD over supplements....

Mine is 1 MAPD to 99 Med Supp

And almost all of those are people under 65 and in TX, we only have Plan A for them and its crapola

 

[sman]

And mine is almost the opposite.

I'm at about 65% Med Supp and 35% MAPD

 

[Chazm]

I do all my business over the phone and I don’t do this…

Sorry, I didn’t mean telesales. I meant telemarketers.

 

[Yagents]

And per the poll, 2/3rds of agents would pick a med supp.

. Plus I make the same amount of money on med Supp or MAPD..

To be fair, med supp commissions are much higher in FL then in most states. $431 to $582 a year depending on which FL Area 1-4, vs only $310 in AZ (AARP UHC G). Almost twice the amount in FL Area 1 vs AZ, and close to MAPD commissions over 3-5 years

 

[somarco]

If you aren't in the market of MAPD you are missing out, period AND you are helping ONLY your chosen high affluent market for the most part(that's fine its a choice you make). Further, theres an entire market barely tapped with the U65 dual.

The few situations where MAPD is a fit for my client base that I really don't care about missing a few $$ in exchange for fewer client complaints. As @sman said, I have no problem referring folks to him that are not a fit for Medicare supplement. Plus I know they will be taken care of in the same manner as I would if I were in the MAPD market.

I had 35 years working the under 65 market and that was enough to last a lifetime. Some of my clients were lower income, some were salt of the earth folks but most were a PITA. Not going back there . . . ever.

There are 11,000,000 people in Georgia age 65 and older. The average income for folks 65+ is $48,000. KFF says 56% have an Advantage plan, that leaves almost 5 million folks who want what I have.

I like those odd.

Plus most of them are never exposed to a discussion about Medigap so I really have a captive market.

 

[Chazm]

I feel like 1/4 of these threads are a repeat of how great people are. It’s exhausting.

 

[DonP]

I'm with Chazm on this one. That's what influences new agents in a better way.

I'm old too. But try to do all of whatever health/life insurance entails. U65, T65, med supps, MAPD, DI, LI, CI, so I'm ready to hit all the buttons and help both the client and myself.

So much is left on the table by being a one trick pony-solve their issues and your own. However, to each their own.

If a new agent is trying to keep it simple and stick to one thing at at time, cool. At some point, and in a hurry, if theyre just doing Med Supp, they might go broke. New agents probably should do MAPD to get going and learn the ropes. In my area, med supp is a rarity although I get stupid statements from people saying, "well, my brother says go for med supp only...." when brother makes 100 k a year and sister is on SSDI with 800 per month with an adult son also on SSDI living with her getting 600 per month. Total Dual, oh yah, sure buy a supp and PDP.

This is such a ridiculous argument. If you aren't in the market of MAPD you are missing out, period AND you are helping ONLY your chosen high affluent market for the most part(that's fine its a choice you make). Further, theres an entire market barely tapped with the U65 dual. I'm having a hey day with it. And those clients love me when it's done. Talked to 39 people over the past few days in this very boat. All of those clients are extremely happy with me and are about to be even happier by January. I've just started calling them all for retention. Many more to go.

And I'm relatively new at this. And figured this one out real fast.

I will say this as an after thought: When an agent is 70 plus it's hard to keep up. MAPD is a shit ton of work when cognitive deficits start to decline. I have an agent now that's hard to get through it all.

The MAPD vs MED supp argument is getting old. I was thinking a few months ago that there should be a separate forum just for MAPD and one for Med Supp. Theyre not the same and ARE different and for different socioeconomic statuses. Only a few here live in the highly affluent areas, middle class been on it's way out for a few decades.

This is correct . None of us has ever doubted med sup is a better health product than mapd . But a $1000 u65 product is also much better than a $5k one . If you work the more affluent mkt then yes med sup the go to . But that’s a small small sliver of the mkt . I’m not in that mkt and rarely ever run into it . It’s near impossible for an agent starting out to make a living selling sups . My friend makes around $300 k a yr . He showed little taxable income for last 15 yrs . He was on $100 a month Obamacare last 8 years . He turned 65 a yr ago wanted a mapd . I attached a gtl hospital with it . 4 months ago he got diagnosed with cancer . He’s not said one bad thing about the plan . He’s very happy . The $7500 cancer rider paid so he actually made $2500 after the moop .