National Medicare Supplement Conference

[midwestbroker]

I am here at the National Medicare Supplement Conference in Dallas, TX.

I wanted to start a thread for anyone who is attending to share their experience / notes.

The Medicare Cafe will be broadcasting live from the conference (see link in the signature to join). I will be here all 3 days taking notes and sharing them. I hope others do the same.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Anymore conferences coming up this year? Thanks for taking notes for us!

 

[Ramal1]

I attended the conference on Tuesday and I thought it was a pretty good event. I'm fairly new to the industry (under 3yrs) and still part-time so I was eager to hear what the more experienced agents had to say about MAPD and Med-Sups. The breakout session I attended was informative but I would have liked to see more vendors. I attended the United American session where they promoted the High Deductible Plan and wanted to ask is this a popular plan many agents sell or the usual Plan F & G? Thanks

 

[JimmyUt]

I attended the conference on Tuesday and I thought it was a pretty good event. I'm fairly new to the industry (under 3yrs) and still part-time so I was eager to hear what the more experienced agents had to say about MAPD and Med-Sups. The breakout session I attended was informative but I would have liked to see more vendors. I attended the United American session where they promoted the High Deductible Plan and wanted to ask is this a popular plan many agents sell or the usual Plan F & G? Thanks

They are the only ones that sell it . I am kidding, but they try to recruit you as if it is the greatest plan in existence. Most agents sell Plan G and N, and if the client insists Plan F. I prefer G because if is so close to price as N out in my area, it makes for less phone calls from my clients.

 

[midwestbroker]

I enjoyed the conference. The challenge for the conference is it has to cater to many different insurance aspects, such as agents, FMO's, carriers, actuaries, underwriters, etc.

I am putting together some notes on what I took away from the conference and will hopefully have that listed here early next week.

 

[GoPokes]

I went on Tuesday and I got to meet Don Runge, The Lead Guru, which I was excited about! I thought about asking for a pic with him, but I didnt want to apear to be some kind of crazy insurance salesman..haha

 

[Ramal1]

Yeah I prefer plan G as well, but they made the high deductible plan sound like the best thing under the sun. lol Thanks Jimmie I appreciate your response.

 

[LostDollar]

I attended the United American session where they promoted the High Deductible Plan and wanted to ask is this a popular plan many agents sell or the usual Plan F & G? Thanks

(Ramal -- the laughter is not aimed at you. It relates to some humor from and for others. (I am not an agent) You will find the commission to be very low on HDF plans. The popularity with agents runs all the way from those who think it should be removed from the spectrum of available medicare supplements to those who think it has a place for a few consumers AFTER the agents are sure the consumers TRULY understand what they are buying. In regard to consumer confusion it would be much better (imo) if the HDF actually had another letter designation such as Plan X.)

 

[midwestbroker]

My notes (see attached)

Some quick takeaways:
The #1 reason seniors change Medicare Supplement plans in AEP is due to disruption with their Medicare Part D plan

If there is a $25+ monthly increase to a plan's premium, 40% of the plan's members will shop for a new plan (maybe not change, but at least look for alternate plans)

While more and more T65ers are turning to the internet for research (I think it was up from like 10% to over 30%, but don't hold me to those numbers), online enrollment (without an agent) went from only 12% to 15% over the past 3 years

Enjoy the info!

 

[LostDollar]

My notes (see attached)

Some quick takeaways:
The #1 reason seniors change Medicare Supplement plans in AEP is due to disruption with their Medicare Part D plan

If there is a $25+ monthly increase to a plan's premium, 40% of the plan's members will shop for a new plan (maybe not change, but at least look for alternate plans)

While more and more T65ers are turning to the internet for research (I think it was up from like 10% to over 30%, but don't hold me to those numbers), online enrollment (without an agent) went from only 12% to 15% over the past 3 years

Enjoy the info!

Have some incomplete and confusing info here.

The #1 reason seniors change Medicare Supplement plans in AEP is due to disruption with their Medicare Part D plan

Is the word change here talking about PDP plans, or real supplement plans A-N, or both? Given the structure of the system, I don't see people changing PDP plans as particularly big news.

There is a section in notes talking about Original Medicare Only beneficiaries.
How many of those folks were really truly covered by only Medicare Parts A and B, and how many had a non-medicare equivalent to a Med sup and PDP such as employer coverage?