Obama Coming After Medicare Advantage

[jdeasy]

I'd be willilng to bet that we dont see 5 years worth of renewals. Things will change and they'll change the rules in the middle of the game as they've already shown they will do.

Not only will we not get those renewals, I'm afraid the next casualty is going to be the other half of our commission for a "new to MA" enrollment.

 

[azmedsupagent]

I have seen even higher than that Frank, and the least expensive for the older ones are over $200 here in the metro area. Granted, those on the high priced Med Sups can and need to be changed, but most states do not have the luxury you and I enjoy in MO with the guaranteed issue from plan to plan. It still is not common knowledge among seniors that they can change med sups each year here in MO.

I am seeing some of the more obscure Med Sup alphabet plans which are hard to replace 'like to like' on the guaranteed annual issue, because the majors are only offering a couple of the letters as options.

I was trying to make a point, and perhaps embellished, but even $200 is a lot of money to a fixed income senior. When Obama starts the funding cuts and the MA vendors purposely overreact and raise premiums and/or copays, the sh*t will hit the proverbial fan. Can you imagine if MA's are taken away and CMS forces the Med Sup carriers to Guarantee Issue everyone coming back to Med Sups. That is going to be fun and profitable for the Med Sup sales makers, and going to cause some major premium increases to the Med Subs.

I see your point here however I dont think the premium increases will be that substantial. Those millions of seniors going back onto medsupps with an SEP will increase claims but they will also proportionatley increase the size of the risk pool therefore diluting any additional claims risk. I am no actuary but I would imagine that the increases would not be unreasonable.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I have seen even higher than that Frank, and the least expensive for the older ones are over $200 here in the metro area. Granted, those on the high priced Med Sups can and need to be changed, but most states do not have the luxury you and I enjoy in MO with the guaranteed issue from plan to plan. It still is not common knowledge among seniors that they can change med sups each year here in MO.

I am seeing some of the more obscure Med Sup alphabet plans which are hard to replace 'like to like' on the guaranteed annual issue, because the majors are only offering a couple of the letters as options.

I was trying to make a point, and perhaps embellished, but even $200 is a lot of money to a fixed income senior.

I think the assumption that all seniors are "broke" and the "fixed income" they are living on only enables them to buy cat food for dinner is being propagated by those who are pushing only the MA plans.

I have been selling Med Supps for fifteen years and I have not encountered that many people who really can't afford a Med Supp if they want one. I had an appointment just before Christmas with a couple who live in the country. Their house was maybe 800 square feet, very old furniture and to look around I would have thought they were on Medicaid.

I sold each a Med Supp and she handed me their checkbook so I could make out the check. She also asked me to enter it in the check register. When I looked at it they had over $75,000 in their checkbook. I asked why they had so much money in their checking account, he said just in case I need to buy something.

If an agent is selling MA plans in the "inner city" then I can see that but not where I sell Med Supps.

It still doesn't keep them from whining about being on a "fixed income".

Take a look at National States. Their tier four premiums are around Rolla, their tier two premiums are in the St. Louis area.

640 Zip Codes are tier two also (Independence is one). A plan D for a non-tobacco, 75 year old female in 640 zip code is $110.07 per month. That is a far cry from $400 per month. And, you can make 23% commission when you sell it if you give me a call.

I can easily convince "her" that a Med Supp is going to be far superior to her MA plan. Especially if "she" travels out of state a lot as in being "snow bird".

 

[patch36]

I agree, but...

I am selling quite a few Med Sups this year. I am not in your league, but I don't make most of my living off of Med Sups.

I still have the number and contact for National States you gave me, but I have been 'busy'. I will give him a call this week. I need something for the 641 zips that beats MoO/UoO rates. Everybody beats their commissions

As always, I defer to your experience and expertise in this area. The problem in the metro is these people are being bombarded with marketing and word of mouth about the MA plans. We have a couple good PPO's here and they are working well for most people. The med sup rates in the metro are too high and are leaving the door open for the MA's.

I am going to market more in the more rural areas for the next 6 months and keep building my Med Sup book. The MA's are too uncertain to put much time into. The only Medicare I have sold for 2 weeks have been Med Sups, all here in the metro area...