People are absolutely clueless about Medicare

[LostDollar]

How many people do you think actually read Medicare & You?

I have a professor friend in her late 50s inform me she's retiring at 62 when I "can go on Medicare." She was shocked when I told her it's 65.

A successful Realtor in a networking group I belong to keeps promising to call for an appointment because, "you HAVE to go on Medicare at 66, right?"

The poster I quoted and responded to specifically tied their post to Medicare and You.

 

[somarco]

When I was younger I was telling business owners, most considerably older than me, how to set up group health insurance and pension plans.

Now most of my clients are Boomers, some older, some younger than me.

 

[keese]

To be honest it's somewhat understandable that the average person doesn't understand Medicare. Outside of helping your parents or actually being in the Medicare industry, 99.99% of the general population has never been involved with Medicare, never seen Medicare, and never had Medicare explained to them. To add on to that, Original Medicare, MA, and Med Supps work completely different than your average group health insurance plans. Hell, I bet if you surveyed people outside of the insurance industry 95% of them couldn't tell you the difference between Medicare and Medicaid.

 

[goillini52]

To be honest it's somewhat understandable that the average person doesn't understand Medicare. Outside of helping your parents or actually being in the Medicare industry, 99.99% of the general population has never been involved with Medicare, never seen Medicare, and never had Medicare explained to them. To add on to that, Original Medicare, MA, and Med Supps work completely different than your average group health insurance plans. Hell, I bet if you surveyed people outside of the insurance industry 95% of them couldn't tell you the difference between Medicare and Medicaid.

I get a kick out of it when well to do people tell me they have Medicaid. The 2 words sound similar and the first 6 letters are the same. Many people are confused for the reason you mention....they don't know the difference.

 

[vic120]

You know what some are very clueless, For the most part, though they are teachable, How many times I get a confused person on the phone, And they say wow, I can understand that I have had agents come I went to seminars but this I understand.

I think many agents over complicate it, People don't want to hear insurance jargon, nor do they want to know every detail, they appreciate when they hear it in simple terms and how it affects them specifically.

Seniors are by far better to deal with then most other sales I have been in, Including Under 65 before ObamaCare ( I stopped under 65 in the beginning of Obamacare) Under 65, I did well when I worked from a brokerage but they were a pain. I don't miss it at all.

 

[Yagents]

Confused consumers are my favorite because they are so happy after hearing my simplicity of orig medicare.

It's the know it alls, that act like agents, are the most feared. You're fired

 

[gregj]

I think many agents over complicate it, People don't want to hear insurance jargon, nor do they want to know every detail, they appreciate when they hear it in simple terms and how it affects them specifically.

preach

 

[XpressInsurance]

I think a lot of the problem with health insurance & lack of understanding comes the choices people had while they worked. They had maybe two choices or maybe no choice of insurance plans, if they had choice it was between HMO & PPO, the difference was one cost more. People didn't compare coverages because they took what they got. Now Medicare puts the agents in position to explain & have them understand the coverages. Most don't care about having detailed knowledge of the plans, they just want the expert to pick for them based on their needs, or the old question what would you do if I was your parents. All of us have clients that call their MAPD their Supplement. We are the expert & we should do the best job possible to get them in the plan that right for them & that they can afford. Essentially we teach people basic calculus then ask them a quiz questions, to get an answer that is a bet that they answered the question correctly to determine future healthcare.

 

[gregj]

I think a lot of the problem with health insurance & lack of understanding comes the choices people had while they worked.

This for sure.

After a career of hearing every fall from their employer that "next year your health benefits are going to be skinnier, and you're going to pay more for them", all of a sudden their health benefits are more generous and more flexible and often considerably less expensive than they were paying just months - maybe weeks! -- ago. People have a hard time wrapping their minds around this bit of good fortune. And don't get me started about the magical mysteries of "zero premium" options....

 

[vic120]

This for sure.

After a career of hearing every fall from their employer that "next year your health benefits are going to be skinnier, and you're going to pay more for them", all of a sudden their health benefits are more generous and more flexible and often considerably less expensive than they were paying just months - maybe weeks! -- ago. People have a hard time wrapping their minds around this bit of good fortune. And don't get me started about the magical mysteries of "zero premium" options....

That's one thing I hear from agents from time to time, Is people have a hard time understanding $0 premium

This I have never had an issue with, I explain in my first call that the plans receive payment from govt in exchange for replacing the Medicare coverage for the time they are on the plan

In a rare occasion, someone may ask again how is this $0, I explain the same thing just add you have paid into Medicare all your life

I never after that ever had someone still confused on the subject