Retail Pharmacies During AEP

[policy doctor]

By now several of you agents have received
emails that UHC is contracting with thousands of drug store and grocery stores chains thru out US fir AEP season.

Why did they and Humana lose their contract with Walmart?

Wasn;t this idea tried before several years ago and CMS nixed it? Interesting they are resurrecting this approach.

 

[jsanchez001]

Was this successful for any producers? Will it be worth my time?

 

[sman]

I guess it could work for some folks. I just can't see myself sitting in a pharmacy for several hours a day. And definitely not for a $25-$50 commissions. Not only that, but if a specific carrier is setting it up, they aren't going to let you offer other carriers plans. As many of you know, there is no one size fits all, especially in the Part D market. But there will be agents who jump on board and push one product regardless of the situation and do a disservice to the client.

 

[DS4]

It comes down to this. Do you want to do what is good for the pharmacy/grocery store, or, what's good for the applicant?

 

[policy doctor]

I was up in Western New York back in April, and I noticed that the BC/BS co had set up a few offices to sell MA's or get information about them. These were in a strip plaza close to a grocery store. Is this a trend?

I wish I took the time to go in and find out what that was about, but perhaps a NY agent will read this post and fill us in if they know.

Well hi there, Sman. Still ticked at me? and speaking of low commissions, those low med supp premiums will only generate a couple bucks above broke, don't you think.

 

[sman]

Oh I'm not ticked at you. Just didn't get why you felt the need to add the little comment in your post. It was irrelevant. Evidently your ego needed a little stroking.

As for the commissions on the low med supp premiums, they aren't much lower than any other carrier since they pay on the Part B deductible portion of the premium. Going to write my first applications with them tomorrow. Plan G though, not Plan F.

 

[MrMack]

I worked in a small town Wal-Mart in Iliinois 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day for several weeks. I had the best luck with the Wal-Mart employees. The booth cost me nothing and I had more sales that I would have had. 7 MAPD and 1 Med Sup were obtained in AEP. The booth was set up by UHC.

 

[MedSuppPro]

It's location, location, location. Last OEP, I visited a Walmart in a county with a lot of MA terms and they were rocking! In another it was nothingvill.

A word of CAUTION. Some of the UHC FMO's did this last year. Seems to be an agent lead generator. They got everyone excited, took names, and did only a few locations. Has anyone seen anything directly from UHC on this?

 

[midwestbroker]

I worked for Humana when they started the Wally World promotion in Kansas City. Was great the first year as everyone on Medicare was making a decision. Lots of business then.

However, as the next few years rolled by, it became more of a customer service booth then a sales booth. So, they are out of most of the Wal Marts here. I think they maintain 4 or 5 all year round (the one closest to my house has a booth in it all year).

Not a bad gig for a captive Humana agent as they have a salary to sit there. If I was in independent agent looking at this, I would just get friendly with all the local pharmacies that I could and hand them out info sheets (not for use with public) and use them as a referral source.

Just my $.02

 

[ksigmtsu]

I have a idea, personally I have a local drugstore that told me if I wanted to set up in there and post a schedule of when I'd be there I could set up a table whenever I wanted to sell any medicare product.

Why not set up there, run part D reviews for people, help them enroll in part D plans (not for commission) and generate med supp leads. Just takes a laptop and wifi connection. That way you're not locked in with a specific advantage plan, or part D for marketing, and you can answer any questions they throw at you honestly. You're not selling or marketing anything, you're helping them use the government drug plan comparison website tool.

I'm going to test it out during AEP for a couple days a week, I bet it generates enough leads to be worth the hassle.