SEO - A Must Read

[Frank Stastny]

Wow, I had to share this.

There are a lot of threads talking about SEO and guys wanting to do it themselves. There are a lot of things that I like doing myself, get your mind out of the gutter, but computer related stuff is not one of them.

I asked Dave Miller to do his "thing", SEO, on my Med Supp sight. He is still playing with it but this is where it is now about four weeks after I asked him to work on it.

I just did a search on four terms to see where Google ranked me.

Missouri Medicare Supplement #1,
Missouri Medigap #3,
Missouri Medicare Plans #3,
Missouri Medicare #5.

Don't tell Dave I said so but the work he did and the results are worth twice what I paid him.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Nice domain name. Can't beat that.

 

[somarco]

I promise not to tell Dave, and I am sure he will never find out either . . .

 

[Frank Stastny]

I promise not to tell Dave, and I am sure he will never find out either . . .

I sincerely hope not. Think that was a mistake posting that? If he does can I borrow a couple of bucks?

 

[somarco]

No Frank. It isn't a problem. Dave doesn't give any credence to anything we post here so you are safe.

 

[Frank Stastny]

No Frank. It isn't a problem. Dave doesn't give any credence to anything we post here so you are safe.

You may very well be right. Thanks, I will sleep better tonight.

 

[djs]

Frank -

Dave told me to tell you that the bill will be in the mail by the end of the day. He would have had it sooner, but he had to go buy a calculater that had more digits on it.....

Dan

 

[Frank Stastny]

Frank -

Dave told me to tell you that the bill will be in the mail by the end of the day. He would have had it sooner, but he had to go buy a calculater that had more digits on it.....

Dan

As long as he will take a check I'm in good shape. He can even fill in the amount as long as I can fill in the date.

 

[Cenla Agent]

A very informative site, Frank. Let us know how it works out for you.

The line about "give me your prescription information and I'll give you my recommendation" may be looked at askance by CMS, etc. but since you are not actually selling Part D it's possible it may be alright. (I have to admit I haven't pored over all of those regs in a while and I don't know what the rule may be for those providing information vs. those actually marketing plans.) But for some, insurance agents are automatically presumed guilty even when you have the client's best interest at heart.

Along with the Missouri GI provision that we've discussed in the past, I see that all supps. sold in Missouri are Issue Age, not Attained Age. That's far different than the situation in many other states in which it can be hard to even find a company that offers Issue Age and finding one that has halfway competitive rates is even more difficult. From talking to you in the past, I had gathered that Med Supp premiums were quite a bit more volatile in the states in which I market than in Missouri. No doubt the fact that the policies are Issue Age coupled with the annual GI/Open Enrollment plays a role.

Various states have different laws regarding Medicare Supplements, so that should be taken into account, especially by newbys who come here looking for advice. Some states have regulations that are far different than what you will find in others. Agents will typically be quite knowledgable about the situation in their state or states, but may not know all of the pertinent information for your particular state.

Rating may not matter so much in that situation there, but in Louisiana (where almost all supps are attained age) if you show me a C rated Supp. company that is trying to buy the block of business with extremely low premiums today, I'll show you a company whose policyholders who may well be paying over $200 per month by the time they they reach 75, if not quite a bit more, especially if the company is relatively loose with the underwriting e.g. accepting insulin dependent diabetics. (This even happens sometimes with A rated companies with loose underwriting. So in that case I'll agree that rating doesn't determine everything and in any case isn't as important as with life, LTCi, etc.) Pick the wrong company and if you can't qualify medically later on, you're either stuck paying through the nose or trying to enroll in a MA plan. I've run into people in their 80's paying over $400 per month for a supplement. Of course many people cannot afford that kind of premium.

 

[Frank Stastny]

The line about "give me your prescription information and I'll give you my recommendation" may be looked at askance by CMS, etc. but since you are not actually selling Part D it's possible it may be alright.

I appreciate you pointing that out. I really didn't think about it but it is not something I am very concerned about. I'm kind of like the drunken mouse who said "Bring on the damn cat."

Along with the Missouri GI provision that we've discussed in the past, I see that all supps. sold in Missouri are Issue Age, not Attained Age.

The MO DOT made that mandatory in the late 90's. I hated to see that because at the time I was captive with the only issue age company in the state. That made it so easy to blow attained age companies out of the water. Really a good decision for seniors though.

From talking to you in the past, I had gathered that Med Supp premiums were quite a bit more volatile in the states in which I market than in Missouri.

Not so much volatile as predictable. It is the fact that they are predictable, automatic increases every year because the person was fortunate to get a year older, (that's a hell of a b-day present isn't it) coupled with an additional increase because Medicare increased their deductibles.

No doubt the fact that the policies are Issue Age coupled with the annual GI/Open Enrollment plays a role.

Actually I personally do not like GI. I have lobbied the MO legislature to try to get rid of it. It really is not in the best interest of most seniors. It is a major contributing factor in premium increases. I will be happy to discuss that further if you would like to give me a call.

It isn't good for agents either. Because of it there are companies that will not sell in Missouri and a lot of those that do have dramatically reduced their commission. American National's street level commission in MO is 10% because of Missouri being a GI issue state.

...if you show me a C rated Supp. company that is trying to buy the block of business with extremely low premiums today, I'll show you a company whose policyholders who may well be paying over $200 per month by the time they they reach 75, if not quite a bit more, especially if the company is relatively loose with the underwriting e.g. accepting insulin dependent diabetics. (This even happens sometimes with A rated companies with loose underwriting. So in that case I'll agree that rating doesn't determine everything and in any case isn't as important as with life, LTCi, etc.) Pick the wrong company and if you can't qualify medically later on, you're either stuck paying through the nose or trying to enroll in a MA plan. I've run into people in their 80's paying over $400 per month for a supplement. Of course many people cannot afford that kind of premium.

As you pointed out, that happens with A rated companies as well. I never license with a new company that has just started selling in Missouri, especially if they have dirt cheap rates. I always want to see the app and the health questions as well. The easier the health questions are to answer the less likely I am to license with them.

I know from past experience that within 12 to 24 months that company is going to have a huge increase. It doesn't matter what the company rating is. I typically wait a couple of years to see what is going to happen.

The only thing an agent can do is place a prospect with the company the agent believes is the "best" at the time. This does not always mean the least expensive. None of have crystal balls so we have no idea what the future is going to hold.

There are no guarantees in life. If the agent does his/her due diligence at the time the app is written, what ever happens after that is out of his/her control. We can't be held responsible for what companies do, what happens the the economy or what some guy in the White House decides is going to be best for everyone.