Telemarketing MedSupp change to MAPD

[Todd King]

Can you use telemarketing to offer a free report (e.g. Medicare 101), send it to them, then call back another day and do what I mentioned?

Again, a grey area... I don't know.

As long as you are marketing for Med Supps you can do it just about any way you choose to. But keep in mind.....you CAN NOT do this for Medicare Advantage or PDPs. (just have to throw in that disclaimer).

 

[TampaHound]

Everyone is forgetting an important point. When making these calls, at least from a call center, the calls are being recorded.

You have a verbal SOA from the client basically. Your not in violation. Neither product is better than the other, they are just different and as long as the client is aware of those differences....and the agent is dong his/her job...I don't see an issue.

If your not on a recorded line, then by all means get the SOA. Although why you would not want to record the call makes no sense to me. It's there for your protection.

 

[policywunk]

When I think of laws or regulations for that matter, I try to make some sense of why that law or regulation exists. There are natural laws that coincide with man-made laws, and some man-made laws that make no ^&$-ing sense. Thous shall not kill, thous shalt not lie, etc...you get my point here.

Some man-made laws still in existence:.
-In GA It is illegal to use profanity in front of a dead body which lies in a funeral home or in a coroners office. Gosh darn, who knew that?
-In AL It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle...I wonder how long it took these genius lawmakers to think and debate this one!
-In AK, moose may not be viewed from an airplane. And a separate moose law...a live moose may not be thrown from an airplane...I guess it's OK to toss a dead one out, as long as you didn't spot him from the plane.
-In CA, the place we want to be, please know that animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship. What's up with CA animals? drunk, knowledgeable, spiritual beings that can't wait to get it on after they leave these type of premises?

Just to make a point here. So if you're calling about Med Supps, and the prospect says no that is not for me, I'd rather go down the path of an MA plan, then you're breaking the law if you follow up on that request. So I think there's another law/regulation called a bait-and-switch. When I think of bait-and-switch is selling an inferior product or claiming the one advertised is no longer available, therefore the shitty one is the only one left. What if everything was done "by the book". You got a referral, they were dead set on an MA plan, but you dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's, and they decide a Med Supp is what they want? That's not considered a bait-and-switch...why not? It makes you wonder then, that if MA plans are the shitty ones, why are they in existence with the full blessing and expansion of the Govt? The whole thing is preposterous, we all know it.

So here is what I would do, and if someone thinks this is breaking the law, then so be it. Have them send you an email asking you to contact them, because you're not allowed to reach out to them to discuss these type of plans, particularly the benefits associated with any of these plans in any detail. To me that is a reasonable work-around....and spare me the technicalities of it all. I get it! Otherwise....you just say bye-bye. End of story.

Bottom line it is non compliant initial contact and and considered bait and switch tactics by CMS when you get find MA prospects while cold calling med supps. its easy to get away with until you get a complaint and the first thing they will ask you is how did you make initial contact with consumer ? Would you feel comfortable replying to that question if asked by the carrier or CMS with what you wrote in your post ? Thats all that matters not what other agents do or say.

 

[Todd King]

Bottom line it is non compliant initial contact and and considered bait and switch tactics by CMS when you get find MA prospects while cold calling med supps. its easy to get away with until you get a complaint and the first thing they will ask you is how did you make initial contact with consumer ? Would you feel comfortable replying to that question if asked by the carrier or CMS with what you wrote in your post ? Thats all that matters not what other agents do or say.

I think CMS finally realized how much they were putting the handcuffs on agents and potentially screwing over clients when they took away the wait for the SOA. They have known about the situation concerning "bait and switch". They very well know there is a fine line there, but at the same time you can't say it's all bait and switch when it isn't.

I would feel comfortable telling CMS exactly what I was doing and I would actually dare them to prove that it is bait and switch.

If you read what CMS wrote about that, all they did is say that bait and switch tactics would not be tolerated. They gave an example about "saying" you are calling about Med Supps when you are actually calling to sell MA Plans. If the poster can show that they write Med Supps via the phone all the time then CMS wouldn't be able to prove the first thing about bait and switch.

 

[policywunk]

I think CMS finally realized how much they were putting the handcuffs on agents and potentially screwing over clients when they took away the wait for the SOA. They have known about the situation concerning "bait and switch". They very well know there is a fine line there, but at the same time you can't say it's all bait and switch when it isn't.

I would feel comfortable telling CMS exactly what I was doing and I would actually dare them to prove that it is bait and switch.

If you read what CMS wrote about that, all they did is say that bait and switch tactics would not be tolerated. They gave an example about "saying" you are calling about Med Supps when you are actually calling to sell MA Plans. If the poster can show that they write Med Supps via the phone all the time then CMS wouldn't be able to prove the first thing about bait and switch.

 

[policywunk]

CMS or the carrier doesn't have to prove anything to make an agent's life miserable and they can absolutely conclude that a MA lead generated by cold calling for med supp is non compliant initial contact.Based on what my T65 customers tell me almost all of the agents that have cold call them for med sups are also pushing MA in the same call so I am sure that the carriers and CMS is aware of this but its very unlikely an agent will get busted unless a complaint is filed and then the agent has to explain how they made initial contact.As an agent who spends the time and money to be compliant it does piss me off when I hear my prospects tell me they are getting bombarded with cold calls to directly or indirectly solicit MA .