WellCare Do Ya or Don't?

[MedSuppPro]

Great replies!

High Road or High Risk!​

Not sure how you get 600 Human plans switched over to WellCare -- even if you started October 15th.

The best information I found about WellCare is their Q3 Statement. If you have access to AOL you can listen to it. Listen to the presenters voice crackle.

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Q3 2007 Earnings Call


Transcript available @ www.SeekingAlpha.com​

Please be advised that most E&O carrier's will NOT cover non-rated or lower then A- AMBest placed business. So your on your own with any carrier whom your client thought they had coverage prior to their quad-by-pass and then after coming out of intensive care is told their carrier tanked. Who pays the bills then? And don't tell me CMS will!

I cancelled my two WellCare appointments (4 Lives) today! I'll waite and see!

 

[AgentOrange]

Greensky, Careful about contacting your clients and telling them WellCare is in an unstable state. For one, that's not truely known yet and two, that's defamation ( a serious offense in our industry ).

p.s. Health First ( a very large MA carrier in NY ) got raided last week too.

 

[Cenla Agent]

Great replies!

High Road or High Risk!​

Not sure how you get 600 Human plans switched over to WellCare -- even if you started October 15th.

The best information I found about WellCare is their Q3 Statement. If you have access to AOL you can listen to it. Listen to the presenters voice crackle.

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Q3 2007 Earnings Call


Transcript available @ www.SeekingAlpha.com​

Please be advised that most E&O carrier's will NOT cover non-rated or lower then A- AMBest placed business. So your on your own with any carrier whom your client thought they had coverage prior to their quad-by-pass and then after coming out of intensive care is told their carrier tanked. Who pays the bills then? And don't tell me CMS will!

I cancelled my two WellCare appointments (4 Lives) today! I'll waite and see!

The last time I looked, in Louisiana both Humana and BC/BS (of LA) were rated below A-. I think this was the case with WellCare as well, prior to the raid.

With the exception of United Health, many if not most of the major players in the MA market are going to be rated below A- due to the continued uncertainty about the long term prospects for MA. The last time I checked Pyramid was rated something like B+.

 

[fostever]

This is America the last time I checked and you are innocent until proven quilty. They still are regulated by CMS and untill CMS cancels their contract they have a great plan in my area. The U.S. Dept. of Justice has even said that the investigation "does not directly concern, nor should it have any impact on, the delivery of healthcare service to any person"

It is against CMS rules to talk about other plans. I do tell clients about the FBI raiding the HQ but that CMS has not termed their product. If it bothers them, I will talk about Unicare or Todays Options.

In my opinion the fact that they are under the radar will have them working that much harder to make sure things go smoothly as possible.

I also feel that the benefits are so stong that I would be doing a dis-service not offering this plan to my existing clients. I have over 500 Humana Gold Choice clients that the Sonata pan blows out of the water. Humana posts record earnings and then makes their plan weaker.

You take the time to make sure their Dr. are deemed? Well I do that also but you also tell your cients that they may be deemed today but tomorrow that can change...right? Also I have talked with Wellcare provider relations and they are stepping up by getting Drs. to stay deemed for 60 days from the time they last saw them. This is something that none of the other companies are doing as far as I have heard.

My clients are excited about the Dental, vision and hearing benefits that Wellcare offer.

My clients have been calling me asking about this plan and I have had only 1 person decide not to get it out of 30 appointments.

Bottom line....I let them make the decision to join or not.

quilty, Are they producing quilts now? Is that an additional benefit? Shame on them.

 

[MedSuppPro]

Those of us in the MedSupp business back in 2002 remember the CONSECO bankruptcy.

This is not someplace I want to go!

I was geared up with WellCare even after the FBI raid, till I read this article.

11/12/2007 10:14 AM EST

http://www.thestreet.com/newsanalysis/healthcare/10389406.html

This going to be a hard week and it's only Monday!

 

[policy doctor]

Sounds like Wellcare is getting squeezed. I sure would be leery of writing them.

Cleveland Clinic Drops WellCare - News & Analysis - Health Care - WCG - WCG

 

[fostever]

One of our sleezist agents got canned as an independent for compliance violations. He was always showing off his checks. He used to just talk fast and say everything is zero. Almost all the time he'd promise to get them qualified as dual eligible even if they weren't close to the income level. Now he is with Wellcare. Seems fitting that they are getting raided. We joke around and say it was his fault.

 

[scottfree]

Sounds like Wellcare is getting squeezed. I sure would be leery of writing them.

Cleveland Clinic Drops WellCare - News & Analysis - Health Care - WCG - WCG

I am signing people on Wellcare. It has the best benefits of all the plans in my area. I am not sure why a lot of people are saying they are guilty of "whatever" when Medicare still says we can sell it. Even if they did lose their contract which it is really doubtful that will happen, they would have an SEP and would be able to get back on their old plan or pick a different one.

Here is some more articles talking about that talk about things not being so bad.

Recovery Hopes Lift WellCare - News & Analysis - Health Care - WCG - WCG

Out of the Gate: WellCare Gains Ground: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

WellCare Earns Senior Choice Gold Award for Medicare Advantage Benefits Plan: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

 

[fostever]

I am signing people on Wellcare. It has the best benefits of all the plans in my area. I am not sure why a lot of people are saying they are guilty of "whatever" when Medicare still says we can sell it. Even if they did lose their contract which it is really doubtful that will happen, they would have an SEP and would be able to get back on their old plan or pick a different one.

Here is some more articles talking about that talk about things not being so bad.

Recovery Hopes Lift WellCare - News & Analysis - Health Care - WCG - WCG

Out of the Gate: WellCare Gains Ground: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

WellCare Earns Senior Choice Gold Award for Medicare Advantage Benefits Plan: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

I agree they have some of the most competative benefits available in my area. The only problem I've seen is that we've encountered a lack of compliance with CMS regulations when talking to clients who got bumped off the plan I sell. We've seen numerous times where Wellcare reps fail to mention that the client will be dropped from their current plan if they sign. They have been reported to just tell them they are getting extra benefits and don't go through the summary of benefits or anything. They have a great plan, if they just presented correctly it would be to their advantage. I know that this is a big problem throughout the industry. I also suspect some conflict of interest scenarios, seeing how they kind of own the county officials around here. I hope they come out OK, because it could effect all the other MA plans in the future.

 

[Cenla Agent]

I agree they have some of the most competative benefits available in my area. The only problem I've seen is that we've encountered a lack of compliance with CMS regulations when talking to clients who got bumped off the plan I sell. We've seen numerous times where Wellcare reps fail to mention that the client will be dropped from their current plan if they sign. They have been reported to just tell them they are getting extra benefits and don't go through the summary of benefits or anything. They have a great plan, if they just presented correctly it would be to their advantage. I know that this is a big problem throughout the industry. I also suspect some conflict of interest scenarios, seeing how they kind of own the county officials around here. I hope they come out OK, because it could effect all the other MA plans in the future.

I've seen similar things from agents of other companies as well, particularly last year with Pyramid and Advantra. Some people didn't know they had been enrolled in Pyramid and in at least one case, the moron Coventry/Advantra agent put the client in his MA only product from a Humana MAPD, and didn't enroll her in their standalone PDP, thereby causing her to lose her drug coverage and be penalized.