MAPD Enrollment grew 9% this year and will pass Medigap enrollment next year

[BibH]

You guys crack me up. Who cares what the shift looks like?

I sell MAPD for U65 (TX is stupid) and because I jumped off the cliff again because I was throwing away too much money for Part D.

I have a handful of "new" O65 people who insisted on MAPD. And now I am getting more and more referrals from people who just want a straight answer on what the MAPD does and does not cover and can't or don't want to get through UW. Whatever, as long as I don't get yelled at because MA sucks. ESPECIALLY, the DVH benefit. Its a bell...without the whistle thingy. DVH sucks 90% of the time. The numbers rarely work.

I try very, very hard to present Medicare 101 without bias. But at 100% referral, they pretty much already know they want Med Supp. Even at a low income, Plan N is a better deal than MA, ESPECIALLY under $50K. If they are retiring without savings, that means the $325 a day hospital copay and $6700 OOP is out of their budget. Someone who didn't save for retirement will do better with a monthly premium, $233 Part B deductible and $20 copays vs $6700 OOP if they get cancer. (And don't get me started on the hospital/cancer/whatever crapola plans)

If they ask my opinion, I tell them I am not allowed to give an opinion, but they can ask what my mom is on:

"My mom is on Plan G. And she will be on an Advantage Plan when I am so poor that I am living in my car"

Who cares? Go find people. Sell them something. If someone here wants to sell them something else, so what?

Can you make a living selling a $70 a month premium at 22% commission? Its funny how i hardly see anyone who even sells 25% of their book plan N .Making $15 a month for 6 yrs doesn’t sound very good .

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Ray I knew a guy a long long time ago that had a huge book of professional Di business . He did a ton of business with provident life and accident , mass mutual and Paul revere . I used to marvel how unknowledgeable he was but he was a likeable older country club type guy . What are top mga type commissions on di ? 80-90% and 10-15% lifetime renewals ? The 2 parts of ins that have the longest renewals are professional di and LTC . The clients are usually high income and younger so the policy’s can stay on the books decades .

Hey Don,

I kick myself for not starting a medicare book (and from what I've read it looks like you're doing just that) at the same time as DI when I started in personal production.

It is the perfect marriage. Older clients with assets who can also buy annuities and LTC combined with younger clients who are HENRY (high earners/not rich yet) and need DI and life.

You're in the ballpark for top comp, but most of the juicy renewals are years 2-10 (for most carriers). And while you can negotiate 1st year, a lot of your renewals are based on production. The board in my office has every carrier's level that I need to hit to max out renewals so it's important to be cognizant of that w/ DI.

The coolest part is as your clients make more money, guess what else they need more of? I have 3 cases I am writing this week that are buy ups/add ons/etc. And for the ones that are DI, they normally require no medical evidence of insurability, just financial.

The real deal is also in the bonuses. Some carriers pay BIG for persistency (which is super easy w/ DI), diversity of your occupations, and some other complicated formulas. Getting big checks in January of every year helps your marketing expenses a lot.

I will say that DI is a giant PITA when it comes to underwriting. Conditions get excluded constantly, people lie about what they're actually making (it's like applying for a mortgage when it comes to write-offs), and underwriting can be outrageously long, even with "simplified" programs. I just placed a case that took almost 6 months when all was said and done. You really need to have a full pipeline so cases like that aren't felt on your bottom line.

If you ever want to discuss it, feel free to PM me. It's a great business to be in.

I don't know if you ever sold life insurance or not, but that is how I got my start. Life insurance is always sold, not bought . . . at least that's the way it was in the dark ages when I cut my teeth on this industry.

Life insurance was something where I mostly failed . . . didn't have it in me to pressure folks into buying anything they didn't want, no matter how much they needed it. That sales process was unnatural to me. Had I stuck with it I probably would have ended up somewhere in a retail store.

Eventually I found my niche (health insurance) and never looked back.

People hate to be sold but they love to buy. I give folks every opportunity to buy what they want and that's fine with me.

Getting leads is everything in this business (referrals, buy them, make them, whatever) as you know. The whole "selling insurance" part is pretty simple once you get it down. Present the client with their options, be professional/knowledgeable, follow up, and they'll just buy it. They don't always buy what I recommend, but if my lead is good they're likely going to buy something.

I don't sell life either...but people do buy it from me lol.

 

[Travis Price]

I present both and I always show a hospital plan to cover the daily copays with a cancer rider with mapd . For a 65 yr old it’s about $40 a month . Many had major medical threw their jobs with $5 k deductibles .

I do the same thing. I'm not saying people don't chose that. I'm not even saying that what you're explaining is wrong.

I'm saying that you could achieve the exact same results with a 30$ HDG plan + 40$ HI/cancer rider and $7.50 drug plan with less restrictions and overall better coverage.

If they can afford 40$, they can afford 77.50$.

You get paid a lot more with a MAPD+HI.

The customer rationalizes they can't afford it. My job isn't to talk them into it. It's to present options.

I write a few HDG plans after I explain the benefits. Most agents skip it because they have to make the max amount of money during every appointment (especially f2f.) It's one of the main drivers why I work from home, to lower costs, so I can be okay making 170$ on a prospect vs making 700 or so per year.

700 is nice, but it's not always the right choice.

Going into and unilaterally saying that poor people go to MAPD is only pushed because agents push it and they get bombarded by marketing saying it's so great.

 

[scagnt83]

. Life insurance is always sold, not bought . . . at least that's the way it was in the dark ages when I cut my teeth on this industry.

The millions of people a year who go looking for life insurance would disagree. But yes, that is largely the way it was as a new agent in the life industry. Pre internet, call ins always went to experienced agents, so new agents had to "prospect".

But in modern days, I havent convinced a person they need life insurance for many years now. They come to me or my website because they decided themselves they need it and want it. Trying to convince someone to buy something they dont even think they need... is a recipe for hating your career.

 

[kgmom219]

Can you make a living selling a $70 a month premium at 22% commission? Its funny how i hardly see anyone who even sells 25% of their book plan N .Making $15 a month for 6 yrs doesn’t sound very good .

I do very well, thank you very much

But I am also 20 years in and knocking on 800 O65, plus a solid ACA and small group book. I rarely sell Plan N, for 2 reasons: the numbers don't work once you see a doc more than 12 times a year (which will eventually happen) and because when my Grandma was 90, she had the cash. What she didn't have was cognitive or physical ability to write the $20 checks.

On the other hand, Plan N is still a better fit for most people vs MAPD.

But you are looking at it wrong. Its not about me. Its about the client. Everytime.

 

[Travis Price]

But you are looking at it wrong. Its not about me. Its about the client. Everytime

This is something that people don't get. Sometimes you write the HDG or plan N. If you're not bringing up those alternatives when you talk about MAPD, I think you're doing this wrong.

If you're making the decision FOR the client, you're doing this wrong.