STHHC Multiple Policies One Owner ?

[LostDollar]

Here is my process - like clockwork - same thing every time regulated by checklists:

• Application submitted
• My admin tracks it until approved.
• Once approved, an e-mail goes out [if no e-mail, a letter goes out] - along with instructions based on the scenario:
  - i.e., if replacing, instructions on calling new carrier - along with a reminder of the start date of the new policy
  - i.e., if going from MAPD to Med Supp + PDP, a reminder that their new PDP will cancel out the MAPD - no action required.
  - we have a list of 7 scenarios - my admin doesn't need to know as I just record the scenario in the CRM, the content is pre-written and accurate.
  
  - This approval e-mail also asks for a google review (just started doing this - I have 5 now!)
  
  
• If it's a new client - they get a Thank you card and brownies from Send Out Cards
  - if it's a current client doing a plan change (marked internal conversion in my CRM), then they don't get brownies again. I'm not trying to spread diabetes.
  
  
• 1 month after the effective date, they get a "now that you are a client, here is what you can expect letter from me" - outlining that we'll do client reviews w/ them during aep.
  -- this letter also subtly asks for referrals - stating that we can review for their friends and family as well - and includes 4 business cards.
  
  
• They go on our mailing list - now they get the (physical) newsletter - which, I don't send out enough. I usually get one every summer. I also always send one right before AEP.

I don't send brownies to PDP-only clients. I just can't afford to do that. I did/do send brownies to my Hi-F clients.

That ^^ is what I do - every time - whether it's Med Supp, Med Supp + PDP, or MedAdv.

I received an envelope with a return envelope and an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in it.

on the paper:

Upper right, a line that said date, nothing on it.

Addressee section, carrier name written in in ink.

Text:
To whom it may concern:
Please cancel my Medicare Supplement Policy #
(I am to write in policy no) effective (blank line with no instructions)
Please refund any unused premium. Please send the refund check
directly to me.

Sincerely,

(I am to sign it here.)

His admin assistant called three times to let me know she had not received the form back yet. The first time, and maybe the second, was before BFLIC had drafted my account and I had received the policy.

That is the ONLY communication I have received from his office since my plan purchase. (I would have to concede that not responding to any of the calls may have a bearing on that.) He did tell me that I would not have to pay double premiums for a month, but this, in my opinion is absolutely stupid and there is no way I was going to sign it. In addition I had made of point of doing all my communication with him prior to the application by email AND seeing that he had the email my son wants me to use for business stuff like this.

I let it run out to see what would happen and that was it. Sign a piece of paper that could have left me without Medicare Supplement coverage and three phone calls to get it turned in.

In addition, after I was able to review the application online, I found an error. He did not enter a proper address for my Primary Care Doctor. He did not take the practice name I gave him, he looked it up online and put down an address from this person's prior job. I sent a specific email to him about that. 2-3 days after I sent that email was the first phone call from the admin assistant. She just casually mentioned that there was no problem with that and then went on to her missing paperwork. NO PROMPT email response-say within in one day-from agent OR admin assistant addressing my concern-and carrier says everything on app must be correct.

So:
-What I consider to be a stupid - for me to sign - policy cancellation document to return to agent's office
-Extremely slapdash response to what I, as a non-agent, worried could be an application problem (and actually I'm still not sure it's not)
-I don't care about the brownies, but not even a thank you so far for the first 2 weeks or so. (I'll wait till the first week of May to make a final judgement on that.)

Leave me coming to an abrupt stop when I think about conducting other business with this agent.

I can call UNL and get an answer to my first question. Probably not the other two. I don't know if I want to, or can, afford additional coverage, but I am suddenly seeing a lot of both short term care and short term home health care going on in family situations and am wondering if I should be considering additional coverage. I didn't even try starting a STHHC vs ShortTermCare thread. At any rate, I am not sure I want to try to get information from this agent. I am sure that I DO NOT want my wife to have to deal with those lacks of courtesy and lackadaisical responses so he will have no opportunity to sell us any kind of coverage for her.

 

[LostDollar]

That's where I'm coming from. I just had a prospect send me a gift basket who I couldn't even write (uninsurable for individual DI).

I'm the one doing the helping around here (I still do some of the stuff that @sshafran does though).

I have not done fruit baskets, but I have conveyed my thanks in writing via emails to all the forum agents from whom I have purchased insurance products. They in turn have done an equivalent of "Hey LD, thanks for the business. Let me know if anything else comes up I can help you with. Agent."

This agent has been a totally different experience and at the moment I am still working on "chilling". What he had/has going for him was contracting and licensing with a carrier I needed. I thought there were going to be some other things too, but I am not seeing them so far which is disappointing and why I have not followed shafrans suggestion above.

 

[Markthebroker]

I think we have all learned by now....

Respond to an LD created thread at YOUR OWN RISK.

Unless you have time to burn and advil handy.

 

[sshafran]

- You should have just signed the paper & mailed it to him. He was helping above and beyond. I guarantee this agent has had complaints of "I didn't know I was supposed to cancel my old med supp." He was helping you out.

- Doc address really isn't that big of a deal. Carriers have Google too. If they really needed to mail something to your doc, they would have gotten it there. Maybe you need to listen to the agent.

Especially post-approval.... chill.

 

[DS4]

I have conveyed my thanks in writing via emails to all the forum agents from whom I have purchased insurance products. .

LD, I would pay you money to never ever call or contact me about insurance products.

 

[sshafran]

Reality...

Agent: mails LD a standard cancelation form - as a way of helping out. Calls to follow up.

LD: "He had my email! Why did his admin call me *on the phone?* This form was *stoooopid.* He sent it too early! I hadn't even gotten the policy yet!!!!!!"

---

Alternate reality...

Agent: emails LD a form. Tells him to print, sign, and send.

LD: "This cheap good for nothing agent can't mail me the form, using his own ink, and provide me a return address postage paid. How would he know that I as a senior can afford a printer? Stamps aren't cheap.. I'm suing."

--

Alternate reality 2...
Agent tells LD to cancel his policy.

LD "That's it? Just a verbal? Nothing in writing? No mailed form? What is his issues - he wants me to figure this out on my own? I'm reporting him to the DOI."

 

[DS4]

I pray Im never so desperate for clients that I would accept LD as a client.

 

[Todd King]

I received an envelope with a return envelope and an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in it.

on the paper:


His admin assistant called three times to let me know she had not received the form back yet. The first time, and maybe the second, was before BFLIC had drafted my account and I had received the policy.

That is the ONLY communication I have received from his office since my plan purchase. (I would have to concede that not responding to any of the calls may have a bearing on that.) He did tell me that I would not have to pay double premiums for a month, but this, in my opinion is absolutely stupid and there is no way I was going to sign it. In addition I had made of point of doing all my communication with him prior to the application by email AND seeing that he had the email my son wants me to use for business stuff like this.

I let it run out to see what would happen and that was it. Sign a piece of paper that could have left me without Medicare Supplement coverage and three phone calls to get it turned in.

In addition, after I was able to review the application online, I found an error. He did not enter a proper address for my Primary Care Doctor. He did not take the practice name I gave him, he looked it up online and put down an address from this person's prior job. I sent a specific email to him about that. 2-3 days after I sent that email was the first phone call from the admin assistant. She just casually mentioned that there was no problem with that and then went on to her missing paperwork. NO PROMPT email response-say within in one day-from agent OR admin assistant addressing my concern-and carrier says everything on app must be correct.

So:
-What I consider to be a stupid - for me to sign - policy cancellation document to return to agent's office
-Extremely slapdash response to what I, as a non-agent, worried could be an application problem (and actually I'm still not sure it's not)
-I don't care about the brownies, but not even a thank you so far for the first 2 weeks or so. (I'll wait till the first week of May to make a final judgement on that.)

Leave me coming to an abrupt stop when I think about conducting other business with this agent.

I can call UNL and get an answer to my first question. Probably not the other two. I don't know if I want to, or can, afford additional coverage, but I am suddenly seeing a lot of both short term care and short term home health care going on in family situations and am wondering if I should be considering additional coverage. I didn't even try starting a STHHC vs ShortTermCare thread. At any rate, I am not sure I want to try to get information from this agent. I am sure that I DO NOT want my wife to have to deal with those lacks of courtesy and lackadaisical responses so he will have no opportunity to sell us any kind of coverage for her.

And this is where the problem lies. You automatically thought there was a problem, and because you didn't understand it, you just blew it off. This is why no one wants to work with you! You question everything to the point that you are just a PITA. No one wants that client!

 

[sshafran]

And this is where the problem lies. You automatically thought there was a problem, and because you didn't understand it, you just blew it off. This is why no one wants to work with you! You question everything to the point that you are just a PITA. No one wants that client!

Todd, you misunderstand. Agents are the problem.

Princess LD is the victim.

 

[LostDollar]

- You should have just signed the paper & mailed it to him. He was helping above and beyond. I guarantee this agent has had complaints of "I didn't know I was supposed to cancel my old med supp." He was helping you out.

- Doc address really isn't that big of a deal. Carriers have Google too. If they really needed to mail something to your doc, they would have gotten it there. Maybe you need to listen to the agent.

Especially post-approval.... chill.

I have chilled for awhile. On this issue my judgment has not changed.

He requested that I appoint him, in writing, as my agent to cancel my current medicare supplement IMMEDIATELY, prior to both the policy being issued and its effective date. (And for your insurance agent training, there IS a difference between approval of coverage and having a policy issued and in force. (I just had a very expensive and inconvenient lesson about that.))

That was and is:
Irresponsible
Unethical
In violation of Medicare rules
In violation of new carrier contract terms
Probably in violation of new carrier agency agreement

In other words, very bad behavior towards his customer.