Most of us aren’t too enthusiastic about marketing calls. You know, the calls you get during dinner or during your family’s favorite TV show asking if you want to buy this or that or asking if they can have just a “moment” of your time which ends up taking 3 to 5 minutes of you trying to get the solicitor off the phone before you finally just hang up in frustration.
If you are a senior on Medicare, you are probably well aware of those calls, since there are a lot of insurance companies competing for you to purchase Medicare Advantage and other Medicare Supplemental policies with your precious dollars.
Most recently, lawmakers have been trying to protect seniors from these calls because they are often aggressive and not completely honest. There are more and more reports of companies strong-arming seniors to try to get them to purchase coverage from them because theirs is “the best” or “covers more” or any of a million other reasons.
This is the truth. Each Medicare Supplement covers specific things no matter who you purchase it from. If you purchase Medicare Supplement Plan L, for example (just using this as a letter, not a specific plan), whether you purchase it from company “A” or company “Q” the coverage is exactly the same. The only difference is often the price. Company A may charge you half of what Company Q charges for the exact same coverage. That is why these companies are so aggressive at trying to get you to purchase from them. They are making money from selling to you.
This is not to say that you should not purchase coverage. In most cases, you should, and you should compare all the supplements and Medicare Advantage to see what would be the best for your situation. One of the best ways to do this is to check with an insurance agent that you trust. You can also check with organizations such as AARP and you can check the Medicare website at www.medicare.gov or www.cms.gov.
The good news out of all of this is that lawmakers have made it harder for insurance companies to pressure you into trying to buy their products. With Open Enrollment season coming up, your decisions and purchase of any Medicare products and supplements should be much more stress and pressure free.
Related Articles
1 user responded in this post
I came across your blog this evening for the first time. I’m impressed, your topics, content and advice address many of the challenges faced by today’s aging population. I do, however, oppose the belief that all Medicare Supplement plans are the same. The NAIC’s Minimum Standards Model Act does require all companies to abide by the twelve standardized benefit policies labeled A through L (except in MA, MN and WI) but the financial stability, pricing methodology and rate increase history of each company is more important than premiums alone. Many of the new companies entering the market are, for lack of a better description, low balling rates to attract business and then taking 25% – 30% rate increases within 12 to 24 months of the products release. Unlike Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Supplements require clients to medically qualify for coverage if they’re outside their Open Enrollment period. This poses a large problem for the client who bought the cheapest Medicare Supplement, experiences some health problems and then finds himself/herself stuck with a company taking unmanageable rate adjustments. Clients should go to their state Department of Insurance website (www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm) to find out a company’s rate increase history as well as the number of complaints filed against the carrier. A.M. Best (www.ambest.com) is another good resource the client can use to review a company’s financial stability, number of years in business, etc.
We’ve also seen a large rise in the amount of fraternal insurance companies entering the senior market. Fraternal insurance companies are non profit which gives them tax advantages over for profit companies. Because of these tax advantages, many fraternal organizations have a lower premium than most of their competitors. What many clients don’t know is, they are ultimately responsible for their claims as well as the proportional share of all policyholder claims if the fraternal organization goes out of business. The following is an excerpt from a recent communication sent out by the Maine Department of Insurance:
“Fraternal benefit society insurance benefits are legally required to be assessable. In the event that a society’s claims paying ability becomes impaired, the members may be required to pay their proportional share of the deficiency. This is in keeping with the longstanding traditional status of fraternal benefit societies as charitable and benevolent organizations, as to which the members are both recipients of and providers of mutual benefits among the membership as a whole.” To review in further detail, please go to http://maine.gov/pfr/insurance/producer/fraternal_letter.htm
As insurance professionals, our job is to provide education and options. We should know as much about our competition as we know about the carriers we represent. Insurance is meant be bought, not sold. As a good rule of thumb, if you ever feel like someone is selling you insurance it’s probably more for their benefit than yours.
Hopefully this brought additional insight to the subject. Let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss any other senior market concern in greater detail.
Keep up the good work, you’re providing an excellent service to your readers.
Lucas Vandenberg
VP of Operations
Precision Senior Marketing
Phone: (800) 998-7715
Leave A Reply
Please Note: Comment moderation maybe active so there is no need to resubmit your comments