Stronger Rules for Medicare Supplement Soliciting

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.