S.S.D.Y. – Same Stuff Different Year – Here’s Your 2019 AEP Checklist

S.S.D.Y. – Same Stuff Different Year

Getting Ready for 2019 AEP & OEP – Agent Success Checklist



RBI Senior Sales Coordinator/Independent Agent: James Gramp

With his signature common sense, quiet good humor, and brilliant customer service, Jim is the other half of the RBI phone answering dynamic duo! An Arizona native, Jim manages agent relationships for the East Coast and specializes in the RBI agent tools, especially the Agent Market Edge. Jim has been a licensed health insurance agent for over a year, and has worked at RBI for 3 years. An accomplished bassoonist, he is known around the office for his amazing musical skills. In addition to keeping busy around the office, Jim frequently contributes to our blog, bringing a new agent’s perspective to the RBI online presence.

Hooray, it’s that time of year again where agents spend hours blankly staring at their computers – Medicare Certification Season! Cue the collective groan from agents across the US. That’s why I’m here, to give you a handy 2019 AEP Checklist to get you ready for a successful Annual Enrollment Period!

It’s very important that you get your ducks in a row EARLY! Waiting until September to complete your AHIP and product certifications is a sure-fire way to increase stress levels this fall. The closer it gets to AEP, the more bogged down carriers get with processing new contracts, background checks, and product certifications.

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve seen it take as long as 4 weeks for agents to receive their “Ready to Sell” status after completing their product certifications. There’s nothing more frustrating than losing a sale just because you were still waiting to show up as “Ready to Sell.”

Without Further Ado, Here is Your 2019 AEP Checklist!


AHIP

That dirty four-letter word that spikes agent’s blood pressure far and wide. Unfortunately, it’s a necessary evil in our industry and is required to sell Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans. If you’re an agent that doesn’t sell MA, then I have news for you – You’re Leaving Money on The Table! Read my Blog Post from last year to learn why you should consider adding MA plans to your portfolio. Quick update, there are now over 21 million Medicare Advantage members compared to roughly 14 million Medicare supplement members nationwide.

Haven’t taken your AHIP yet? Follow this AHIP link to receive your $50 discount… But wait, there’s more!

Picking up Additional Products

Now is the time carriers are releasing first-look benefit information for the 2019 plan year. Head on over to our Events Calendar to register for our upcoming webinars. Curious to find out how these carriers stack up in your market? I’m just one phone call away!

Carrier Certifications

2019 Medicare AEP Certifications RBI

More online testing and certifications! Are you excited yet? No? Not sure when each of the carriers are launching their certifications, head on over to our 2019 Carrier Certification page. You’ll be able to see when all the 2019 Medicare Advantage Certifications are released.

Certainly don’t wait until the last week in September to do these! If you’re not marked as “Ready-to-Sell,” you will not be able to pick up any sales kits or marketing materials for the upcoming Annual Enrollment Period.

Evaluate your FMO Relationship

evaluate you FMO Medicare Advantage

If your FMO isn’t holding up their end of the bargain by providing you the support you need to grow your Medicare book of business, then now is the perfect time to re-evaluate that relationship. If your Field Marketing Organization doesn’t provide anything in the way of marketing support, they’re really just a Field Organization. The bottom line is, your FMO should work for You! These are things you should consider when choosing who to work with.

  • Sales training + coaching
  • Marketing support
  • Compliance support
  • Accessibility

“If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.”

The most successful agents don’t go into AEP flying by the seat of their pants. At RBI, we develop marketing plans with our agents the M.A.P.S. way. Your marketing plan should be Measurable, Actionable, Profitable, and Scalable. Check out my blog post that I linked to above to learn more about the M.A.P.S. method for success.

A lot of agents I speak with only look for referrals from their existing book of business but are totally ignoring a HUGE opportunity, getting referrals within your community.  The easiest place you can start is your very own doctor’s office.  If you’ve ever wondered how an agent is able to be successful in this industry without breaking the bank by purchasing leads, here’s your answer: Community Marketing.  Not sure how, or where to start?  Check out my blog post, “Building Your Referral Network” and download the free white paper where I demonstrate how to get started!

AEP + OEP

With our selling season lasting almost three times as long than in previous years – OEP lasts from January 1st through March 31st, now is the time to start planning! You’re probably thinking, “wow, that’s a lot to think about.” That’s because it IS a lot to think about. But, if you really want to be successful in this business, then don’t let another Annual Enrollment Period pass you by without doing everything in your power to make it happen!

RB Insurance Group has the tools, marketing support, and most importantly, the expertise to turn you into a Medicare selling machine.

Give me a call today to learn all about how we do things differently than our competitors! (800)-997-3107 .



Market Yourself
Tom O'Neil
Medicare Enrollment is a matter of time
Free Appointment Prep Sheet

Introducing Short Term Home Health Care!

Medicare SEP

About the Author: With his signature common sense, quiet good humor, and brilliant customer service, Jim is an integral part of the RBI team — we’d go so far as to say we’d be lost without him! An Arizona native, Jim manages agent relationships for the East Coast and specializes in the RBI agent tools, especially the Agent Market Edge. Jim has been a licensed health insurance agent for 2 years, and has worked at RBI for almost 3 years. An accomplished bassoonist, he is known around the office for his amazing musical skills. In addition to keeping busy around the office, Jim frequently contributes to our blog, bringing a new agent’s perspective to the RBI online presence.

What would YOU do for Short Term Home Health Care?

What would you do for the opportunity to protect your clients from lengthy and costly stay at a Skilled Nursing Facility?

Would you jump up and down on one foot? Absolutely

Would you act like a chicken? Sure, why not!

Now what if I also told you that there are plans available that can pay for themselves without even utilizing their Home Health Care benefits?

Would you eat liver and onions? Not my favorite,but yeah sure.

Would you do an interpretive ribbon dance in front of a group of people? Well… How big of a group and who?

Finally, what if I told you that these plans are not only extremely affordable for your clients, but you can also make good money offering these plans?

Would you hug a cactus? Getting a little crazy now…

How bout free swimming with sharks? Yeah, no…

Beyond the Monetary Savings

Maybe I started getting just a little carried away there. But on a more serious note, these new Short Term Home Health Care plans that have been hitting the market recently are an amazing way to not only protect your clients pocket book, but also give them the option to recover in the comfort of their own home. Some carriers even have EXTREMELY relaxed underwriting questions. One of my favorite carriers, Guarantee Trust Life, has 2 or 3 underwriting questions depending on which plan your client selects.

The value of these plans can go way beyond just the intrinsic monetary value. Just from my personal experience, these plans may have saved my Grandpa’s life. A few years ago, he had fallen while stepping off a ladder and ended up breaking his hip. The fall wasn’t what ended up taking his life though, it was a bacterial infection that he ended up contracting in the Skilled Nursing Facility he was staying at. Had he been able to recover from this in the comfort of his own home, he might still be here today.

I love talking about the amazing benefits that these new Short Term Home Health Care plans provide. Give me a call to see which carriers offer these plans in your area. You can reach me directly at 1-800-997-3107!



Free Appointment Prep Sheet
Medicaid Expansion

Senior Insurance Acronyms for New Medicare Brokers

Senior Insurance Acronyms


RBI’s Senior Sales Coordinator: James Gramp

About the Author: With his signature common sense, quiet good humor, and brilliant customer service, Jim is an integral part of the RBI team — we’d go so far as to say we’d be lost without him! An Arizona native, Jim manages agent relationships for the East Coast and specializes in the RBI agent tools, especially the Agent Market Edge. Jim has been a licensed health insurance agent for 2 years, and has worked at RBI for almost 3 years. An accomplished bassoonist, he is known around the office for his amazing musical skills. In addition to keeping busy around the office, Jim frequently contributes to our blog, bringing a new agent’s perspective to the RBI online presence.

Senior Insurance Acronyms

for New Medicare Brokers

Compiled by RBI’s Senior Sales Coordinator: James Gramp


Are you a newly licensed Health producer?  Can’t wrap your head around the seemingly endless list of Senior Insurance Acronyms? Look no further!  This post is just for you, a new agent who’s looking to get started in the Senior Health Insurance (Medicare) market.

Consider your options: Best Contracting Partners

A few things before we jump in that you should be thinking about when choosing to work with an agency or contract directly with the insurance company:

  1. Do new agents receive training opportunities?
  2. Does marketing support come with the contract?
  3. Are the most competitive products in my area available with this partner?
  4. Does this partnership include CRM systems or other tools to keep track of your clients and potential clients?

The bottom line is, your FMO should work for you.  In the post I just linked to, Justin Bever, our Director of Marketing, highlights exactly how your FMO should work for you and ultimately help you reach and exceed your business goals!

Without further ado, I present you with the ultimate abbreviation cheat sheet!

Senior Insurance Acronyms for New Medicare Brokers:

MA – Medicare Advantage

MAPD – Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plan

HI – Hospital Indemnity

FE – Final Expense

SOA – Scope of Appointment form: Permission slip to talk to beneficiaries who aren’t already your clients about specific benefits of MA plans.  The SOA should be signed by the beneficiary 48 hours prior to appointment.

HMO – Health Maintenance Organization: Type of Health plan, must use plan doctors for covered services.  Members are assigned a Primary Care Physicians and require referrals to see Specialists (dermatologists, cardiologists, etc.)

PPO – Preferred Provider Organization:  Type of Health plan where members can go out of network for care.  Going to in-network providers offers better co-pays/co-insurance

PFFS – Private Fee For Service: type of MA plan that may or may not cover prescriptions.  Only MA plan that you can buy a stand-alone PDP as long as the PFFS doesn’t already cover prescriptions.

SNP – Special Needs Plan: Medicare Health plans for people with special needs.  There are 3 different kinds of SNP’s; I-SNP, D-SNP, and C-SNP.

I-SNP – Institutional Special Needs Plan: plan for beneficiaries needing treatment from a LTC facility for more than 90 consecutive days.

D-SNP – Dual Special Needs Plan: Designed for people with Medicare and Medicaid

C-SNP – Chronic Special Needs Plan: Designed for people with chronic health conditions

Med-supp/Medigap – Medicare Supplement: offers plans A through N.  These plans are standardized and offer the same benefits regardless of carrier.

PDP – Prescription Drug Plan: Rx coverage, typically sold with Medicare Supplements.

LIS – Low Income Subsidy: Federal program to help with Rx costs.  Need to make under 150% of the Federal Poverty Level to qualify.

MSP – Medicare Savings Program: Federal program designed to help with premiums, co-pays, and co-insurance. Different levels of help are: QMB, SLMB, QI-1. Make under 135% of the FPL to qualify.

AHIP – America’s Health Insurance Plans: company that provides the core medicare certification required to sell Medicare Advantage plans.

AEP – Annual Enrollment Period: 10/7 through 12/7, period when Medicare beneficiaries can enroll in a MA/MAPD or a PDP.

SEP – Special Enrollment Period: period that you can enroll in an MA/PDP plan outside of AEP

IEP – Intial Enrollment Period: 3 months before, the month of, and 3 months after your 65th birthday.  Can enroll in any Medicare Health Plan during this time.

OEP – Open Enrollment Period for Medicare Supplement: 6 months after a Medicare beneficiary is enrolled in Medicare Part B and is 65 or older.


If you’re looking for a partner to grow your new business, look no further! We love helping agents get started — whether you’re a brand new agent, or you’re getting back into the market after being away: welcome! Call us today to learn about opportunities to work together: 1-800-997-3107

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 3

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 3 (ICYMI)

Hey, you! We’re back again! As you know, this whole month we’re bringing you the scoop on our RBI Carrier-Partners with “Carrier Spring Training” month! It’s been a great month so far (we’ve definitely learned new things every day!) and we cannot believe that next week is our last week! The time certainly has flown by. If you missed the webinars this week and don’t have time to re-watch them, here’s the RBI sales team to break down the highlights of each carrier, and what they do for your portfolio. Watch the videos below: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 3!

To start things off this week, we heard from Mutual of Omaha, on Monday! Then Tuesday, we had a webinar from GTL or Guarantee Trust Life, followed by RBI’s own Quoting Tool on Wednesday, and wrapped up the week with a presentation on SilverScript on Thursday! Our presenters this week — thanks a million: you guys are the best! — were Ken Colvard (Mutual of Omaha and SilverScript), Greg Esposito (GTL) and Brien Welch (RBI Quoting Tool). We watched these webinars and were so impressed with the knowledge base that they bring to the table, as well as some of the great new plans available to agents and members. There was a lot to go over, so here’s the four highlight videos from this week!

RBI Carrier Training Highlights Team:

  • Mutual of Omaha by Charlie Ferrell
  • Guarantee Trust Life by James Gramp
  • RBI’s Quoting Tool by Justin Bever
  • SilverScript by Rebecca Howard


Monday, April 17, 2017 at 9 AM


Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 9 AM


Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 9 AM


Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 9 AM

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 3

Look for this symbol on all our new “Carrier Hall of Fame” videos!

When you think about these three carriers, it’s important to understand how each brings something different into your portfolio. Whether you focus on Medicare Supplements, Hospital Indemnity or PDP plans, it’s important to have products that fit well together. And not just each other, but products that will serve the needs of your clients. In addition, this week you may have noticed a bit of a technology theme developing. Each carrier this week has a focus on making your life as an agent easier with online enrollments. And RBI’s quoting tool fits right into this theme. If you aren’t taking advantage of the technology and tools available to you at RBI, now is the time!

Watch the recording: Mutual of Omaha. Watch the recording: Guarantee Trust Life. Watch the recording: RBI Quote Tool. Watch the recording: SilverScript.

Click here to get contracted. Click here to see all our contracted carriers.

Sign up for the next webinars today! Click here to see the full calendar.

  • Monday, April 24 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT – “Hit a Fastball with Molina” Register
  • Tuesday, April 25 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT – “Be a Power Hitter with Cigna” Register
  • Wednesday, April 26 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT – “Be a Clean-up Hitter with Gateway” Register
  • Wednesday, April 26 at 10:30 AM MST/12:30 PM CDT – “Pitch a Shut-Out with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas” Register
  • Thursday, April 27 at 9 AM MST/12 PM MST – “Be a Hometown Slugger with Harbor Health Plan” Register
  • Thursday, April 27 at 10 AM MST/12 PM CDT – “Load the Bases with Allegian” Register

Subscribe to the RBI Agent’s Advantage Blog today!

Did you miss last week’s webinars? Watch the full recording: Aetna. Watch the full recording: United Healthcare. Watch the full recording: Humana.


All videos are for agent use only.

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 2

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 2 (ICYMI)

So if you’ve been following along this week on all our emails and event calendar, you know that April is “Carrier Spring Training” month! We are so excited for this new initiative, and just finished up our second week of webinars! But if you missed these webinars and don’t have time to re-watch them, here’s the RBI sales team to break down the highlights of each carrier, and what they do for your portfolio. Watch the video below: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 2!

This week, we collaborated with Aetna, Humana, and United Healthcare. A huge shout-out to our presenters, Daniel Santos (Aetna), Kirk Sanich (Humana), and our own Charlie Ferrell stepping in for Ken Colvard (United Healthcare), who did a fantastic job showcasing their products and what makes them compelling for members.

RBI Carrier Training Highlights:

  • Aetna by Rebecca Howard
  • Humana by James Gramp
  • United Healthcare by Charlie Ferrell
Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 2

Look for this symbol on all our new “Carrier Hall of Fame” videos!

The RBI bottom line is that all three of these carriers offer something different and that they work together nicely to fill out your portfolio as a senior insurance advisor. We recommend that you contract with all three today because everyone is different and it’s important to have the products that fit the needs of your clients.

Watch the recording: Aetna Webinar. Watch the recording: Humana Webinar. Watch the recording: United Healthcare Webinar.

Click here to get contracted. Click here to see all our contracted carriers.

Sign up for next week’s webinars today!

  • Monday, April 17 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT“Hit a Homer with Mutual of Omaha” Register.
  • Tuesday, April 18 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT“Steal Second with GTL” Register.
  • Wednesday, April 19 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT“Bat 1.000 with RBI’s Quoting Tool” Register.
  • Thursday, April 20 at 9 AM MST/12 PM EDT“Out of the Ballpark with SilverScript” Register.

Subscribe to the the RBI Agent’s Advantage Blog today

Did you miss last week’s webinars? Watch the full recording: American Continental Webinar. Watch the full recording: Equitable webinar. Watch the full recording: Medico webinar.


All videos are for agent use only.




Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 1

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 1 (ICYMI)

So if you’ve been following along this week on all our emails and event calendar, you know that April is “Carrier Spring Training” month! We are so excited for this new initiative, and just finished up our first week of webinars! But if you missed these webinars and don’t have time to re-watch them, here’s the RBI sales team to break down the highlights of each carrier, and what they do for your portfolio. Watch the videos below: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 1!

This week, we heard from three tremendous carriers: Aetna/American Continental, Equitable and Medico. A big thank you to our presenters, William Davis (American Continental), Bill Ellsworth (Equitable), and Carrie Haubensak (Medico) who did a really amazing job introducing their products and telling us why members like their plans!  We have three videos below so you can get all the highlights on what makes each carrier a perfect fit for your portfolio!

Video: RBI Carrier Hall of Fame Week 1

Look for this symbol on all our new “Carrier Hall of Fame” videos!

When you think about these three carriers, each has something a little different to offer. And at RBI, we like having all three carriers in our portfolio so that we can speak to any client’s individual needs.

Watch the recording: American Continental. Watch the recording: Equitable. Watch the recording: Medico.

Click here to get contracted. Click here to see all our contracted carriers.

Sign up for the next webinars today! Click here to see the full calendar.

Subscribe to the RBI Agent’s Advantage Blog today!


All videos are for agent use only.

Targeting Your Ideal List — the most misunderstood Direct Mail concept

Justin Bever

Director of Marketing: Justin Bever

About the Author: In his 9 years since joining the family business in 2008 as a Broker Support Representative, Justin has made innovation his top priority. Justin is passionate about bringing technology into the agent’s toolbox, and has developed tools such as a direct mail program for lead generation (2011); Medicare Compare (2013), an online tool for beneficiaries complete with its own brand identity; and the Medicare Sales Engine (2014), a fully integrated Client Relationship Manager for agents.  Justin’s most recent accomplishment is the Agent Market Edge (2016), an online portal that integrates RBI and their print + fulfillment partners to make marketing accessible to agents. When he is not leveraging technology to produce exciting new tools for agents, Justin’s hobbies are skiing, hiking, and cooking exquisite meals in the company of his high school sweetheart and wife, Cassie. 


Targeting your ideal list

Targeting Your Ideal List:

the most misunderstood Direct Mail concept

Director of Marketing: Justin Bever


When you think about marketing for Medicare, you probably think of Direct Mail. Thanks to CMS Guidelines restricting outreach methods for Medicare Advantage, Direct Mail is a popular way to find new leads.  What you may not know is that Direct Mail is also very effective to reach other types of prospects in the senior insurance market. If you have been following our webinars this month, you’ll know that we tackled the basics of how Direct Mail works last week. Let’s take a closer look at the single most important part of a Direct Mail campaign: targeting your ideal list.

Targeting your ideal list matters

Building a list is not only the most important part of any Direct Mail campaign, but also the most misunderstood concept in Direct Mail. You can have the best copy, the best offer, the most beautifully designed postcard and if you send it to a list that isn’t relevant to what you are selling, you’ll get a 0% response. Think about this for a moment. Talk about a waste of marketing dollars.

Relevance drives sales

Why does this happen? Simply put, prospects buy what is relevant to them. Television ads are a great example of this: big companies pay lots of money to know what demographics are watching so they can target their ads to those consumers. In our business this concept is pretty obvious: you wouldn’t send a Medicare lead piece to an 18-year-old college student, because it is completely irrelevant to their needs and desires. So, how do you select a list that will be relevant to the piece you are sending?

Types of lists for Direct Mail

Targeting your ideal list

How do you select a list that will be relevant to the piece you are sending?

There are four primary types of lists that you can target in Direct Mail:

  1. House lists (your clients, past and present, and your previous responders)
  2. Consumer Lists (rented or purchased)
  3. Business lists (rented or purchased)
  4. Specialty lists (think specific magazine subscribers, for example)

Each type of list is going to require a different type of mailer or outreach. For finding new prospects specifically, in our industry we rent or purchase consumer lists. There are a number of ways that you can rent or purchase consumer lists, but the retail price you’ll find is typically between $0.05 – 0.08 per record. (Stay tuned for RBI discounts available to contracted agents!)

Not all lists are created equal!

When you purchase a consumer list, you want to look at three demographics (or selectors as list brokers call them): age, income and geography. Using geography as a selector makes sense: you don’t want to get leads that are out of state, for instance. Age and income are a little trickier, but a rule of thumb for a higher success rate is to target ages 64.5 to 85 for Medicare Advantage, and 64.5 to 75 for Medicare Supplement. Replacement Medicare Supplement plans are more effective up to the age of 75; beyond age 75 most beneficiaries choose a Medicare Advantage as a replacement. Why you ask? After age 75 there are higher costs on a supplement and stricter underwriting as well. Ultimately, targeting your ideal list dictates the success of your direct mail campaign.

Are you ready to get started?

We can help you! We work with print and fulfillment companies to bring you discounts and exclusive pricing on mailers. At RBI, we will make sure you get the right list for every mailer you send and the cost of the data is included in all our mailers. If you do feel the need to purchase a list separately, our cost to contracted agents is only $0.025 per record. Give us a call at 1-800-997-3107 if you want help selecting the right list for your campaign.

Still not convinced? Watch the webinar! “Direct Mail Madness” covered the basics of Direct Mail marketing, and “Medicare Marketing Madness” covered how to use Direct Mail for your senior insurance business! 


Medicare Supplements 101 Revisited for 2017

If you’re not an expert in Medicare Supplements, it’s time to get educated! Our Medicare Supplements 101 article and webinar is here to help! Newly updated for 2017, this article will help you get started now!

A Brief History

Medicare Supplement (Medigap) plans have been around almost as long as Medicare, and just like Medicare, have transformed over the years. It began as a variety of different coverages state by state, and was ultimately standardized by Medicare in 1992. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 replaced many voluntary guidelines with new Federal standards. Nearly all states adhere to these standards with a few exceptions. Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are three states complying with Federal guidelines without using the standardized A through N plans.

Medicare Parts A and B cover most medically-necessary inpatient and outpatient services. Unfortunately for consumers, Medicare does not cover all medical costs, leaving beneficiaries responsible for a portion of the costs. Let’s take a quick look at Medicare Part A and B, and then take a look at Medicare Supplements 101!

Medicare Part A

The two largest costs associated with Part A are the Hospital Deductible ($1316 in 2017) and days 21-100 ($164.50 co-pay per day) of the Skilled Nursing Benefit. There are also some costs associated with Hospice care which Medicare does not cover. Medicare DOES NOT cover the cost of room and board if someone is using a private hospice facility. While the Hospice benefit does cover the doctors and additional care needed, it does not cover the facilities charge of around $300 per day in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility. As you can imagine, the bills pile up quickly!

Medicare Part B

Part B has a yearly deductible ($183 in 2017) and 20% coinsurance for all Part B-covered services, including chemotherapy. There is no cap on how much a beneficiary is responsible for under traditional Medicare Parts A and B so chemotherapy treatments for example, could be financially crippling.

Medicare Supplements 101 to the Rescue!

 Medicare Supplements 101 coverage A-N chart

Depending on the plan, Medicare Supplement A through N policies cover all or a portion of the gaps in Medicare coverage. Because of the Federal standardization, the included benefits for each plan type is identical across all insurance carriers. The only difference is the premium. It is no coincidence that 57% of all Medicare Supplements have enrolled on Plan F policies- the benefits are generous and the added coverage provides financial protection.

  • National Guaranteed Issue rights only apply to Medigap Plans A, B, C, F, K, or L . Some states have their own Guarantee Issue periods. With Plans D, G, M and N, the beneficiary will likely be subject to medical underwriting.
  • Excess charges can occur when a doctor does not accept Medicare assignment. The beneficiary can be charged up to an additional 15% of the Medicare allowable rates.
  • Plans C, D, F, M and N all include a Foreign Travel benefit.  Beneficiaries pay a $250 deductible and their Medigap policy will pay 80% of the remaining charges, up to $50,000.
  • HD-F, K and L all have deductibles and maximum out of pocket expenses which are set by CMS every year.
  • Plans C and F cover the Part B deductible. For those of you familiar with the Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization of 2015 (MACRA for short), Medicare Supplement plans C and F will not be available for sale to new Medicare beneficiaries after Jan 1, 2020.
  • Plan N has a $20 co=pay at a doctors office and a $50 co-pay at the Emergency Room

Keep an eye out for more information on Medicare Supplements 201, Open Enrollment, Underwriting and Guaranteed issue situations.

This is a just brief overview of Medicare Supplements. For an in depth explanation and more, click the button below for the recording of Part 1 of our webinar series on Medicare Supplements.



Contact us today to get contracted with the highest rated carriers in your area. Many plans are only competitive in certain zip codes so don’t be fooled by all their hype. Call 1-800-997-3107 and let us help you with all of your Medicare Supplement contracting needs.

Updated 3/6/2017; Originally Published 5/16/2016

Video: Medicare Supplements 201 Roll-up

Did you miss a Webinar Wednesday? Check out our Medicare Supplements 201 Roll-up below!



The last two weeks we have focused on Medicare Supplements. We are going to join Charlie Ferrell, in our Medicare Supplements 201 Roll-up! But first, here’s a quick summary of what we covered.

Building on our Medicare Supplements 101 webinar from last week, we went deeper this week to understand the differences between Guaranteed Issue and underwritten policies. Guaranteed Issue pays less than underwritten business, while underwritten business helps keep rates low. Carriers can still deny an application with all “No” answers to health questions. Having a mixture of Guaranteed Issue and underwritten policies is a great way to structure your sales. And since 42% of Medicare Supplement policies have been written in the last 3 years, it’s important to make sure you are quoting the best plans. Use the quoting tool inside the Medicare Sales Engine to get answers!

Medicare Supplements 201 Roll-up

Look for this symbol on all our new “60 Second Roll-Up” videos!

Did you like this Medicare Supplements 201 Roll-up?  If you want to learn more, register to watch the full recording of the Medicare Supplements 201 webinar, by clicking here.

If you’re interested in going further with Medicare Supplements, sign up for our live Medicare Intensive class “Contracting for Success.”  Live out of state? Register for our simulcast option!

Video: Medicare Supplements 101 Roll-Up

Did you miss a Webinar Wednesday? Check out our Medicare Supplements 101 Roll-up below!


This week, we focused on Medicare Supplements: so here is Charlie Ferrell, in our Medicare Supplements 101 Roll-up! First, here’s a quick summary:

Most agents in the senior market are familiar with Medicare Supplements (Med Supps) at a surface level, but are you aware of the upcoming changes?  Medicare Supplements work alongside original Medicare Part A and B, to cover “gaps” in Part A and B. The advantage to working in Med Supps is that there is no lock-in period, like with Medicare Advantage. However, the most popular Medicare Supplement Plan (Plan F) is going away after January 1, 2020.  Now is the time to prepare for this change, by taking advantage of the resources and opportunities available through RBI. Watch below for a 60 Second Roll-up of the details!

Medicare Supplements 101 Roll-Up

Look for this symbol on all our new “60 Second Roll-Up” videos!

If you would like to learn more about Medicare Supplements, click here.  Watch the full length recorded webinar “Medicare Supplements 101” by clicking here.

Want to get additional Medicare Supplement contracts? Take a look at the carriers we partner, or call us at 1-800-997-3107 today!