Question:
Question from Ron: Are Medicare plan prices different depending on who or where I enroll? Can I get a better price or plan buying online or directly from an Advantage Plan or Supplement company?
Answer:
Answer: Advantage Plan and Supplement prices are always the same regardless of where or who you buy an Advantage Plan or Supplement from. However, the choice you make in agent or broker is extremely important.
As I write about all the time, not all agents conduct business ethically. Many, if not most, push only the companies and plans that pay the most commission. By a huge margin, Advantage Plans pay much larger commissions, especially for those going on Medicare for the first time. Year one commission for Advantage Plans are generally almost 400% more than Supplements!
Another important fact regarding Advantage Plans is many companies have stopped paying commissions on some of their most popular plans, and in some states, all plans. This discourages agents from recommending those that might actually be the best choice.
In addition, most agents aren’t trained well due to the nature of the Medicare insurance industry where almost all are independent contractors who are paid on commission and work out of their home and automobile. They’re recruited by an agency, given a pile of materials and told to go sell something without much if any training, or a clue how everything works or what’s best for each individual and their specific needs. The reality is that studying for, taking and passing state licensing exams doesn’t come close to properly preparing agents. There are tons of rules, regulations, and intricacies when it comes to Original Medicare, Advantage Plans, Supplements, and Part D prescription coverage. Without good training and experience, it’s not possible for someone to have all the knowledge necessary to advise people correctly.
At The Health Insurance Store, we are very selective about who we hire. All agents are full-time salaried employees and work in one of our offices 5 days a week. Each is well trained and has gone through a minimum of 6 months of training and supervision prior to working with clients. Our least tenured agent has three years of experience, and most have been with the company over 10 years.
Opting not to use a knowledgeable agent and buying a plan online can be a costly mistake. There are now 11 companies selling Advantage Plans in Western PA and well over 100 total plan offerings, making it virtually impossible to pinpoint the 10 or so that provide the overall best value. There’s also no website to compare and get accurate pricing on every Supplement. In addition, rules, regulations, and ramifications of choosing a plan, especially when first going on Medicare, aren’t explained on any of the websites where plans can be purchased. We’ve met people who bought a plan online, made a mistake, and overpaid for a Supplement tune the tune of over $10,000 in just 5 years with no way to correct it due to rules about changing plans and companies. With no financial incentive to purchase a plan online, and because it’s illegal for agents who get commission to charge a fee, it makes no sense not to work with a trusted professional.
As far as calling a company directly, that’s not a good idea either. If you call a Supplement company, you will get prices from them and no others. If you call an Advantage Plan company, you won’t get the Supplement option explained at all and only choices in HMOs and PPOs from a single provider will be presented with no comparisons to others. In addition, the representative you speak to may be instructed to push the company’s most profitable plans and not those with the best value for you.
The agents at The Health Insurance Store are brokers, appointed to offer plans from every competitive Advantage Plan and Supplement company on the market. We evaluate all available plans, isolate those that meet our criteria of being worthy of client’s consideration, and lay them out side by side for clients to compare. We always give unbiased advice and recommendations, even when a prospective client’s best option is through a retirement benefit and we don’t get paid a commission.
What also separates agents and agencies are the services that are provided after you enroll in a Supplement or Advantage Plan. We take great pride in taking care of our clients. The better parts of our days as agents are answering questions from clients, researching and fixing billing discrepancies or other issues. We also keep in constant contact with every client, sending out several correspondences each year with important information and developments. Every single client also gets our annual recommendation letter prior to the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period letting them know if it’s best to remain where they are or if they should consider other options due to changes in benefits or premium increases. All our clients know they can call anytime to request meetings to review plans and options or get help with anything even remotely related to their policy. Every single client is important, and it’s never lost on us that without them, none of us would have a job we love that allows us to take care of our families.
There’s never a charge for a consultation. And even though we’re still 4 months away from the Annual Election Period, if you would like to talk about the plan you have now and compare it with others, if you’re considering a move from one Supplement to another, or from a Supplement to an Advantage Plan, it’s never too soon to have those discussions. And if you’re going on Medicare for the first time, it’s vital to get every bit of information you need to make the best possible choice.. At The Health Insurance Store, we make sure you’re informed and educated well enough to do just that. Give us a call at 724-603-3403 or feel free to reach out to me personally via email, Aaron@GetYourBestPlan.com.