Complete Guide to Becoming a Medicare Insurance Agent

Working with a Medicare insurance professional can make things much easier. Choose someone who will explain your options and help you pick a plan that’s best suited to your needs and, of course, your budget. Find Arizona Medicare insurance costs from local specialists. While visiting this website you may click on a link to other websites and leave this website.

Agents and brokers do not sell Original Medicare — Medicare Part A or Part B. They sell private Medicare plans. These include Medicare Advantage, Medigap and Medicare Part D drug plans — all sold through private insurers. Our mission is to provide information that will help everyday people make better decisions about buying and keeping their health coverage. Our editorial staff is comprised of industry professionals and experts on the ACA, private health insurance markets, and government policy. You can also contact an agent or broker to help you change plans if the one you’re enrolled in changes coverage or doesn’t meet your needs. Working with an FMO generally gives you access to much better contracts and product offerings.

Established in 1997, we service the needs of hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries every year. Trustworthy expertise, with over 80 hours of yearly training from top Medicare carriers. When it comes to evaluating Medicare plans, it’s important to consider what medications you will need covered, the doctors and specialists that will be available to you, and of course, the all-important budget.

This gives you a better chance of having your materials on hand by early October, so you can hit the ground running when open enrollment begins. ‌Analyze the vision, hearing, and dental benefits and determine how these services contribute to each plan's cost. Survey these factors when choosing a plan to offer and scrutinize them when shopping to meet a specific client's needs. Always know how each potential plan covers a client's medications.

There should never be any fees when it comes to working with a licensed Medicare agent. Preferred prescription drugsMedicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans have their own networks of pharmacies and formularies that determine which drugs they cover and what your copayments will be. A Medicare broker or agent can take your preferences for medications and pharmacies into consideration to find a plan that best meets your needs. Navigating Original Medicare, Medicare Supplement Insurance plans, or Medicare Advantage plans can be overwhelming.

Review Medicare plansMedicare agents and brokers can compare your current coverage to other available options to determine if you can save money without sacrificing coverage. Their expertise can cut through confusion about different options to find the best combination of Medicare plans to meet your needs. Captive AgentsCaptive agents receive a salary by the insurance company they represent plus a lower commission rate than independent agents. Agents and brokers all receive commissions, but some agents also receive a salary from an insurance company. When comparing medicare agents and brokers, it’s important to understand the two different types of agents as well — independent agents and captive agents. It’s up to you whether you want to work with a Medicare agent or broker.

You might qualify for a Special Election Period if you meet certain conditions, such as losing coverage as a result of moving out of your plan’s service area. I normally spend anywhere between 10 minutes and 1 hour with a customer to ensure we cover all their questions. If you are new to Medicare, it might take a bit longer to cover all your needs and ensure you understand which plan is best suited for you.

Third, beneficiaries’ experience with their agents and the overall quality of the service are not factored into the commission model, although there is precedence for this within Medicare. For example, MA and Part D plans are measured through the star ratings program and are compensated differently for delivering a high-quality member experience. Pay-for-performance could be considered part of the compensation model for agents and agencies. The current model for plan selection favors beneficiaries who have the means and resources available to get the information and/or assistance they need to make a decision.

From the first time you connect with a lead through their entire lifecycle as a customer, you can track and record important information to help you better serve them. And set reminders to follow up or reconnect on a regular basis. In today's world, most contracting transactions are turning digital. You need simple e-contracting software that makes it easy for you to build, send, sign, and execute Medicare contracts with your clients without all the tedious printing and hand-signing of yesterday.

This communication provides a general description of certain identified insurance or non-insurance benefits provided under one or more of our health benefit plans. Our health benefit plans have exclusions and limitations and terms under which the coverage may be continued in force or discontinued. For costs and complete details of the coverage, refer to the plan document or call or write your Humana insurance agent or the company. In the event of any disagreement between this communication and the plan document, the plan document will control. Working with an independent Medicare insurance agent means you get to choose policy options from different companies. Independent agents and brokers are more likely to give unbiased plan recommendations and advice.