Although the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) ends on Dec. 7, your selling season does not end on that date!
After Dec. 7, look to your Turning 65 campaign to enroll new to Medicare clients.
For those of you selling ACA plans, this means downloading your T65 book from Health Sherpa, or directly from ACA carries offering you the ability to do this in their portals, such as Ambetter, BCBSTX and Anthem. Agility recommends staying 4 months ahead of the curve to beat the competition.
Don’t forget to present your T65 prospects with Medicare Supplement and Prescription Drug Plans as an option. The 6 months after their birthday (and signing up 3 months prior) are a period of guaranteed issue. This is one of the few times ever in a Medicare recipients’ life they can get a Medicare Supplement with no underwriting!
There’s an increasing number of states that are partaking in the “birthday rule” for Medicare Supplements. The “birthday rule” is a state-by-state rule allowing Medicare Supplement recipients to change to a like lettered plan at no cost every birthday. The reason to do this – price!
This allows once-a-year price shopping with no underwriting for clients. Not a lot of agents take advantage of this opportunity, so we recommend that you do!
Life Insurance products like final expense are another option you should present to your clients – especially your younger Medicare clients – to make sure they are aware of this coverage and what it does for them as they age.
There are also the ongoing great opportunities for clients with both Medicare and Medicaid enrolling in Dual Special Needs Plans (DSNP) with carriers for you to access year-round.
A growing year-round opportunity is Chronic Special Needs Plans (CSNP). These plans are for clients with certain chronic conditions such as Diabetes, Congestive Heart Failure or chronic kidney disease, a few examples of available options!
Finally, on December 8 you can use supplemental plans from your toolkit to address client needs left from Annual Enrollment.
Hospital indemnity insurance covers the higher hospital deductibles or co-insurance that some MA plans may have.
Vision, dental, hearing or other supplemental plans offering benefit coverage your client’s preferred MA plan or Medicare Supplement plan lacks.
This Agility blog lists those plan options and partners that are great options for your clients.
Finally, reach out to your enrolled Medicare Advantage clients to confirm they still like their 2025 health plan coverage. If they’re unhappy for any reason, let them know they can make a change after Jan. 1, 2025, to another, better Medicare Advantage option that you will help them find during the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period.
The 30, 60, 90 rule always applies – be in touch or you’ll be out of touch!
If you have any questions about any of this or want to contract with any Agility partners to add their plans to your toolkit, please reach out now at 1-(866) 590-9771 or email [email protected] to assist you.
