Health insurance brokers are big business

[john70t]

Someone 'inquired' with some insurance company or website on my behalf, unknownst to me.

9pm, on a freaking Saturday night, my phone starts going crazy.
Half a dozen calls followed by the same amount of texts within the span of 15-30 minutes.
I receive about the same number the next day.
Plus the AI calls. Always '30-40yo white women' with nice voices.
And again a few this morning.

Everyone is on casual first name basis with me. So many besties I never knew I had.
Just provide all my info for their database. Wait. Who are they again?

"Hey John, it's X, I wanted to touch base and help you find what you are looking for"
I do not know you, sir.
It's Mr. 70t to you.

[pwd72s]

Hang in there, it'll stop after the 7th... But I agree, maddening. Many of these come out of India, and those are trying to sell you non existent supplemental policies.

(edit) One thing I've started doing here is to take the land line phone off the hook while I'm up for my usual 4 AM pee...leave it off the hook until I'm awake & out of bed. Otherwise, phone begins ringing around 6, which is 9 AM Eastern.

[Dixie]

There's big money in Medavantage plans. Agents get a nice commission for each new policy. They even get a commission for each renewal. That's because Medavantage plans have the highest profit margins in the industry.

I notice those TV ads gloss over that you're leaving Medicare and going with private insurance. They also don't mention that the insurance company will be much more inclined to deny your claims. And there's no mention that to revert back to original Medicare, you'll need to qualify. Good luck doing that.

[Rick Lee]

The DNC registry means absolutely nothing to overseas call centers.

Agents who sell Medicare plans will make around $760 per enrollment and then $380 for each renewal. Sounds like a lot, but you incur lots of costs and do a lot of work before the money starts to flow. You can be tens of thousands in the hole on costs before dollar one is deposited into your account. Furthermore, so many people on Medicare/Medicaid, aren't really using their own money, due to the low income subsidy. So they'll flip to another plan and agent at the drop of a hat, meaning the original agent has to pay back part or all of his commission. Worse yet, CMS is clamping down on what agencies are allowed to get for overrides on their agents' commissions. So that means there will be a lot less or no training, ditto for compliance and it will mean lots more fraud and less choice out there for seniors.

I have a friend who does Medicare exclusively and makes about $250k/year just on her current book's renewals. But to keep them coming, she has to constantly write new business to offset the churn. Not too hard for someone still young and energetic. But I know some guys in their 60s, who make good money selling final expense insurance, but whose retirement plan is to use their book as Medicare leads and try to rack up 1000 clients ASAP, thinking that will be a $300k annual income before they get out of bed in the morning. If it were that easy .....