[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 .....