UPDATE (10/9/2008) – CMS has proposed their own model form. SEE THIS NEWER POST
I’m not a lawyer and I’m in the process of having this reviewed by a compliance officer at a Medicare Advantage Plan, but in the meantime, I’m recommending that you use this form for EACH AND EVERY medicare advantage presentation you do EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! Further, I’m recommending that you have this form completed PRIOR TO making any presentation for Medicare Advantage. If the client refuses to complete the form, then I recommend that you DO NOT make a presentation.
Keep in mind that by virtue of your contract to sell Medicare Advantage with ANY insurance company, you are agreeing to allow CMS to audit your broker records, so you will want this signed document in EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR CLIENT FILES!!!
Here is a link to the form: mippa_authorization_contact2
Calling all Independent Medicare Advantage Agents. We need to banned together and sign a petition and whatever else it takes to convince CMS that the ruling they made on our commissions was WRONG. I believe Independent agents outnumber the captive.
It might be possible that we can start an online petition for agents to sign. If nothing else maybe they would at least put it back to what is was before.
CMS did not have all the facts or they would have never done this. You cannot tell me that Captive agents (selling one product) does not steer clients to one of their products and yet are they being penalized? NO NO NO.
How are these new commissions going to stop churning. It will not in its current form.
If they wanted to stop churning why didn’t they give $250 per new app or transferred app and then $500 for renewals accross the board? No one would churn if they would be losing money.
If they don’t want people to change why don’t they stop AEP and OEP. Why don’t they freeze plans saying they cannot change for 3 years. Agents are only trying to keep their customers by keeping them happy with the right plan. Insurance companies change plans, changing premiums and co-pays and they look to us to help find them the best one at the lowest price.
Thu all of this the Insurance companies are getting all the commission that was taken from us. Independent agents, if we do not stand together on this there is no other Insurance company or underwriter that is going to fight for independent agents.
Teresa Cole
teresacole@comcast.net
I am brand new at selling insurance, infact I am just now considering working for Senior Solutions. I am told by the owner/agent that I should learn Medicare Advantage plans in depth. Does anyone have advise for me with respect to the business and medicare Advantage Plans? CHRIS
Craig, I would just like to add a note of thanks to you on doing a great job in thinking of the independent agent. They are coming up with many regulations and not giving anyone much time to prepare for what is already a limited AEP timeframe. As professional agents, we want to be sure that our clients are educated and informed especially since everything can change every year. Many clients can not distringuish the ANOC from the massive amount of marketing they receive from plans and do not realize that their plan is having changes until they go to their subsequent provider visits. So many of the regulations seem to be made only thinking of the sales departments at the large companies. Since CMS’ main concern is the protection of the Medicare Beneficiary, you would think that they would do an educational communication campaign advising Medicare Beneficiaries that this is their time to review their choices, review any changes to their plans and educate themselves on any options available to them. They could further it by saying “if you would like to explore other options or if there is any confusion with the information that you are receiving you should contact your local independent agent or the service department at your plan. We are taking strides to be sure that you do not receive unsolicited phone calls or marketing. So remember if you need help, contact your local agent today…” The feedback we hear from clients and prospects is that they are so glad that there is someone local they can talk to and review the massive amount of information they receive so that they are educated enough to make an informed decision on something as important as their healthcare insurance. Remember we are all training and certifying and learning all of the new regulations but who is advising the medicare beneficiaries? Most of the prospects that we meet with still do not have computer and/or internet hookup and the last CMS News Release I saw was stating that it’s time to make your choices so just surf on over to the Medicare website and you will easily find the tools to do that. I use the Medicare website all the time and love that there is so much information out there that can be used to educate and assist in making informed decisions but it is probably less than 5% of the people that we meet with that use it and/or would attempt to use it since they are not working with this stuff day in and day out. This will change in the next 10 years as we age into Medicare and the generations that use computers. By not wanting an agent to assist in COMPARING plans I am not sure of the service they are providing the beneficiaries. As always we are preparing for the busy AEP season and just hoping that we will have supplies (all the regs are affecting the supplies too) and be able to get Scope of Appt letters out and back in time to meet with those beneficiaries that are in need of an agents review of requested plans. Craig, thanks again for everything that you do and continue to do. We notice all the hard work…
Is this for sell Medicare Advantage plans only or does it have to be used when selling a Med Sup policy along with a Part D plans only ?
Based on the new CMS hardline regs. this form or some version of it makes sense. I attended an Aetna seminar yesterday and it appears that they will also be developing a similar form. However, my understanding is that these requirements don’t necessarily apply to current clients. Is this your understanding. ALEX
I agree with Tim as far as those with the companies that were represented at the Summit l that I spoke with indicated all that would be needed was to list the line type (MA, MA-PD, PDP) that were being presented.
What I would like to see added is a date of the initial contact. Also possibly a second sheet acknowledging that they are willing to see you after the “cooling off period” for other lines (check off list also- Hospital Indeminity, Cancer, Annuity, LTC, ect) showing a appt date and time. Not only would this protect the agent in-regards to the 48 hrs rule but, would help firm up the future appt.
That way you have all pertanent info on one form and acknowledged by their signature. You know what the say “CYA” .
By the way- To Craig and all the staff at Ritter’s you did a great job at the Summit and we can’t thank you enough for all your help!!!
All of the materials I have read and teleconferences that I have participated in have all said that the letter just needs to list the product lines (MA, MA-PD, PFFS, etc.) and not the individual carriers themselves.
Thanks for the great work Craig. You are definitely a great source for information.
Please keep the feedback coming. My intention here is to give agents something with which to protect themselves assuming they are doing everything correctly. I haven’t seen any carriers addressing this issue with respect to the independent agent, so since Marketing for 2009 can, presumably, begin on October 1st, I thought I’d put something out there.
I don’t believe this would qualify as Marketing since the intent is not to direct the Medicare Beneficiary to an individual plan or group of plans, however, I do have 3 insurance companies looking at it right now.
I’d like to gather all of the feedback (agents and insurance companies) and come up with a final version of the form. I’m hoping I might have this by the end of the week, but in the meantime, I believe using this form is better than nothing. There hasn’t been much guidance from the insurance companies with respect to this, but I believe that it’s important for independent agents to protect themselves as CMS can audit your records as a part of a larger audit of an insurance company.
Again, thanks for the feedback, I’ll keep you posted.
This was from Brenda Jo:
Does anyone know if this MIPPA form needs to be sent to our contracted carriers for approval since CMS considers everything going to a Medicare Beneficiary as marketing? Also can we add our logo and contact information to it? If not, is it acceptable to put a cover letter with the form, confirming the contact and requesting that the form be completed, signed and returned in the stamped self-addressed envelope that I will probably include to ensure return of the form before my appt? Most of my appointments are with couples, can/should this form be redone to include a space for 2 or more people or is the sugested method one form per person? Also, one of our companies is stating that the companies that will be presented need to be in writing also. What is your take on whether or not we have to be more specific than product line and also list the companies that will be presented? Instead of checking next to the product lines, I may suggest that the client(s) initial there to show the agreement with product lines instead of checkmarks that could more easily be changed after the fact. Fun, fun, fun, all this during the holidays while trying to assist those in need.
Thank you for creating this form. My only constructive criticism is that the product lines should be listed with a check box next to them. That way the agent can clearly show what they will be talking about.
I think CMS would want the prospect to have the ability to not talk about certain plans. I doubt anyone would ever do that but I think they (CMS) would want them to have that option.