Frankly, this doesn’t surprise me. Here is a link to the article. CVS did a study and found that HALF of all PDP members could have saved at least $250/year if they made a better choice on their plan!
I’d be willing to bet that with the MAJOR CHANGES in PDP’s for 2009, 80-90% of PDP members would be better served by making a change. See my prior blog – CMS Warns Medicare Beneficiaries to Review 2009 Stand Alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDP).
Add to that all the changes in Plan Premiums, Benefits, Formularies, etc., for beneficiaries in MA plans or MAPD plans and you have TENS of MILLIONS of Medicare Beneficiaries who would be BETTER SERVED by changing plans!!
This tells me that we NEED MILLIONS OF ADDITIONAL PLAN CHANGES IN 2009!!
Wait, I’m confused, I thought we had major problems with too much churning?? Oh, that was yesterday, sorry!!
One more thing: You don’t need a “Scope of Appointment” form if you are not meeting with the client. Since AARP would never see their members face to face, this form is irrelevant to them.
Brenda Jo:
AARP operates under the same guidelines as agents. They are not allowed to send unsolicited e-mails about Medicare Advantage products (Part D or MA/MAPD).
It is possible that AARP members give permission (perhaps unknowingly) to AARP to solicit them for their products somewhere in the “fine print” of the AARP membership. Well, I should say, almost definitely.
In order to e-mail market for PDP/MA/MAPD, you would need to have the permission of the Medicare beneficiary.
Does this answer the question?
AARP RX emails: This weekend I had 2 inquiries regarding AARP RX emails.
One was a client who recently signed a Sales Appointment Confirmation Form to meet for a review in the near future and wanted to know why they didn’t need anything signed.
The other was a non-AARP member and they wanted to know why they could get unsolicited emails from AARP.
Does Part D not fall under the unsolicited contact rules?
Don’t we have to have authorization to email or now that it is ocnfirmed that we can call clients, can we also email since they are clients?
As a producer are we also allowed to email market for prospects for our products?
Boycot Humana!! Don’t sell it!!
I just finished reviewing the Anthem Indiana rates and the AARP plan that I carry for Meidcare supplement and Rx cover. I am amazed how little my friend knows about Anthem and the rate increase he faces in 2009. I am pleased with the low rates AARP/United have in place for 2009 and will stay another year at least. With my Social Security going up $110.00 per month in January…….I am single, my costs are contained and I will do direct mail for a small Rx cost reduction. I am using $2800.00 per year for Rx and so I will be next to the wall on the hole but not in it or thru it with a tweak on the generic route for cost reduction (heart disease, and mild COPD, thank God) so my costs will remain similar to 2008 thru 2009. We all need to look at the next problem and that is Nursing Home Care costs. There should be a way to stay in a group home environment without the damn high costs one faces. I for one do not plan on being trapped in a home, death is a better route as I see it. My mother is 94 and going strong and lives within her SSI income and still saves a chunk each month. The answer must be in cost reduction and expense reduction for our lifestyles but nobody sees it that way. Saving for a rainy day or should we give our children something we never got…an inheritance….and why? I ramble but there is a day of reconning coming soon and Obama will certainly pull the plug on the last 30 days of life he already said as much……anyway……Group homes and not nursing homes……..and assisted sucide start to look like a blessing in disguise? Got answers?
This year especially has seemed to overprice or significantly increase the majority of standalone drug plans. I would have to believe it is done in a way to drive more beneficiaries to PPOs, etc. and not necessarily as it is justified. Plus the webinars I’ve been on all indicate that in the next 2 to 3 years the majority of brand RX’s commonly used in our area will go generic. Do you think that the PDP plan cost will go down when that happens?
It doesn’t leave the best market of PDPs for those that choose to remain on Med Supps, or who choose MSAs.
Most clients already don’t understand why when they go in the donut hole they have to pay 100% of their RX cost on most plans and still pay a premium. And if you are one of the lucky few who goes in early and does not get to Catastrophic by year’s end, it can be painful.
When we ask people if they got notice of their plan changes, most of them are saying yes but that they get so much mail that they really haven’t taken the time to review it. Ones that have, really don’t find insurance change notices the most friendly readable documents they receive. Many of these people would not know of their changes until they are locked in and some of these plans changes are big not just incremental and expected increases.