I saw a commercial tonight for 1-800-MEDICARE.
Just for fun, I was wondering if all of the Medicare beneficiaries who have Part D took them up on their advice and called 800-MEDICARE, how many call center employees it would take to service them?? Assume the call took 30 minutes, 15 minutes to evaluate the plans and 15 minutes to enroll in a plan. Assume there is zero down time between calls and operators work a normal 5 day week. Assume, somehow, the Medicare Beneficiaries knew exactly when to call, so they wouldn’t be on hold forever.
Answer: It would take 35,151 call center employees to service the 17.4 million PDP beneficiaries.
In addition, there are those with MAPD plans as well. Assuming the same scenario, but it would take 1 hour to review their MAPD (network, co-pays, drugs, deductibles, premiums, etc., etc.), it would take an additional 30,707 employees to service the 7.6 million MAPD beneficiaries.
A mere 65,859 call center reps! That might help the boost employment in the US, but, unfortunately, they would all need to be fired on January 1st, 2009!
Dan:
LOL! Fortunately, Cal doesn’t follow my blog, so he won’t see your comment!!
Good tip, tho, if you need to call 800 MEDICARE, just say “Agent” and it will get you past having to listen to all of the IVR menus.
Ya know folks, That’s exactly how I see the cubes being managed at CMS! I love it when you call CMS and talk to 3 different reps and get 3 different answers. Just UNREAL!!
Always remember when calling CMS or SS always use ONE word (no it’s not that word) the word is “AGENT”. You’ll be talking to a rep in a couple minutes. Just “AGENT” nothing else! Craig, I hope that’s not a tape of Cal (LOL) at the office on Mondays!!
From what I hear that’s an accurate portrayal of the competence at Medicare.