I Saw It In The Stars
We are officially halfway through AEP, and I hope that you are having great success. So far, this AEP has gone smoothly, and we hope that continues. I have several items that I would like to highlight while we are at this halfway point for AEP.
New Star Ratings are available:
Please be aware that the 2020 Star Ratings are now available. The older 2019 Star Ratings need to be replaced with the 2020 updated ratings in all your enrollment kits.
The Real Cost of Stand-Alone PDP Plans:
- Members may not be aware of the total out of pocket costs vs. premiums when using the Find a Plan tool on medicare.gov.
- Medicare.gov has changed the way search results for stand-alone prescription drug plan costs are displayed by default. Instead of defaulting to Out of Pocket Costs, results are ranked by monthly premiums.
- Further, search results do not necessarily consider Low Income Subsidy (Extra Help) or a $0 premium.
- These challenges could mislead members and cause higher total out of pocket costs.
Please, take the time to educate members and beneficiaries on the real costs of their stand-alone prescription drug plan selection. If you are having any issues with the new plan finder on Medicare.gov, please leave them your feedback. Your feedback has helped them change a few things since the launch of the new plan finder to make it a bit better.
Follow-up on transmitted applications:
During AEP so many applications are being processed, and it never fails that agents will have applications that do not show up on their pending business reports. Most of these issues deal with applications that are faxed in. I highly recommend agents keep their fax confirmations. You never know when it\’ll be useful having something that shows your applications have been successfully transmitted. If an application has not been received by a carrier and we can prove that it was sent, and carriers will honor that application submission. The best agents keep track of the status of their applications throughout AEP. They know that it\’ll result in fewer problems for them at year-end and through the start of the new year.
Enrollment Supplies:
Since we are halfway through AEP, please place orders now to ensure you get through the end of AEP. Right now, supply orders are talking about two weeks or more to be fulfilled, so time is limited to order supplies and have them available before the end of AEP. We have limited quantities in stock for our agents\’ use, however, we place requested orders each week.
Please reach out to us if you are in a pinch and need supplies.
Thank you for your continued partnership!
Rick Roberts
Medicare Supplement Marketing Manager
800.541.6705
* Use the URLs to access, download and print all of the 2020 star rating pages to add to your enrollment kits. Links to both English and Spanish versions are available.