Medicare Advantage Plans Often a Poor Choice for Consumers
CNN Money agrees with us in their December 2011 print edition (which unfortunately isn’t online yet). In the article, Lisa Gibbs writes:

“A recent CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) secret-shopper survey of more than 1,900 Advantage marketing events found the majority of plan sponsors broke the rules in some way. A third of the problems involved leaving out important details about plan coverage, and 12% involved misrepresentation that could directly harm beneficiaries. ‘Medicare Advantage is a decent product,’ says Brent Barnhart, director of California’s Department of Managed Health Care. ‘But when agents look solely to make a quick sale, exploitation occurs.’”

And it’s not just the quick sale that motivates agents to fraudulent action that harms their customers. Their payday for enticing their customers to enroll in Medicare Advantage is significantly higher. According to the same article, “Under a rate schedule set by the CMS, agents earn a typical $408 for every new Advantage customer, then $202 a year for each renewal (the rates are higher in a few states), vs. just $53 for signing up seniors for a Medicare prescription drug [Part D] plan, which are also offered by private insurers.” Plus the commission an agent earns for a Part D renewal is only $27.

Medigap 360 is a broker of Medicare Supplement Insurance. We do not sell Medicare Advantage plans — never have, never will. There’s a reason for that and it has to do with principle. As Brandon Todd, our CEO, wrote in this article, “Beware of Medicare (Dis)Advantage Plans,” because:

• “Many misinformed or unscrupulous insurance agents are misleading seniors into believing that Medicare Advantage Plans, which contain co-pays, deductibles, co-insurance and provider networks, are the equivalent of traditional Medicare with a Medicare Supplement Plan.

• “Medicare Advantage plans restrict access to many providers or you will be liable for 100 percent of the costs.

• “Medicare Advantage plans do not have lower premiums — though some salespeople try to compare the Medicare Advantage Premium to that of your Medicare Supplement, the benefits are only required to be equivalent to Medicare alone. Therefore you sacrifice coverage, options and often pay higher premiums than with traditional Medicare.

• “If you are on Medicare Advantage, you no longer can legally buy a Medicare Supplement.

If Medigap 360 sold Medicare Advantage plans, our profit margin would be much higher. But we don’t and we never will. As company we do not believe it’s right to line our pockets while harming our customers.

Are you currently enrolled and would like to switch to a Medicare Supplement plan? Good news, starting this year the Feds have instituted a new Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period (MADP) from January January 1st to February 14th. During this time period you can use this time period to return to your Original Medicare benefits from the federal government. You may also enroll in a stand-alone prescription drug plan.