The survey found that 29% of respondents did not fully understand their Medicare Advantage plans, and 23% did not fully understand their Medicare Supplement plans. Given their lack of understanding, many Medicare-eligible Americans turn to agents for help with enrollment.
Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they trust their doctor most as a source of information on Medicare Advantage and Supplement plans, but only 3% used them as a source in selecting a plan. Following are respondents’ most trusted sources of information:
The survey underscored the importance of trust in licensed insurance agents among plan shoppers. Fifty-two percent of Americans who signed up with Supplement or Advantage plans were enrolled by an agent. Twenty-nine percent of those with Supplement or Advantage plans said an agent had enrolled them in person, and 23% said an agent had enrolled for them by phone. And 29% said they had enrolled online themselves, while 8% enrolled by mail and 11% cited other methods. Buying a PlanEighty-eight percent of respondents who signed up for Medicare Supplement or Advantage plans were the primary decision-maker in choosing a plan, according to the survey. Eight percent said their spouse was the primary decision-maker, while less than 1% said either an adult child, another family member or a friend had made the decision. When signing up, 82% of Americans 65 and older said they understood Medicare Supplement very or somewhat well, compared with 76% who said they understood Medicare Advantage very or somewhat well. Medicare Advantage came out on top in the survey in terms of ease of enrollment, with 59% of respondents saying it was easy to enroll in, while only 48% said the same about Medicare Supplement. MedicareGuide.com noted that Medicare Advantage applications are standardized and about two pages long, whereas Medicare Supplement applications vary by carrier and state, and nearly all are longer than 10 pages. ![]() |
Medicare Blog | Medicare News | Medicare Information
Survey: Quarter of Americans Confused When Enrolling in Medicare Plans
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Fri, Mar 05, 2021 @ 02:09 PM
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Ramp Up Your Annuity Referrals!
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Fri, Mar 05, 2021 @ 10:21 AM
It’s as Easy as 1-2-3:
If you order Annuity 360 books from Annuity360Books.com and follow the steps, you will write more FIAs quickly! Here’s What Your Clients and Prospects will learn by reading Annuity 360:
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Tags: Annuity Information
Great Western Final Expense Plans
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Wed, Mar 03, 2021 @ 03:32 PM
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Tags: Final Expense, guarantee issue final expense, Great Western
Study: Rural patients struggle with access under Medicare Advantage
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Wed, Mar 03, 2021 @ 03:16 PM
A new study in Health Affairs found that rural patients with the poorest health status were substantially more likely to switch from a Medicare Advantage plan to a traditional Medicare plan than other patients. Adjusted switching levels reached 11.6% for that group, compared to 10.5% for rural patients overall and just 5% for non-rural patients. More alarmingly, that switching takes place in only one direction, Sungchul Park, assistant professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University, told Fierce Healthcare. “The switching rates from traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage among rural and non-rural enrollees was about 2%,” he said. To get an idea of why this switching might be happening, researchers examined satisfaction scores across a range of measures. “We found that people who were dissatisfied with access to care were more likely to switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare, and the rate was especially high for people who lived in rural areas,” Park said. Medicare Advantage programs are designed to provide patients more flexibility than traditional Medicare. In his previous research, Park has found that Medicare Advantage providers may deliver care more efficiently than traditional Medicare providers do. However, the incentives that Medicare Advantage programs have to keep enrollees healthy and reduce care costs could potentially create a perverse incentive when it comes to high-cost, high-need patients. Whether misaligned incentives are the problem here is unclear. Park said the available data simply isn’t robust enough to determine the mechanism that causes patients to be dissatisfied to care access, but he believes the flexibility Medicare Advantage programs have may be a key part of the problem. “I think our findings suggest that this issue may be more pronounced in Medicare Advantage because they can determine which providers to include in their network or not,” he said. The existence of a disparity in switching isn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself, as long as patients who switch receive care aligned with their needs. The link to dissatisfaction with access to care, combined with the tendency for more restrictive provider networks among Medicare Advantage plans suggest that the benefits of these plans may not be robust enough to keep patients from switching—and that rural enrollees have access to a smaller number of Medicare Advantage plans overall. The study recommends two areas in which policymakers could take steps to address the issue. First, since primary care physicians are less likely to practice in rural areas for a variety of reasons, creating financial incentives for healthcare workers could begin to address the overall shortage of rural medical practitioners. Second, it could be worth looking at incentives for Medicare Advantage plans to provide better access to these patients through mechanisms such as a payment add-on for plans that operate in rural areas. “We found in the study that something is going on here: rural Medicare Advantage enrollees are facing limited access-to-care issues,” Park said. “But to provide more specific policy implications, I think we need better data and more information.” Source: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/study-rural-patients-struggle-access-under-medicare-advantage ![]() |
Tags: Medicare Advantage News
SureBridge New Agent First App Bonus
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Wed, Mar 03, 2021 @ 02:16 PM
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Tags: dental plans, SureBridge
Atlantic Coast Life AZ & FL Med Supp Launch
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Mon, Mar 01, 2021 @ 03:38 PM
March 15th, 2021 release date. Be ready!Atlantic Coast Life Medicare Supplement Highlights:
Writing Agent Bonus:
* Restrictions may apply. Consult your marketer today for additional details.
Learn more about selling Med Supps with Atlantic Coast Life. PSM offers an array of the best Medicare Supplement contracts along with ideas on Medicare Lead Generation and the most effective way to sell Medicare products. ![]() |
Tags: Medicare Supplement, atlantic coast life medicare supplement
Lower Spending Drives Senior Satisfaction with Medigap Policies
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Mon, Mar 01, 2021 @ 03:18 PM
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Tags: Medicare Supplement
16% increase of Medicare customers choosing Medicare Advantage plans
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Thu, Feb 25, 2021 @ 04:25 PM
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Tags: Medicare Advantage News
Why Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Are Important
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Wed, Feb 24, 2021 @ 02:01 PM
MA star ratings, which were introduced in 2008, range from two to five stars and aim to rank plans based on quality. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses star ratings to assess bonuses and penalties, as well as to share with the general public. Since 2012, CMS has tied payment bonuses to star rating to bonuses, with MA contracts that are rated four or more stars eligible for an up to 5% bonus on their payments for each enrollee in the plan. Nearly three-quarters of enrollee-weighted contracts were rated four stars or higher in 2019. CMS pays roughly $6 billion in bonus payments annually, which indicates that star ratings work as a measure of care quality, the agency suggests. Until now, not much had been known about the reliability of star ratings as indicators of quality, since “many of the measures in the star ratings are correlated with sociodemographic characteristics and geography,” wrote first author David J. Meyers, assistant professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, and colleagues. “Therefore, the rating of a contract may reflect the composition of its enrollees rather than the quality of its care.” Further, contract consolidation previously enabled MA insurers to consolidate higher-rated contracts to increase bonuses. The practice allowed MA insurers to move all enrollees from one contract to another if the cost-sharing structure didn’t differ greatly. These combined factors meant star ratings were questionable as a method for measuring quality. Meyers and co-authors looked into the association between star ratings and enrollees’ use of higher-quality hospitals and nursing homes, contract switching and quality of care, using a sample of more than 16 million MA enrollees across 515 contracts. Of this group, more than 1.3 million enrollees in 42 contracts were involved in a consolidation. Researchers found that enrollees within the higher-rate MA plans did have some indications of better quality care, including a 3.4% increase in use of higher-rated hospitals, 2.6% reduction in 90-day readmissions and a 20.8% decrease in disenrollment to traditional Medicare and switching MA contracts. They also found that higher-rated contracts are more likely to have networks with higher-rated hospitals. Even when consolidation occurred, enrollees were unlikely to be admitted to lower-quality facilities, the study found. The reduction in readmissions rate could also be related to this network of higher-quality hospitals in higher-rated contracts, the researchers noted. However, more study is needed to fully understand this relationship, as the reduction could also be a result of care management by the MA contract providers. Bonus payments may also help MA contracts improve or maintain higher quality care or better enable these plans to retain their members. The findings come at a time when the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is considering adding penalties for MA plans with lower star ratings. “Overall, our study provides evidence that MA contract star ratings capture some important measures of quality and outcomes for enrollees,” Meyers et al concluded. “However, it is unclear whether all of the differences they indicate are clinically meaningful.” ![]() |
Tags: Medicare Advantage News
8% Nation Conference 2021 - July 23rd and 24th - Dallas, TX
Posted by www.psmbrokerage.com Admin on Wed, Feb 24, 2021 @ 10:36 AM
THE 8% EXPERIENCEHow do successful people think? From the professional to the personal realm, hear how you can better overcome challenges and develop a winning mindset. A destination without a path is unreachable. Learn what leaders from your industry and others did to pave their way to your dream lifestyle. Connect with the TOP performers in the industry. At 8% Nation you’ll learn the moves, the strategy, and build the network you need to SUCCEED. The 8% Nation Insurance Wealth Conference is an opportunity to motivate and invest in yourself. ARE YOU IN THE 8%?
NETWORKINGHave you ever heard the term, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know?”One of the greatest things about the 8% Nation conference is the attendees themselves. Friendships, partnerships, and mentorships have all happened from agents just like yourself who happened to bump into the right person in the audience. By connecting with the person to your left or your right (or both) at our conference, you can hold each other accountable to your new goals, challenge yourselves to do more every day, and help each other to keep a growth mindset. It’s important to keep successful people around you if you want to achieve your goals and the people who attend 8% Nation are the ones who are committed to doing something big with their lives. Join Us!Join us this July for a one-of-a-kind learning and networking insurance experience.PSM will be a sponsor for the 8% Nation event including a booth exhibit and breakout session and we would love to see you there. DON’T MISS 2021. Reserve your spot now for a once in a lifetime event.
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Tags: Success Tips, Professional Networking, sales advice, Entrepreneurship, Insurance Marketing, Leadership