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The March of the Baby Boomers We’ve been hearing the figure at least since 2011, when the first baby boomers turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare: Each day now, 10,000 Americans cross that threshold and switch their coverage to the federal program. And unlike the billions and trillions bandied about in our era, 10,000 isn’t impossible to picture. Just two days’ worth of these new enrollees would fill Madison Square Garden.
What does that number mean? For one thing, it affects a flock of other numbers. Take 60 million—the total Medicare enrollment likely to be reached this year. The Kaiser Family Foundation says that comprises 40 million in traditional fee-for-service Medicare and 20 million enrolled in privately managed Medicare Advantage plans. That total was just 54 million in 2015; by 2030, according to MedPAC, it’s projected to reach 80 million. In February 2019, when CMS released the annual projections of its Office of the Actuary, Medicare’s influx of boomers was cited as a key factor to explain an expected rise in national health spending from $3.5 trillion in 2017 to $5.9 trillion by 2027, an increase that will make health care’s large slice of GDP even larger, increasing it from 17.9% to 19.4%. Over that decade, the agency projects that health spending’s 5.5% annual growth will outpace that of the GDP (4.7%), led in turn by an expected 7.4% annual growth in Medicare spending. CMS cites two reasons for torrid growth: “sustained strong enrollment as the baby boomers continue to age into the program” and “growth in the use and intensity of covered services that is consistent with the rates observed during Medicare’s long-term history.” Baby boomers surge into Medicare Ranks of the Medicare eligible are expected to balloon till 2029 when the last of the baby boomers turns 65.
Does this “use and intensity” mean a too-extravagant Medicare is in need of an overhaul? A February 2019 Urban Institute report says no. CMS data, the report contends, show that enrollment increases are largely responsible for the high rates of spending growth in Medicare and Medicaid over about the last 10 years, and that these programs’ per-capita spending growth was actually below that of private insurance. The report even gave a friendly wink to Medicare for all, noting that the data “may actually provide some support for efforts to expand public programs or borrow some of their cost containment strategies for use in the private sector.” But there is a but. CMS does project significant increases in per-enrollee spending in the coming years because of rising drug prices and a hotter economy, the Urban Institute report points out, noting that this projection fits with a view that recession and a slow recovery contributed to slow growth in the recent past. Still, the report also sounds a hopeful note about future cost control, speculating that aggressive payment programs by Medicare may have reduced revenue flows to providers sufficiently to cause adjustments in cost structures. Then there’s both an onion and an orchid for MA plans. A recent shift of recipients to such programs has sparked a rise in Medicare administrative costs, according to the Urban Institute. On the plus side, the report says that “some recent evidence on Medicare Advantage suggests that these plans have been successful at lowering costs without sacrificing quality.” Why is Medicare spending headed north? Enrollment is increasing at a faster rate than spending per enrollee.
Considering what’s coming, they’ll need to work that magic big-time. A December 2017 Commonwealth Fund report noted a Congressional Budget Office estimate that annual net Medicare spending—that is, “mandatory spending minus income from premiums and other offsetting receipts”—would more than double in the ensuing decade, increasing from $584 billion last year to $1.2 trillion in 2027. It also threw in an expectation that per-enrollee costs would rise “as new tests and treatments with high price tags become available.” The Commonwealth Fund’s point back then was that the giant Republican tax cut then proposed would make an already unsustainable situation even worse. “The tax bill aside,” warned the foundation, “Medicare is not adequately funded.” Indeed, those daily grey armies are helping to push the program rapidly into the red. MedPAC has projected that by 2027 just 2.5 working-age Americans will be striving to pay the tab for each Medicare beneficiary, compared with 4.5 in the ’70s. Little wonder, then, that projections show that Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund will be insolvent by 2026. We’ve seen this movie before, of course; previous looming insolvencies have prodded Congress into last-minute action with payroll tax hikes or other adjustments. But this time the challenge may be tougher. You know things are dire when people start publicly criticizing themselves. “I don’t think we’ve taken enough bold steps to move this curve,” said MedPAC Commissioner Warner Thomas of New Orleans’ Ochsner Health System about his commission in September, according to published reports. One of Thomas’s fellow commissioners, Brian DeBusk of Powell, Tenn.-based DeRoyal Industries, suggested possible solutions by way of a cheery metaphor. He likened fee-for-service Medicare to an automobile on which extensive tinkering had yet to accomplish repair. “Ultimately it’s going to take a new car,” he said. “Maybe it’s innovation on the Medicare Advantage side, maybe it’s a next-generation ACO, or maybe it’s one of the new contracting models.” Whatever the response of government or the market, the 10,000-a-day influx of new Medicare recipients isn’t scheduled to abate till 2029, when those born in 1964 bring up the rear of the baby boomers reaching age 65. Till then these folks are going to keep coming, and chances are—they’re the Woodstock-era kids, remember?—they won’t come quietly. Related Article: Getting Started in Medicare Sales
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Tags: Medicare, Baby Boomers
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76,000,000. That hefty number – 76 million – is the number of Baby Boomers living today in the United States. As an agent, it’s important to consider how annuities can be an important part of a Boomer’s retirement. There are solid reasons to focus on selling to this particular group. Boomers are at the perfect age to benefit from the consistent income stream annuities provide. And, put simply, no other financial products have been developed at the moment that offer the unique value for investment that annuities do. What should you keep in mind as you talk to your clients about which financial vehicles to choose? In regard to annuities, there are numerous benefits: safety, flexible time frame, tax deferral and shorter surrender charge periods. (Related: 4 Reasons Selling Annuities Is a Stable Strategy) You have likely already considered the benefits that annuities can offer to boomers, so it may seem like a novel idea at first. But there are solid reasons to focus on selling to this particular group. Boomers are at the perfect age to benefit from the consistent income stream that annuities can provide, among other benefits I’ll mention below. And, put simply, no other financial products have been developed at the moment that offer the unique value for investment that annuities do. As a result, annuities shouldn’t be overlooked as part of your selling strategy. It’s important to remember that clients are looking to you to provide an asset accumulation approach that is reliable and will succeed no matter what happens in the stock market. Thus, your approach should include safe options that offer clients what they want most: stability. Because of this, annuities are a strong option that will earn clients’ trust and grow your business at the same time. Why Baby Boomers?While annuities offer benefits to clients no matter what their age, boomers are at the stage in their life where they are demanding greater principal protection. This growing demand largely stems from the fact that they are coming closer to the end of their working years, thus they are becoming more financially conservative and can’t afford to lose what savings they’ve accumulated. With their preferences shifting, there is a growing convergence between what they want and what annuities offer. Thus, more of their asset allocation should be to safer products such as annuities. As they approach and enter retirement, the question becomes what to do with the growing portion that they want to keep safe. Boomers are major investors in mutual funds, but the unpredictable nature of the markets are likely causing increasingly cautious baby boomers to think twice about their existing asset allocation, one that can lead to losses during periods of market volatility. A major benefit of fixed and indexed annuities is that they are not directly tied to the stock market and are protected from downward swings. This makes annuities an increasingly attractive option for your boomer clients, since they are not susceptible to loss when the market is in turmoil. With interest rates higher now than they were a few years ago, annuities give clients a solid interest rate, along with the safety and protection they seek. Money market funds generally can’t keep up with the interest rate of an annuity, and while bond mutual funds sometimes offer adequate interest rates, they don’t provide the security or protection annuities do in case of market turmoil. Bond mutual fund balances fluctuate daily, whereas annuity values do not. Approaching the Annuities ConversationWhat should you keep in mind as you talk to your clients about which financial vehicles to choose? In regard to annuities, there are numerous benefits.
For clients who are becoming uncomfortable risking their money in the stock market, annuities provide a stable solution. Annuities lock in growth without constant monitoring. Annuities offer a simple and safe option that doesn’t require constant upkeep. They guard against the psychological shock of market dips and having to watch a nest egg evaporate with every market move. The end result: annuities are simply one of the best ways for baby boomers to strengthen a portfolio that needs protection and stability. Source: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2019/04/29/want-annuity-customers-try-baby-boomers/ Image: www.Canva.com
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Tags: Annuities, Baby Boomers
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Not only are Hispanics the fastest-growing young demographic in the U.S., but they have the longest life expectancy at birth, facts that might interest insurance agents looking to build their books of business. Underwriters of life insurance policies might also want to take note as the nation becomes more ethnically and racially diverse and as Hispanics continued to be underrepresented in life insurance coverage. The data are the latest findings published by the National Center for Health Statistics in “Health, United States 2016.” “By 2015, just over one-half of the child and adolescent population was non-Hispanic white and one-quarter was Hispanic,” study authors wrote in the 488-page report. The NCHS is the principal data collection agency of the Centers for Disease Control within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There were about 321 million people in the U.S. in 2015, compared with 216 million in 1975. Fastest-Growing Segment In 2015, nearly a quarter (24.6 percent) of the population ages 0 to 17 years old was Hispanic, an increase from 17.1 percent in 2000, as that age segment grew fastest. Hispanics ages 18 to 64 years old made up 17.3 percent of the population, an increase from 12.2 percent in 2000, the report found. Hispanics 65 years and older made up 7.9 percent of the population in 2015, an increase from 5 percent in 2000, the health data found. By comparison, in 2015 whites made up 51.5 percent of the population age 0 to 17 years old compared with 61.3 percent in 2000. In 2015 whites 18 to 64 years old made up 61.5 percent of the population, compared with 70 percent in 2000. Whites 65 years and older made up 77.8 percent compared with 83.8 percent in 2000, the data show. Life Expectancy Highest Among Hispanics That the nation’s population is moving toward racial and ethnic diversity isn’t exactly new, but the latest mortality data about Hispanics might be. During 1975-2015, average life expectancy at birth in the U.S. rose from 68.8 years to 76.3 years for men and from 76.6 years to 81.2 years for women. In 2015, Hispanic men had a life expectancy at birth, on average, of 79.3 years and Hispanic women had an expectancy of 84.3 years. Non-Hispanic black men, with a life expectancy at birth of 71.8 years and non-Hispanic black women, with a life expectancy of 78.1 years, had the shortest, according to the data. Life expectancy at birth was 7.5 years longer for Hispanic men than for non-Hispanic black men and 6.2 years longer for Hispanic women than for non-Hispanic black women. The leading cause of death in 2015 was heart disease, which claimed 23.4 percent of all deaths, the data show. Heart disease was followed by cancer (22 percent), CLRD, or chronic lower respiratory disease, (5.7 percent), unintentional injuries (5.4 percent), stroke (5.2 percent), Alzheimer’s (4.1 percent), diabetes (2.9 percent), influenza and pneumonia (2.1 percent), nephritis and nephrosis, or kidney disease (1.8 percent), and suicide (1.6 percent). From 2011 to 2014, diabetes, a condition in which the body is deprived of insulin, affected 12 percent of adults age 20 and older. From 1988 to 1994, diabetes affected 8.8 percent of adults 20 and older, the data show. Between 2011 to 2014, the prevalence of diabetes among blacks and Hispanics of Mexican origin was almost twice as high than for non-Hispanic whites, the data found. Source: http://advisornews.com/innarticle/hispanic-market-growing-interest-advisors |
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Tags: Building Client Relationships, Baby Boomers, Boomer Retirement, Insurance Marketing, Lead Generation, prospecting
 Medicare, the U.S. health care insurance that provides benefits to seniors over 65, and to certain individuals who qualify for the program at an earlier age, has been on the cross hairs of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), who have been questioning whether it is time to phase in and raise the eligibility age to 67.With millions of baby boomers retiring and enrolling into Medicare program, and the recent Medicare spending explosion, is threatening the stability of the U.S. economy. Projection of Medicare spending in the coming decades is expected to continue to exceed domestic per capita growth. Further adding to the growth is increase of life expectancy, translating to; the cost of Medicare has increased along with the life span of the people covered since the program began in 1965. Currently, there is a two prong camps for and against rising the eligibility age of Medicare. One side says that raising the age would save around 3 million a year or about $19 billion, between 2016 and 2023. This would reduce our current deficit to about 1% (our current deficit is $680 billion). Others argue that it is not fair for people to wait two extra years to qualify for Medicare. And that increasing the age would shift the cost to those ages 65 to 66. Seniors would incur an increased out-of-pocket expense of $3.7 billion, and employers tab would increase to 4.5 billion and states would face increased Medicare cost, estimates the Kaiser Family Foundation. Please give us your feedback! Question: What’s your stance on rising the eligibility age to 67? By rising the age and saving 1% on the deficit, will this help our economy or will it dig the U.S. economy deeper into a hole? Source: LifeHealthPro |
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Tags: Medicare, Medicaid, Baby Boomers, Medicare Cost, Congressional Budget Office, Seniors, Retired
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Please give us your feedback! What are your thoughts? Do you think this bill would help improve wellness and reduce healthcare costs?
Source: The Hill |
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A new bipartisan legislation was introduced last month by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) that would allow Medicare to pay seniors to improve and maintain their health. The pinned Medicare Better Health Rewards program would measure the seniors' wellness using six criteria: blood pressure, cholesterol, tobacco use, body mass index, diabetes indicators, and up-to-date vaccinations and screenings.Tags: senior market news, Medicare News, health insurance news, health insurance industry, Combined Insurance Medicare Supplement, Cigna Medicare Supplement, Baby Boomers
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Lookin for Medicare Supplement coverage? Get a Medigap quote. Please give us your feedback! Source: Mark Farrah Associates |
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Medicare Supplement figures from MFA’s Medicare Supplement Market Data, Health Coverage Portal show a continued growth in the number of new policies being issued. New policies issued in the last three years increased by 7.5% in 2011 when compared to the previous year’s data; resulting in 9.9 million seniors being covered by Medicare Supplements as of December 31, 2011. Tags: Medicare Supplement, insurance news, Medicare Sales, Gerber Life Medicare Supplement, Baby Boomers
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With all seniors it is important to be flexible and present the products that will work best for their individual needs. By customizing each client’s portfolio to fit their specific needs you are gaining clients who will be confident in your ability to adapt as their needs change. Please give us your feedback! Source: Agent's Sales Journal |
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As a senior market agent, it’s important for you to understand the best products for your clients as they age and experience retirement, income changes, and death of loved-ones. Younger seniors, older seniors, high and low income seniors all have different needs and it is your responsibility to understand them and choose the products from your portfolio to fit their needs best. These strong relationships will result in more referrals and assure the longevity of your business. Tags: Senior Market Advice, Medicare Supplement, Customer Retention, Medicare Sales, Woodmen of the World Medicare Supplement, Forethought Medicare Supplement, Sentinel Life Medicare Supplement, Customer Service, Gerber Life Medicare Supplement, Baby Boomers
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Their conclusion is that the Medicare Supplement offers a long-term sustainability. With the opportunities available like Baby Boomers, Medicare Advantage reductions, decrease in retiree health benefits, and the insertions of new Med Supp plans into the market there will be an increase in selling opportunities and, therefore, enrollment. Please give us your feedback! Source: InsuranceNewsNet |
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In the past few years, the senior insurance market has seen tremendous growth. Curious if this would continue to be the case, Bryan R. Neary and his associates launched a study to find out if Med Advantage would trump Med Supp in the next ten years. They found the process more complex than they originally thought, but in the end they saw the Med Supp enrollment increasing in the 10 year time frame. Due to the proposed new health care laws, Neary and his team made conservative assumptions based on what is already known. They took the current Medicare enrollment, a reliable Medicare enrollment projection, the historical changes in the Medicare market, and a realistic Medicare Supplement projection into consideration when compiling their data. The assumptions they used were that the demographics of current Medicare beneficiaries are accurate, there will not be a dramatic shift in the future, lapse and replacement rates will not experience a dramatic change, and annual rate increases will not have a dramatic change.Tags: senior market news, Medicare News, health care reform, Sentinel Life Medicare Supplement, industry news, Baby Boomers
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Please give us your feedback! Source: Agent's Sales Journal |
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With the first of the Boomer generation turning 65 this year, and qualifying for Medicare, now is the time to start focusing on marketing to them. The Baby Boomers are a wealthy, educated, and sophisticated generation motivated to purchase by service and information. They expect honesty, trust and openness in their business relationships and look for an open communication about their needs rather than a blanket sales pitch. Research has shown that they are not slowing down their spending, set in their ways, or blindly brand loyal like their parent’s generation. Tags: Sales Tips, Success Tips, Referrals, Medicare Sales, Forethought Medicare Supplement, Customer Service, Baby Boomers
