America's Benefit Specialist October 2022

MEDICARE MATTERS

MEDIGAP PERSISTENCY

A new study of independent Medicare insurance agents finds that more than half of Medigap plans remain on the books for nine or more years. The data is based on a study conducted September 7 by the American Association for Medi care Supplement Insurance. Only agents who have been selling Medigap plans for five or more years were included. Data based on 225 replies. The majority (53%) of agents report that the Medigap policies they have sold remain on the books for nine or more years. Some 41% note that policies remain active (unchanged) for between five and seven years. Only six percent reported policies remain on the books for between three and four years. Switching to a lower cost Medigap plan option is the reason given for 42% of those agents report decided to switch coverage. Dropping Medigap for Medicare Advantage was closely behind, with 41%. Half of the agents shared they re viewed Medigap policy options with cur rent clients on an annual basis. Several commented they did this because com petition made higher levels of customer service vital. Only one percent noted they rarely or never initiated a review with current clients. The airwaves are crammed with ads primarily promoting Medicare Advan tage options. Surveyed agents noted that clients are contacting them directly as a result of seeing MA TV ads offering no-premium coverage or included ancil lary benefits. These include dental and vision coverage. For more Medicare insurance data and statistics, visit https://medicaresupp. org/medigap-persistency/.

MARK FARRAH ASSOCIATES PRESENTS 2023 MEDICARE PLAN BENEFITS IN MEDICARE BENEFITS ANALYZER

important information to analyze their posi tions and target opportunities in the highly competitive Medicare marketplace. Subscribers to Medicare Benefits Analyz er use interactive tables and the File Export Library to download MA and PDP benefits data to assess which plans have competitive selling ad-vantages, county by county. MBA subscriptions include Medicare Business Online for access to monthly enrollment data. For more information about Medicare Benefits Analyzer, visit www.markfarrah. com.

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) will be releasing the 2023 Medicare benefits and Star Quality Ratings information in its Medicare Benefits Analyzer (MBA). This web-based application pre-sents the latest plan premi ums, PCP and specialist co-pays, prescription drug tier pricing, co-pays for inpatient and outpatient procedures, specialty benefits and many additional data ele-ments in a com parative database format. In addition, MBA includes monthly enrollment up-dates as well as Medicare Star Quality Ratings. As of early October, customers will have access to this

CONFERENCES

April 10-12 MedicareCon Las Vegas, NV www.medicarecon.com July 10-11 Ms. Medicare 2023 Cleveland, OH www.msmedicare.org

March 6-8 RISE National

November 14-15 National Medicare Advantage Conference Orlando, FL www.wcforum.com/ conferences/medicare January 29-31 Medicare Marketing & Sales Summit Las Vegas, NV www.medicaremarketing salessummit.com

Colorado Springs, CO www.risenational.com March 28-29 Medicare Market Innovations Forum Orlando, FL www.medicaremarketin novations.com

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