Tips: Marketing Medicare

With baby boomers continuing to become Medicare eligible, agents should consider marketing to this consumer base. Remember, you cannot talk about the Medicare Advantage or Part D unless you have completed the appropriate certifications. Research indicates that Baby Boomers are using social media: 84% of Baby Boomers have a Facebook account 58% visit a company’s website after encountering the brand on social media 41% have Pinterest accounts  Social media is a low cost way to reach those consumers and make any additional marketing projects more impactful. Providing informational posts could drive consumers searching for information to you and your website.   Make sure your website is up to date and ready for consumers.   Make sure all of your communications include all of your contact information, social media links and your website address. Post short informational articles with references to contact you as a qualified agent on your social media websites. Ask your contacts to like your articles. Coordinate matching informational newsletters out to your contact list and ask for referrals. To make this easy, I have created 12 small articles you can use to post or create newsletters. Be sure [...]

2019-09-10T14:06:58-05:00Marketing & Sales Ideas, Medical, Patty's Perspective|
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Tips to Utilize BCBS IL MSP Data Collection

Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL’s MSP Data Collection Opened on May 29 Beginning May 29, 2019, BCBS will begin collecting this data from renewing groups via Blue Access for Employers and the deadline to submit this information is Sept. 30, 2019. New groups complete this information in their submission paperwork. Starting May 29th, employers can log into Blue Access for Employers and enter the required information. Producers who have access to the group’s BAE account, may complete the MSP information on behalf of their group. Agents can log into their BAP, click on the BAE icon at the top, and see all of their groups. Click on the group name to open their BAE site. BCBS will be emailing groups with notification that this requirement is now open to be completed on their Blue Access for Employers website.  If the group doesn’t have a valid email on file, BCBS will be sending a post card/letter or making a phone call to the group. A Great Opportunity for Agents to Continue Marketing! Marketing is the business process of creating relationships with and satisfying customers. Therefore, marketing does not stop after [...]

2019-07-09T12:26:21-05:00Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Marketing & Sales Ideas, Patty's Perspective|
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TASC Landmines for HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs

Recently, MIBS hosted a seminar presented by Nancy Dantzman, Vice President at TASC and Craig Sayers, MIBS' regional director with TASC. It was a very informative and lively event. Nancy jumped right in discussing Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) which offer variability when setting them up. FSA Flexible Spending Account An FSA is an account employees can use to pay certain out-of-pocket health care costs not paid by other health plans, pretax. The FSA can be set up with the employer and/or the employee contributing. When employees contribute pretax, this lowers the payroll taxes that the employer has to pay so both parties experience savings on their tax liability.   In groups with high employee contribution, the employer’s payroll tax savings may be enough to pay for any administration charges for the FSA.   Employers are not required to make contributions but certainly can. The IRS sets the contribution limit each year and the limits for 2019 are: FSAs are known for their use it or lose it provision, however, groups may offer participating employees more time through either a carryover option or the grace period option to use any funds [...]

2019-06-11T16:42:07-05:00Ancillary, Marketing & Sales Ideas, Patty's Perspective|
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2019 BCBS Blue Options Looks Great!

For the Small Group Market (1-50) With the release of the 2019 renewals and 2019 new group quotes, I continued to notice that the Blue Options plan was a great alternative providing premium cost savings as well as richer benefits for some groups. Blue Options is the plan that offers two levels of benefits with Tier 1 having the richest benefits but a smaller network and Tier 2 has less rich benefits but a much larger network. This plan is not available in all counties in Illinois.  If the plan does not show on the renewal or quote, this group is in an area that does not have access to the Blue Options/Blue Choice Options network. I noticed the following benefits with Blue Options: Access to both networks with premium savings Deductibles and Out of Pocket Maximums for both tiers cross accumulate The Deductible and Out of Pocket in Tier 1 was lower than their current plan The deductible and Out of Pocket in Tier 2 was lower or comparable to their current plan. The prescription coverage is applied to the Tier 1 deductible and out-of-pocket. Once the Tier [...]

2021-06-15T21:45:56-05:00Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Patty's Perspective|
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Tips: Adding Value to Group Enrollment and Renewal Meetings

Agents can add value to the group health plan that their clients are enrolled in by educating the insureds on how to maximize their benefits.   This also will increase the agent’s value in the employer’s mind.  With many families paying a monthly health premium that is higher than their mortgage, it is even more important to use the plan correctly.  Listed below are some topics and brochures to enhance your enrollment and renewal meetings. Stay in Network – insureds will receive more benefits by staying in network. Both BCBS IL and Humana offer insureds the opportunity to register for their carrier’s member website where they can view accrued deductibles and out of pockets, claims in process, provider searches and more. They also offer members a mobile app, making it very easy to search for an in-network provider while on the go. Since the mobile app is linked to the plan they are enrolled in, the provider search option already has their network, making the search easier and more accurate. Going out of network could result in very high expenses for the insured as those providers can balance [...]

2018-12-04T15:20:24-06:00Marketing & Sales Ideas, Medical, Patty's Perspective|
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TASC Update for Small Group Compliance

TASC recently hosted a Webinar discussing Small Group Business Compliance Requirements and their new solution. Craig Sayers from TASC led the Webinar and first off, simplified the Compliance requirements for small group based on total employees. 1-19 employees POP (when employer-sponsored premium payments are paid by the employee on a pre-tax basis) ERISA Annual ERISA and ACA Notices Annual Medicare Part D Notices ACA Employer Reporting (self-insured) 20-49 employees POP (when employer-sponsored premium payments are paid by the employee on a pre-tax basis) ERISA Annual ERISA and ACA Notices Annual Medicare Part D Notices ACA Employer Reporting (self-insured) COBRA Statistics indicate that 90-95% of employers have at least one violation of ERISA regulations.   Many businesses have no idea that there are even Compliance requirements.   They find out about it after they receive an audit or an employee files a compliant or lawsuit.  This is really too late to set up these documents. Space What Employers are subject to ERISA? Corporations Partnerships Sole Proprietorships Non-Profit Organizations (Unless exempt under 501a) Governmental and church plans are exempt from application of ERISA Title 1 (includes Indian Tribal Governments) Sound familiar?  [...]

2022-03-09T21:59:28-06:00Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Marketing & Sales Ideas, Medical, Patty's Perspective|
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Humana – Quoting Made Easier for 51+ Groups

Humana is rolling out a new quoting process available 7/1/18 for all underwritten new business with 10-99 enrolled, fully funded or level funded, requesting effective dates of 9/1/18 or later. With this new Quoting Process, Humana intends to shorten the time it takes to obtain an underwritten quote by eliminating the requirement of a base quote and reducing the documentation needed.   For groups enrolling 10 or more lives, Humana has eliminated the need for employee applications, the current carrier bill, the Risk Assessment Form and the current carrier claim report. This quoting method is available for groups with total of 51+ employees and: Has less than 100 eligible employees Enrolling 10-99 employees Groups enrolling less than 10 employees will still need to provide employee applications space space Information required to obtain quote: Agent Name and contact information Legal Name of Group Full Address and phone number SIC code Total number of employees on wage and tax/Number of eligible employees/Number enrolled Total average number of employees including full time, part time, union and seasonal employees on average in the prior year. Number of different prior group [...]

2018-10-30T14:20:08-05:00Medical, Patty's Perspective|
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New, Revised Group Quote Request Form for All Products

MIBS Has Released a New Group Quote Request Form   To simplify your request to quote group benefits through MIBS, we have revised our paper group quote request  form to allow agents to use one form for all group health products including, small group and non-regulated small group (51+), medical, dental, life, disability and vision. Important!   If you are requesting quotes for medical and any ancillary product, use this new paper quote request form. Currently, the electronic quote request form on our website only allows quotes for medical and will automatically ask for the appropriate information for the market segment based on the employee counts entered. This new paper quote form is fillable, with drop down menus to easily select the options you want and color coding to highlight those data fields that need to be completed for specific products.   The form also has a tab at the bottom with instructions on how to fill the form out. This form was created in Excel so there are three tabs on the bottom: Group Information Tab Group Census Tab Directions for Use Tab Group Information Tab space space [...]

2018-10-30T14:19:32-05:00Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Marketing & Sales Ideas, Medical, Patty's Perspective|
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Philadelphia Insurance Companies Specializes in the Religious Organizations Industry

As you are driving around, notice how many churches are in your community and marketing area.   Here is another potential client who needs to have correct coverage with a great carrier which you can access with Philadelphia Ins. Companies and MIBS. 10 Reasons Why to Consider Philadelphia Insurance Companies: Property, Equipment Breakdown, Inland Marine, Crime, General Liability, Professional Liability, Abuse and Molestation, and Automobile coverage bundled into one convenient policy Fine Arts coverage available for religious artifacts Broad definition of building coverage extends to stained glass, pipe organs and foundations Large excess limits available Professional Liability with separate limits of liability including coverage for pastoral counseling, teachers, cemetery professional staff and volunteers $50,000 Donation Assurance coverage included Medical payments for volunteers included Church members as additional insureds included Automobile coverage available for church vans and buses Installment plans available for accounts that generate at least $2,000 in premium Don’t forget about Cyber or Privacy Coverage for your religious organization.    If your client does any of the actions listed below, they need to consider it: Accepts online donations Maintains a social networking page Obtains credit card numbers, driver’s [...]

2018-10-30T14:19:00-05:00Marketing & Sales Ideas, Patty's Perspective, Property & Casualty|
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National General Insurance Update June 2018

Recently, National General Insurance representatives visited MIBS and offered some interesting ideas to consider for your potential groups.  In case you are not aware, National General Insurance offers Level Funded health plans for group benefits.  These plans are made up of three components which are seen in the quote: Administrative fees Claim Fund Account (estimated total of annual claims divided by twelve and included in monthly premium) Stop Loss plan (In the event total claims go over the stop loss amount, this plan starts paying the medical claims) These plans are medically underwritten and not guaranteed to issue so only eligible groups should be considered for these plans.   But for those groups who are eligible for level funded plans, they could benefit from low premiums and the potential to receive premium back if there is a balance in their claim fund account at the end of the plan year.   Once the plan is in place, the employer will only be required to pay their set monthly premium regardless of claims.   They will never owe more than that monthly premium.   In the worse case scenario where the group experiences high [...]

2018-10-30T14:18:19-05:00Marketing & Sales Ideas, Medical, MIBS Updates, Patty's Perspective|
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