06/10/2024
It's coming around again! AEP, the Annual Enrollment Period, for Medicare Advantage, which always runs from Oct 15 - Dec 7. Already got my first email notification for certification from a carrier ( insurance company) to sell their 2025 plans. Next month is my 17th anniversary of being a health insurance agent, and it seems that AEP comes around quicker each year!
I'll bet you didn't know what must be accomplished in order to just stay in business as an independent agent. Here's what happens behind the scenes:
We must recertify yearly with every carrier we represent. Each carrier has new plans, new benefits, with the coming year. We must be familiar with all of them, including doctors networks, drug benefits, everything. We must take the training, and must pass the exam in order to be able to sell the plans for the coming year. If we don't do this, we cannot sell next year's plans, and cannot collect residuals on the plans we've sold in the past.
There is also the mandatory national exam that must be passed before being able to sell plans. Put this all together with the 13 different carriers I'm appointed with, and that's a total of 14 separate trainings and exams for the coming year.
My license must be renewed every two years. 24 hours of continuing education is required, including 3 hours of Insurance Law. So there's another group of exams that must be passed.
Let me toot my own horn here. You will not find this level of expertise and experience with a SHIBA volunteer, talking with your neighbor or calling an 800 number. Most importantly, you won't find someone who cares as much about YOU as I do. You are the reason I do all this. I live and breathe Medicare!
If you're Medicare age, you are bombarded with phone calls, ads, mailers, etc. Just remember what I said in the previous paragraph
There is a lot of "noise" out there, vying for your business. Please call me whenever you have questions or concerns.
