How to Become a Medicare Insurance Agent | Agent Pipeline

Want to start selling Medicare insurance but don’t know where to start? This article will break it all down and show you how you can build a career as a Medicare insurance agent in 5 years or less, and create a 6-figure residual income.

job description at a glance

it’s simple. When you become a Medicare insurance agent, there are two main groups you target.

Reading: How to become licensed medicare insurance agent

• those who turn 65 and become eligible for medicare health benefits.
• people with disabilities, under the age of 65 and eligible for medicare.

selling medicare health insurance can be rewarding in many ways, including personally, professionally, and financially. you’re helping a lot of people in need and building strong relationships along the way.

steps to become a medicare insurance agent

1. Get your health insurance license.
2. complete ahip certification
3. get errors and omissions insurance (e&o insurance)
4. contract with a medicare field marketing organization (fmo)
5. be contracted and appointed with multiple medicare carriers
6. complete their annual certifications
7. maintain your health insurance license continuing education

get the license

Learning to sell Medicare is simple, but it takes work to maintain your residual income each year.

The first thing you need to do is obtain a health insurance license in the state you currently live in (known as your resident state health insurance producer license). In addition to being required, you’ll get the foundational training needed to understand how health insurance plans, including Medicare, work.

Some of the critical areas to study in the health insurance licensing process are:

• deductibles
• coinsurance
• claims adjudication and how it affects health plan members’ access to care
• networks like hmos, ppos and fee-for-service
• health laws
• professional ethics
• compliance

Some major providers offer health insurance licensing training, and many states require specific hours of study to take the health insurance licensing exam. There are two requirements you must meet to obtain your health insurance license to sell Medicare.

course to study for health insurance license

There are states that require and offer in-person training with a licensed health insurance agent to help you prepare for the exam. this is a convenient option as you have someone who can answer your questions as you go through the course. This training usually lasts a week and the exam is taken at the end of the class.

self-study health insurance license preparation

some states, however, offer self-study instead. If you prefer to study in your spare time, there are options in book or electronic formats. this is useful if you want to learn at your own pace; many of these can also contact a licensed person via web chat or an 800 number.

See also : How to Use Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace® Statement | HealthCare.gov

after passing the exam, you are officially certified to sell health insurance products in your state of residence after the testing center submits your satisfactory score to the state. normally, this can take a few days.

Note that many health insurance exam providers also offer life insurance certifications at the same time. While not required, selling Medicare and having a life insurance license is a good idea – it gives you the option to offer customers other products they may need in the future.

complete and pass modern medicare training

After you are licensed, you must pass (with at least a 90%) the annual Medicare training and certification through the United States Health Insurance Plans (AHIPS).

Please understand that the sale of certain Medicare products requires special certification as determined by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). cms regulates medicare plans, insurance companies, and the insurance agents and agencies that sell them. Ahip certification will generally begin in late June or early July for the following Medicare plan year.

for example, becoming certified in June or July 2021 will certify you to sell during the 2022 plan year.

The exam costs $175 each year.

choose a fmo

fmo is an acronym that stands for field marketing organization. These are companies that distribute health insurance plans to agents and agencies on behalf of various companies. An FMO can help you quickly get hired and appointed to sell with multiple insurance companies.

once contracted with a fmo, you may be designated to sell medicare products as:

• medicare advantage (ma & mapd)
• prescription drug plans (pdp)
• medicare supplements (medigap)

Getting a fresh start as a medicare insurance agent involves getting appointed with several companies and their products, getting commission deals, and getting marketing support from an experienced team (the agent pipeline marketing team is a great resource) to help you. to maximize your results.

See also : Beware of Fake Health Plans | disb

Before choosing an fmo, ask yourself these questions:

• what kind of medicare sales training do you offer? (eg, webinars, online, in-person, on the road)
• Which carriers are they designated with?
• Will I get paid directly from the carrier or assigned to the fmo?
• do you offer e&o insurance?
• how can you help me with medicare prospects and get in front of interested prospects?

errors and omissions insurance (e&o)

e&o insurance is insurance intended to protect you in the event that you provide a customer with incorrect or misleading information and they decide to take legal action against you. In addition to obtaining coverage through an FMO, these policies can also be purchased through many property and casualty insurance agencies.

A typical e&o policy covers $1 million to $3 million, costing you $300 to $500 a year. most companies will require you to have e&o insurance.

get hired and appointed

You have to hire each carrier to designate you to sell their products. Here’s a checklist of what most insurance companies require to get you ready to sell:

• copy of your current resident and non-resident state health insurance license
• copy of your current e&o policy
• the completed legal questionnaire provided by the insurance company (your fmo will provide it to you)
• a background check
• were approving the specific annual certifications of the operator. this is specific to ma & mapd plans, but more medicare supplements are also beginning to implement annual certifications.

How long this will take will depend on the number of insurance companies you plan to contract with. Because Medicare is highly regulated and many companies have different processes for an insurance agent to be ready to sell (RTS), you will need to be patient during this process. it may take some time to receive approvals from each company. Most providers require their certifications to be approved annually prior to that year’s Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP).

continuing education

Some states require different levels of continuing education, so keeping this up to date is essential to keeping your license active. many states require:

• hours dedicated to ethics and anti-money laundering training
• hours dedicated in your area of ​​concentration

You can choose from several options for your insurance service providers; they can guide you through your state’s requirements.

training for medicare agents

One of the crucial keys to staying current in the medicare insurance agent game is to commit to ongoing medicare agent training. connect with your fmo and see what types of medicare training they offer and what you can take advantage of. the agent channel offers frequent free webinars to help you with various areas related to medicare insurance sales from compliance, sales language, and marketing.

conclusion

Becoming a Medicare insurance agent takes a lot of planning, preparation, and patience, but it’s a rewarding career path. Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to a successful six-figure career. Consider agent channeling as an option for your fmo as we provide training, back office support, top-of-the-line marketing assistance, webinars, major carrier contracts and commissions, and more!

Agent pipeline is here to help you learn how to prospect for leads. We have created a guide called Lead Prospecting 101 which is a self-paced course for success. Click here to find out how you can get access to the Lead Prospecting 101 Guide Download!

Source: https://amajon.asia
Category: Other