A few weeks ago, I was at a tux shop looking to rent a suit and as I arrived I realized I didn’t know what to expect and what the protocol was. What questions should I be asking? What does the process look like? What deadlines do I need to be aware of? And most importantly, when do I actually pay?
I had uncertainty because this was my first time in a while renting a tux.
A few days later while I was at work I got a phone call from a woman and I could tell immediately over the phone by the tone in her voice that she was uncertain of herself.
She needed guidance for what to expect.
How the Medicare process works.
What were her plan options.
Also, what was my role and what do we charge for our services.
It made me think that she must feel exactly like how I felt while I was at the tuxedo rental shop.
We both needed some guidance.
So here’s what to expect when working with a Medicare agent.
First, I like to give people that call or email me the option to either have a phone consultation or to meet one-on-one.
I personally like one-on-one meetings because they seem to be the most helpful for the people I meet with.
During the initial phone conversation or one-on-one meeting what we usually go over is:
- What type of insurance a person currently has and what type of insurance are they looking for.
- Then I go into explaining how the original Medicare benefits work for both Part A and Part B. These are the standard benefits to Medicare so they apply to all people on Original Medicare.
- After that we then get into the different options that people have and I simplify it down into two options. Within those options there are tons of different plans available but I like to simplify things down to two simple options.
- Then depending on a person’s situation we come up with a game plan and timeline for everything that needs to happen. If they are already retired or self-employed or if they’re continuing to work and have employer insurance, these timelines will look different.
Your Medicare agent should really be your coach throughout this Medicare process.
And lastly there’s no additional costs for taking advantage of the services of an independent Medicare broker. Insurance agents like myself are paid by the insurance companies, so as we sign our clients up for different plans we get paid by those companies.
So that there are some of the expectations for working with a Medicare broker.
Thank you for reading!
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