Even if you don’t primarily sell Medicare Advantage plans, there’s still a way to make a sale.
Hospital Indemnity Plans are the perfect tool to:
And why should you suddenly care?
Unfortunately for agents, a large amount of Med Supp clients have switched to Medicare Advantage over the last few years.
Recent statistics reveal that MA enrollment is growing, resulting in over 33% of all Medicare beneficiaries being enrolled in the plan. That could be a huge hit to your potential sales and commissions.
When a Med Supp-only agent goes on an appointment to work a Medicare lead, there’s roughly a 1-in-3 chance that the prospect is going to have an MA plan.
So, you have two options here (hint: one is way better than the other):
We vote for the latter.
An HIP (Hospital Indemnity Plan) is the perfect sell to the following groups of people:
The HIP helps offset the expensive co-pays at the doctor. If they might have out-of-pocket costs, this is coverage they need.
Sentinel Security Life’s Hospital Advantage plan even comes with a Needs Analysis form that helps you show your client how an HIP can supplement their Medicare Advantage plan.
In essence, this plan offers daily benefits for hospital stays and ER services. With an MA plan, you’re going to have co-pays for hospital stays – that’s one of the reasons we always recommend a Med Supp instead.
However, if your client is set on keeping their MA plan, a Hospital Indemnity product like Sentinel’s can offset those expenses.
A potential client will find this plan particularly useful if their MA co-pays are high. A typical HIP will offer $250-$400 per day for hospital stays.
There’s also optional riders to choose from, like:
Hospital Indemnity Plans are very inexpensive, with a standard policy costing around $250 per year for a 65-year-old.
We did take a look at the cancer benefit rider, and for a 10k lump sum added on, the cost would be about $324 per year, which is very competitive. That’s only $27 per month.
Finally, if your client’s MA plan doesn’t cost them anything – or has a very low monthly premium – they might as well add an HIP to help cover those deductibles and copays. It will likely save them money.
It’s also important to note that state retirees don’t pay anything for their plan – that makes selling a cheap HIP very easy. It’s not hard to sell an inexpensive product that eliminates the cost of co-pays and deductibles for the client.
As always, education is key. You need to effectively explain to your client what they’ll be required to pay out of pocket for the various co-pays. Those costs can include:
Then, once they see the gaps in their coverage, you can show them how an HIP can cover them for those out of pocket expenses.
Finally, we recommend offering 3 quotes. If you do any more than 3, the client will become indecisive. With Sentinel’s HIP, they make it easy, because there’s 3 benefit levels – Standard, Plus, and Enhanced.
You can also vet your client before providing quotes to see if any of the riders would be of interest to them.
As we already mentioned, Sentinel Security Life offers a great Hospital Indemnity Plan along with a few useful training resources. One of those resources is the Needs Analysis form (available for download here) for that exact scenario.
For more in-depth product info and training, download Sentinel’s Powerpoint presentation here.
If you aren’t contracted with Sentinel, what are you waiting for?
Related: How Aetna's Hospital Indemnity Flex Plan Works (And How to Sell It)