A Hospital Indemnity plan (HIP) is a fantastic insurance product, particularly for clients with a Medicare Advantage plan. When any health insurance plan comes with out-of-pocket exposure for a hospital stay, Hospital Indemnity is a natural cross-selling opportunity.
If you've never presented or sold a HIP before, you should take a look at this sample sales script. It'll help you naturally transition from reviewing a summary of benefits into the need for a HIP.
Transition From Summary of Benefits to HIP
The beauty of presenting Hospital Indemnity is the conversation is effortless.
When reviewing the summary of benefits with a client, you'll naturally explain the in-patient copayments that come with that plan.
"This plan has a daily in-patient co-payment of $250 per day, days 1-5. We do have a hospital benefit that we can add on which will offset this costs. I will show you that at the end, ok?"
Most of the time, the client will agree, and you'll finish going through the summary of benefits.
After you finish explaining their summary of benefits, it's a matter of giving your client a choice in Hospital Indemnity coverage.
NOTE: The numbers presented are for example only. Any and all example verbiage is for reference only. It is the agent's responsibility to comply with all CMS, state, and other regulatory compliance and rules.
Give 3 Options
Step 5 in the 8-step closing process is to give pricing, but we never recommend only giving one price! It's not a yes/no question, it's a matter of "which one fits your needs and budget the best?"
Here's a sample script you can use:
"There are three main options for coverage my clients typically choose. Option 1 is the plan by itself with full co-payments for $X per month.
Option 2 is the plan with that hospital benefit I mentioned that will actually send you a check to pay the $250 per day copayments. A lot of my clients like this as they can focus on recovery and not repayment after a hospital stay. This will be around $X per month.
Option 3 is all of option 2 but with a cancer benefit also added that will pay out a benefit of $5,000 should you be diagnosed with cancer so you can have more control and options of your treatment. This costs about $X per month.
Which option would most interest you?"
As with any script, you can modify this script to match your own technique and plan recommendations.
More HIP Sales Tips
Once you have your HIP presentation down, turn it up a notch with these tips from our friends at Medico.
- Add a little more benefit.
Add an additional $25 or $50 to the daily confinement benefit to help offset potential future confinement cost increases.
- Add an Ambulance rider.
The ambulance rider is one of the top riders added to the hospital indemnity plan. Consider adding this to the initial quote with example verbiage of:
"This also includes the ambulance benefit which pays $250 per ambulance ride, as in most cases if you are headed to the hospital unexpectedly, you are typically going to be doing so in the back of an ambulance."
- Lock-in sales.
Outside of AEP and OEP unless a client as an SEP (Special Election Period) to change their Medicare Advantage coverage, they cannot move plans. However, this is a great opportunity to talk about hospital indemnity!
Read More: How to Make a Sale to a Medicare Advantage Client: Hospital Indemnity Plans
HIP Carriers
We represent many Hospital Indemnity carriers in the senior market space, including Medico, Cigna, GTL, Aetna, and more.
Medico HIP highlights:
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Guaranteed Issue 64-67 (including all riders)
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Issue ages 18-85 (most states)
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100% payment for observation confinement
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7% Household discount if the applicant lives with another adult
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Rates typically 10% below the competitors
Cigna HIP highlights:
- No restrictions on how the beneficiary can spend the money
- Coverage continues after the first hospitalization
- Available for ages 50-85
Aetna HIP highlights:
- Issue ages 18-89
- Affordable premiums
- Benefits paid directly to the policyholder or a designated medical provider
GTL HIP highlights:
- Rates stay the same as the client ages
- Hospital confinement, ER benefits, mental health benefits
- 12+ hour observation stay is covered
- Lots of riders available
- Convenient text-to-chat service available for agents
Visit our Hospital Indemnity Carriers page to learn more about each carrier. You can also call us, email us, or start an online chat during normal business hours, and we'll help you select a competitive carrier in your state and start the contracting process!
Conclusion
Cross-selling is a great way to build your business and help your clients. For agents who sell Medicare Advantage plans, Hospital Indemnity insurance is a perfect pairing.
Don't forgot to download our samples sales script to help you nail your presentation. Good selling!
