The Third-Party Marketing Organization (TPMO) disclaimer seems to be here to stay, but there are still a lot of questions about it.
We've consulted with compliance experts in the Medicare industry and have compiled their insights and advice. Spoiler alert: the answers aren't always black and white.
For nearly all agents and brokers, the TPMO disclaimer is as follows for 2026:
“We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent [X number of] organizations which offer [X number of] products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1‑800‑MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Program to get information on all of your options.”
In the rare case that you do offer all available plans in your service area; you would use this disclaimer:
“Currently, we represent [X number of] organizations which offer [X number of] products in your area. You can always contact Medicare.gov, 1‑800‑MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Program for help with plan choices.”
TPMO refers to organizations and individuals, including independent agents and brokers, who are compensated to perform lead generation, marketing, sales, and enrollment related functions as a part of the chain of enrollment (the steps taken by a beneficiary from becoming aware of an MA plan or plans to making an enrollment decision).
TPMOs may be a first tier, downstream or related entity (FDRs), as defined under § 422.2, but may also be entities that are not FDRs but provide services to an MA plan or an MA plan's FDR.
Related: Top 5 MA OEP Compliance Tips
The TPMO disclaimer is required for the following situations:
You must provide the TPMO disclaimer within the first 60 seconds of any sales call. This is a direct CMS requirement and applies to all TPMOs.
CMS does not define “sales call” beyond requiring the disclaimer during calls that involve sales activity, but the requirement clearly applies to calls that fall within the marketing and sales process. If your call includes discussion of Medicare Advantage or Part D plan options, benefits, or anything that may influence a beneficiary’s enrollment decision, the disclaimer must be given within the first minute.
Calls that involve “marketing” — as defined by CMS — are considered part of the sales process. Marketing includes any communication intended to draw attention to a plan or influence enrollment decisions.
Because of this, when a call includes marketing content, TPMOs must follow all applicable CMS call requirements, which includes providing the disclaimer within the first 60 seconds.
Related: Ultimate Scope of Appointment (SOA) Guide for Medicare Agents
One of the most mind-boggling parts of this disclaimer is actually including how many organizations and plans you offer in an area.
CMS hasn't given enough guidance to accurately handle this dilemma, but here is our stance on the matter:
Sometimes, you can reasonably know the client's service area. Perhaps you're orchestrating a direct mail campaign to a certain zip code, or you're emailing your clients that live in a certain city. It could also be a phone call to a client, and you know where that client lives.
For these situations, choose the appropriate disclaimer and add in the appropriate number of carriers and plans.
There are times when you don't know where the client lives, so there's no way to accurately include the number of carriers and plans in the disclaimer.
Adding the disclaimer to your website would be one example. It's really not feasible to know the service area of all viewers of a website, much less tailor the numbers of carriers and plans to their service areas.
Our guidance is that agents/agencies be able to demonstrate a good faith attempt to comply with the requirement, including having a reasonable process in place for updating the numbers, as they can change over time. This is what carriers will look for in an audit.
Here are a couple of example options that might help you with these situations.
If the number of carriers and the number of plans is not uniform throughout the service areas you serve, then you could use number ranges for the number of carriers and the number of plans.
Here are two examples. Note: This remains accurate not because CMS officially endorses using number ranges, but because CMS has not provided guidance prohibiting or permitting ranges, and industry compliance experts acknowledge the ambiguity.
The extra language about where you do and don’t sell should be used elsewhere on the website to describe and make clear the service areas where you sell plans.
It can't be added to the TPMO disclaimer, because it's a standardized disclaimer that cannot be altered.
As tempting as it is to add some clarity to the disclaimer, don't change it (outside of adding a range instead of a single number).
The TPMO Disclaimer is a standardized disclaimer, so the language cannot be changed or modified in any way. You should also not add language to the TPMO disclaimer itself as that may be considered modifying the disclaimer.
There are times when you don't have to provide the disclaimer.
Those times include:
If you want to avoid calculating and including the number of Carriers represented and Plans offered on advertisements, such as mailers, billboards, banners, online ads, TV ads, and radio ads, don't include any marketing content.
As an example, say you have an advertisement that merely states that a “licensed sales agent offers Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Part D Plans,” or “I can assist with Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Part D Plans.” The ad does not mention any specific products, plans, benefits, or costs.
In this example, you would not need to include the disclaimer since merely listing lines of business offered does not constitute marketing.
Client-facing correspondence can often be in email form, and the TPMO Disclaimer is required on all email communications with beneficiaries.
Remember, you will need to calculate and insert the applicable number of carriers represented and plans offered in each email you send.
This calculation is feasible each time you send an email to an individual. For emails to multiple recipients, please refer to tips 5 and 6 for ways to calculate and insert the applicable numbers.
Adhering to these rules can be burdensome, especially for a one-man show or small agency. Unfortunately, there is no carve-out for the smaller operations – everyone must adhere to these guidelines.
You can reduce some of the burden by choosing to use only marketing materials created and provided by the carriers.
Two things to remember if you do that:
Another way to reduce most of the burden is to avoid marketing and keep your advertising materials to communications only.
Staying compliant has been getting harder each year, but we are here to help you!
If you have any additional questions about the TPMO disclaimer, please leave a comment below. You can also utilize the free resources in our Compliance Hub, which you can access once you register and log into our website.
We are keeping our eyes peeled for more guidance from CMS as well as any potential updates to the disclaimer.
Related articles: