Medicare licensed agents
Medicare licensed agents provide a valuable service to beneficiaries. If they stay up-to-date on product offerings and CMS rules, they can provide clients with a number of plan choices that will suite their needs. This is a great career if you are interested in becoming a valued member of your community and providing an important service to it’s members.
Where to start
The first thing you need to do is go onto the state insurance department website for your state. From there, you can lookup the requirements to earn your health or health and life license.
There are several companies that offer the courses you need to study for your test. Your states insurance department website will give you the available options. While you are studying for you resident state license, you will start to learn the rules for selling Medicare & other health plans. Studying also provides valuable information about the different components of Medicare and how they work together.
Each state has different requirements for exam-prep. Some require in-person training while others allow self-study at your own pace. There are also online options and options to order books if you are more comfortable with that. There is a test at the end of the course that you must pass before you can take your actual licensing exam. It is important to note; some states require agents to take a course on life as well as health while other states do not require agents to do both. If you think you may want to offer life products later, you can add the life course and do the testing at once.
Once you pass the exam, CMS reports your results to the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR). Be sure you print and download a copy of your license. You will find your National Producer Number (NPN)on your license. You need your license and NPN to contract with carriers.
Contract with an FMO
An FMO (field marketing organization) is an invaluable tool. A good FMO not only provides it’s downline agents training, tools and contracting. They provide continuous, back office support, they will answer your calls and make sure you get answers to your questions. Some of the things FMOs help; they get contracting requests processed, train downline agents on new CMS regulations and carrier products. Agents need to take time and ask as many questions as you need to to feel comfortable before they choose an FMO.
Watch a YouTube video on the programs Crowe has to offer
Having an FMO behind you , makes contracting with multiple carriers and products a much smoother process. They should also provide guidance to new agents to put a plan of action in place and get up and running. There may also be opportunities for leads, marketing money and other useful tools.
Join the team at Crowe – click here for online contracting
Purchase E&O insurance
In order to do business, carriers require all agents to have E&O insurance. This insurance protects you in the event you make a mistake when you enroll a client an they take legal action against you to cover any financial loss your misinformation may have caused them. Your FMO may provide a discounted plan to it’s downline agents. If they don’t you can purchase a policy through an agent who provides property and casualty insurance.
Click here to learn about our discounted E&O
Complete AHIP
After you get our license, you should take the AHIP. AHIP stands for America’s Health Insurance Plans. Most carriers who offer PDP or MA/MAPD plans require agents to take this training and certification course. Agents must take this test each year and get a 90% to pass. The cost to take the AHIP course is $175, although many carriers offer a $50 discount if you take it through their portal when you do your carrier certifications(more on those below).
Click here to watch a YouTube video on AHIP test tips for 2024
Get contracted & appointed
Agents must complete carrier contracting before they are appointed to sell their products. In most cases, agents need a copy of their current state health insurance license for each state they plan to sell in. A copy of their E&O certificate is also necessary. Your FMO will will help with this process by providing other important information to the carriers. Once the carrier has all the pertinent information, you must complete the carrier specific training for PDP and MA/MAPD plans.
It is a good idea to request only 4-5 good carriers in your area and get RTS (ready to sell). With a good FMO, it is easy to add more in as you need them. You do not want to be overwhelmed from the start. This can discourage anyone.
Find out about how Medicare commissions pay
Moving forward
It is important to make sure you keep your license active. This sounds like a no brainer but, some agents forget to renew and that can cause a number of problems with your carrier contracts. up to date. In order to do this you will need to complete a specific number of CE credits before you can renew your license. The amount of CE hours you need vary by your resident state. You can choose any accredited CE course provider you like, again this is based on state specific requirements.
If there are updates with CMS requirements, both your FMO and the carriers you are appointed with should provide them to you. It is essential that you follow all guidelines when making sales to avoid termination of your contracts.
If you want a career where you provide a valuable service to individuals and truly enjoy helping people, this could be a good fit for you. In this business, we cannot stress enough how important it is to be organized and well informed to provide the best service to your clients.