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Medicare sales and cross selling

If you are selling Medicare, you should think about how to meet all the coverage needs of your clients. That is why Medicare sales and cross selling go hand in hand.  Before you try and do this, be sure you have the necessary product knowledge on anything you intend to offer.

A great way to get insight into your client’s potential needs is with a client needs assessment.  Each agent should tailor the assessment to include the applicable product lines they are licensed to sell and have a good knowledge of.

If your client understands that you are able to offer them coverage for all their personal insurance needs, they will be inclined to call you when they decide to add to their current coverage.  It is best to take care of their most urgent concerns before talking about additional items.

Watch our quick YouTube video on cross selling during AEP

Medicare sales cross selling – be aware of underlying health issues

If you conduct a needs assessment or spend enough time speaking with your client, you will probably find out if your client has any illnesses that will prevent them for obtaining some types of coverage that they will not qualify for.  If you ask about any recent claims they have had, this may be an indicator if they are a good candidate for some types of coverage.

Some other things to find out from your client

Is the client or their spouse presently working?  If the answer is yes, do they have any employer benefits and if so, what are they?

Have they ever served in the military (are they a veteran)?  Sometimes veterans receive benefits.  You need to find out if they do and what those are.

Medicare sales cross selling – Cancer, Heart attack and Stroke coverage

Because many people have a family history of either cancer, heart attack or stroke, this product is not difficult to sell. This product is sometimes called critical illness insurance.  Be sure you understand the client’s budget before you show them quotes from companies that will fill their coverage need.

Cross selling – Long Term Care Insurance

Most people do not have long term care coverage. Although LTC has changed over the years, there are still some good coverage options available.  There are some short-term care policy options that include home health coverage.  There are also some life policies that include an optional LTC rider.  You can ask your client if anyone in the family has needed home health or nursing home care. If they have, ask them if they know how it was paid for. Do they have a way to pay for it if they need it?

Cross selling – Life Insurance

Life insurance is not like LTC coverage because many clients have at least some life insurance coverage.  If you want to start a discussion about life insurance, you need to find out if the client already has coverage and if so, how much.  Once you get the answer, you can ask questions to determine if they have enough to cover what they need it for.

Here are some reasons people purchase life insurance:

To replace income lost due to the death of a family’s financial provider.

If they want to cover their final expenses.  If they have a policy in place, it may not be enough to cover their final expenses.  This means they may want to consider purchasing a policy that provides a bigger benefit amount.

Policies can help pay any outstanding debts owed by the policy holder.

In some cases, the policy holder wants to leave a financial gift to their chosen beneficiary.

If they do not have a policy, you may be able to help them decide if a policy could benefit their loved ones.

Cross selling – Final Expense

Final expense insurance is a kind of life insurance.  If the client does not have life insurance in place, this type of policy can help family members pay for their final expenses and avoid leaving them with a large bill after you are gone.

Cross selling – Annuities

These days many people want a safe place to invest their savings due to low interest rates at banks and stock market volatility. Simply ask your client if they are happy with their current rate of return on investments. Let them know a fixed indexed annuity can provide a dependable place to invest savings and a better return rate than many CDs.  In many cases, you can offer them an annuity product that will provide a better return that what they currently have.

Now that we have given you a few products to consider adding to your portfolio, it is up to you to decide what will be the best value add.

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MetLife dental NCD

National Care Dental is offering dental coverage in the MetLife dental network.  MetLife dental NCD is available is several states including CT, NY and MA!  If you already know the details abou the product and simply want to contract, use the link below.

CONTRACTING

CLICK HERE TO CONTRACT    Note:  When prompted, please enter the password:  ‘Leader’

How much money can you make selling dental?  Click here for an example

The Metlife dental NCD product offers three levels of coverage.

Clients will like these plans because; they have great plan options with extremely high coverage amounts.
The levels of coverage with this plan start out at $750 of basic coverage on the NCD Value by MetLife plan.  The next level of coverage is the NCD Essentials by MetLife which offers $2,000 of coverage per calendar year. The Third and most impressive plan is the NCD Complete by MetLife; this plan offers an unheard of $10,000 worth of coverage per year!

MetLife NationalCare Dental plans are now available in the following states:

AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, ND, NE, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV, WY

Click here to view Metlife Plan availability

Click here to see how easy it is to run a quote

Find a provider – Click here to access the directory

The three plan options

1.  Value by MetLife benefits:

Annual maximum benefit $750 (a $50 deductible applies annually per member)

The Value plan covers dental exams at 100%  (2 exams per 12 month period).  Clients also receive 100% coverage for bitewing x-rays (1 per 12 month period), 2 cleanings per year as well as fluoride for children under 16 years old.

This plan provides coverage for basic care starting at 50% for year 1 and going up to 80% for the third year of coverage.

Major dental care is not covered for the first year on this plan.  Although year 2 provides 10% coverage and the third year provides 25% coverage for these services.

Value plan details; click here

2.  Essentials by MetLife benefits:

For this plan, the annual maximum benefit is $2,000 (a $50 deductible applies annually per member)

Members receive 100% coverage for preventative care including; dental exams (3 per 12 month period).  Other services covered at 100% on this plan are; bitewing x-rays (1 per year), 3 cleanings per year and fluoride for children under 16.

Basic care coverage starts at 65% for the first year and goes up to 80% for the second year.  Third year coverage is 90% on this plan.

Major dental services are covered at 10% for the first year, 50% for the second year and 60% for the third year.

Essentials plan details; click here

3.  Complete by MetLife benefits:

The NCD Complete plan is a complete coverage option with the annual maximum benefit of $10,000 (there is a $100 lifetime deductible for this plan)

The Complete plan covers preventative care at 100%.  This includes three routine exams and cleanings per year.  This plan also covers 1 set of bitewing x-rays as well as fluoride treatments for children under 16 at 100%.

Basic care is covered the first year at 65%.  The second year at 80% and the third year at 90%.

Major dental care is covered at 10% the first year, 50% the second year, and 60% the third year.

Complete plan details; click here

As you can see, these plans offer the comprehensive benefit packages that your clients are looking for.

If you want to offer these products to your clients; contact lisa@croweandassociates for contracting.

Learn more about what we have to offer our agents

MetLife Dental Plans

MetLife dental plans are available through MetLife TakeAlong Dental.  TakeAlong dental is a PPO dental program that offers coverage to both you and your family.  Three PPO plan designs are currently available to choose from.  All three plans have affordable monthly premiums and a large network of participating providers.  The MetLife dental plans offer you a number of benefits…

CLICK HERE TO QUOTE PLANS

Having the right Dental insurance can protect you and your family from unexpected dental expenses! MetLife TakeAlong Dental offers comprehensive coverage today and in the future, even through different stages of your life.

CLICK HERE TO QUOTE AND ENROLL

About Crowe and Associates

Careington offers a combo vision and dental discount plan in Connecticut.  The plan is very reasonably prices at $6.95 a month for a single person, $11.95 for two people and $15.95 for a family.

I have not been an advocate of discount vision and dental plans in the past but the Careington plan has proved to be a value to our clients.  The networks are strong with VSP for vision and Aetna for a dental network and the discounts make a big difference.  We have found that people actually save more money with this discount plan than they do with traditional dental and vision insurance.   The problem with traditional dental and vision is that the average monthly premium is $30 per person which makes it hard generate an annual savings. The low premium of the Careington plan along with the major discounts make this plan a better choice for most consumers.

A link to the benefits of the plan is attached. CAREINGTON LINK TO BENEFITS AND ONLINE APPLICATIION   You may also sign up for the plan through this link for those that want to purchase it.  The online application will ask you for an agent/broker code before it will let you apply.  Our agency code is CROWE which can be entered and will allow you to move to the application section.

IMPORTANT- For people in CT and NY, be sure to select the plan choice that uses the Aetna Dental Network.  (The 2nd plan from the left) The Aetna dental network is much stronger in CT and NY.

Please call Crowe & Associates with any questions or concerns.

We receive requests for good dental and vision insurance on a daily basis from clients ranging in age from 25 to 80 years old.  There are a number of Dental and Vision plans available but most of them are structured in a way that makes it difficult to get your money’s worth out of them.

We have come up with two plans that currently offer the best value on the market.  There are two types of plans for Vision and Dental.  You have Dental and Vision insurance and then there are a number of dental and vision discount plans.   They both have pros and cons but we will focus on the Dental Insurance here.

Humana offers a dental and vision plan that provides for strong benefits coupled with one of the better dental networks.  The biggest key of the plan is that is also is reasonably priced.  The price for the plan also does not change based on age and a person of any age is eligible.  Monthly premiums for the Dental plan are $22.99 a month per person.  The plan covers preventative services at 100% and basic services at 50% ($50 deductible on basic).  This is the plan we recommend to clients currently however we will start to recommend a different plan if one of a better value becomes available.

To look at benefit for this plan and/or apply for it online, you can use the Humana link provided.   CLICK HERE FOR HUMANA LINK

Please feel free to email or call Crowe & Associates with any questions.

Carington offers a Dental and Vision plan through Aetna Healthcare.  The plan combines Dental and Vision and offers substantial discounts at a reasonable price. ($14.95 a month for the whole family)   Vision and Dental insurance rates can range from $20 a month to $50  per person depending on company offering the plan.  These plans usually have very limited networks which makes it difficult to find a dentist.

The Carington plan  offers discounts on all services for dental and vision.  The plan utilizes and Aetna dental and vision network which is a big improvement over most plans.

Medicare A and B provides coverage for most medical services.  Many seniors purchase a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medicare Supplement to pick up the costs not covered by A and B. Medicare A and B does not provide coverage for Dental, Vision and Hearing.  In the past, many Medicare Advantage plans would also provide benefits for these services but in the past 2 to 3 years they have been dropping these benefits.

It is very difficult to find a stand along dental or vision plan for seniors let alone to find one which is worth the premium.  There is now a discount plan from Carington that provides substantial discounts on all these services and is available to those over age 65.  The plan provides discounts on Dental, Vision and hearing services ranging from 20% to 60%.  Carington has an online function that allows you to search providers and also allows you to see how much a service will cost and to what extent it is going to be discounted.  They utilize an Aetna dental and vision network for better access to choice of providers.

The plan is priced very reasonably at $6.95 a month for an individual up to $15.95 for a family.  Carington Plan Design and Rates Document

If you have questions about this plan, please contact Edward Crowe at 203-796-5403 or email at Edward@croweandassociates.com