We will go over how to become a Medicare GA and what you need to set up a Medicare General Agency. A Medicare GA (General Agency) is an agency that has a contract with one or more Medicare carriers above street level. The GA has a Medicare contract and two or more licensed, producing sub agents.
Each year, CMS releases the maximum, street level commission that agents can receive for either a Medicare Advantage or Prescription Drug Plan sale. If an agency has a GA contract or higher, they are elgibile to receive compensation above the street level. The additional compensation you receive is an override. GAs receive an override payment on every sale made by it’s sub agents.
How to become a Medicare GA
For an agency to receive a GA contract, they must work with an up line agency that is willing to provide a GA level contract.
Agencies must also meet the qualifications for each carrier. Each insurance carrier requires a specific number of sub agents in order to qualify as a GA. For example; Aetna requires 3 total contracted producers (this can include the principal). In other words, you need the agency and producer connected to it and 2 licensed, certified, producing sub agents. Please note; each company has it’s own requirements. In general, insurance carriers require anywhere from 2 to 5 licensed, certified and producing sub agents in order to get a GA contract.
Agency principals
In order to receive overrides, Medicare requires GAs to complete licensing and certifications. This applies to their own production as well as production from sub agents. This is sometimes an issue if, the agency owner no longer writes business and has no desire to complete the certifications required to sell Medicare plans.
If the GA is an entity, the entity must be licensed. Each agency must have a licensed, certified affiliated person. (Even if they are not going to sell anything).
Who can recieve GA compensation
An individual agent can receive an GA level agent contract as long as they meet the requirements. This means the compensation is paid to the individuals bank account. In some cases, an entity hold the GA contract (LLC, S-Corp, Corporation, etc..) with the compensation paying to the entity. Again, for an entity to receive payment, they must be connected to a licensed, certified agent.
Downline commission payments
Street level direct payments – Under this set up, the agent recieves street compensation directly from the insurance company. This includes both initial commission and renewal comp. The GA receives overrides directly from the carrier.
LOA or Assigned Commission– In this scenario, all compensation (street commission and override) is paid to the agency regardless of who places the cases.
See what Crowe has to offer it’s agents
GA Contracting
Crowe and Associates can set up GA levels for just about any company and product type. We use one contracting kit to appoint with almost all carriers. The GA should notify our office if adding subagents. The sub agents fill out the online contracting link, check off the companies they want and add the name of their immediate upline so we can properly align them. Please have them note if they are an LOA agent. It is easy to put additional carrier requests in by either completeing a link, emailing or calling our office. There is no need to fill out additional paperwork.
Please note; many carriers take about a week to process contracts. They process the GA contract first and then they process the sub agents. As a result, this may cause a delay in the processing of the sub agent’s contracts.
Click here for online contract or to add a carrier to an existing Crowe contract
Adding Medicare to existing agencies
Agencies that already have a successful business may want to add Medicare as an additional revenue stream. In many cases, a good relationship with these clients gives them an opportunity to turn their existing book into a great source for leads. If they have clients nearing age 65 or over, they can easily transition into offering Medicare planning for those clients.
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