Medicare supplements can still serve as a great foundation for your agency

By Dennis Postema

Postema Marketing Group, LLC

I have been fortunate enough to help multiple advisors build their practices and agencies from scratch, including my own, using Medigap/Medicare supplements. It’s true the government has recently created plenty of hoops to for us jump through as agents. Things have changed dramatically, and you have to keep up with the regulatory requirements.

However, in spite of the changing landscape, I wouldn’t count Medigap/Medicare supplements out as a business foundation just yet. Here are a few things to consider:

• Over 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 each and every day.


• According to AHIP’s National Medigap Satisfaction Survey done in June 2012 by American Viewpoint, Inc.:
  1. 90 percent of Medigap/Medicare supplement holders are satisfied with their coverage, which is up from 88 percent in 2009.
  
  2. 63 percent were very satisfied, which is up from 59 percent in 2009.
  
  3. 79 percent say their Medigap/Medicare supplement provides an excellent or good value for their money.
• Not to mention, what other product can you sell one time and receive a steady modest commission for six years and receive a lower residual for a remaining four years?

I admit this market is not as lucrative or intriguing on the surface as it once was. However, if you take a good hard look at the numbers and consider the size of the market for this product, it has the potential to be as good as ever for producers.