Marketing Medicare to Group Clients Helps Workers and Employers

ORLANDO, Fla. - Every year, millions of Americans reach the age of 65, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they clock out of the workplace. This means there are millions of Medicare-eligible workers who are enrolled in employer group health plans.

Offering Medicare plans as an alternative to employer-based coverage is one way that health advisors can help employers and their over-65 workers alike, according to Colleen Gimbel, vice president of marketing, recruitment and compliance with Berwick Insurance Group.

She and Yolanda Webb, president of Webb Insurance Solutions, presented a workshop on “Marketing Medicare to Your Groups” at the National Association of Health Underwriters annual convention.

“We want to make sure [advisors] know the opportunity of selling Medicare or promoting Medicare to their groups,” Gimbel said. “We want to make sure they understand the potential for them and for their group clients.”

Selling Medicare plans to the over-65 worker helps the worker, Gimbel said, because they usually are less expensive than the employer plan. In addition, enrolling the over-65 worker in a Medicare plan helps the group because it lowers the group’s ratings and enables everyone in the company to save money on health coverage.

Finally, selling Medicare plans helps the agent because it boosts their effectiveness and importance to the groups because the agent is saving them money.

Gimbel and Webb also discussed the way to approach groups about Medicare plans. “What do you say? What are the rules? What do you need to know when you do this kind of sale?”

The presentation also covered the “How Tos” of marketing Medicare plans to group clients.

“What are some of the ways agents can market to their groups?” Gimbel said. “They can do seminars, they can send letters, they can do one-on-one appointments, they can do an open house thing where they can sit in a room and have people come in and out to talk to them.”

Offering Medicare plans is one way in which advisors can grow their practices, Gimbel said. She pointed to the number of Americans who are turning 65 and becoming eligible for Medicare.

“Right now, we have about 52 million Americans on Medicare and that number will go to 76 million by 2016,” she said. “This is coming and it’s not going away.”

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at Susan.Rupe@innfeedback.com.

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