Building a Strong Medicare Supplement Portfolio

We just talked about why each Medicare product belongs in your selling portfolio. But how do you build a strong Medicare Supplement portfolio?

In most states, carriers can charge different premiums for the same standardized plan options based on age, gender, or zip code. This means that to be prepared with the top carrier for any demographic, you’ll need to run quotes in your market for those various demographics to see which carriers consistently price out competitively.

Here at Ritter, we recommend having at least 3 Med Supp carriers in your portfolio that are competitively priced for Plans G, N, and D. That number may vary depending on the size of your selling territory and the number of Med Supp carriers available, but like I said, three is a good number to aim for.

First, you’ll want to select one or more zip codes within your selling territory. The number of zip codes to use depends on the size of your territory. If there are major cities within it, select a zip code to use for each one. And then in more rural areas, generally one zip code will suffice. And to further take the guess work out of this, you can also review rate sheets which will provide the rates by each carriers’ regions.

Next, for each zip code, search age sixty-five and record the top three Med Supp options for males and females, with and without any household discount, for Plans G, N, and D.

Repeat that step for ages seventy and seventy-five.

Once you’ve recorded the top three carriers for multiple demographics across your selling territory, it will be easy to see which carriers are consistently competitively priced in your markets. Pick out at least three to five carriers that will provide you with a competitively priced option among the different potential client demographics.

Now that you have found the most competitively priced products, it is always a good idea to review the underwriting on these products. Choosing plans with different underwriting requirements will provide options for clients that may have some health issues. There are some health conditions that will be automatic knockouts regardless of the plan, like being currently hospitalized, but other underwriting requirements can vary between carriers.

You can also reach out to our Sales Team to complete a Portfolio Review. Your Specialist will review any products currently in your portfolio and compare them to the current rates and newly released products in your area to provide you with suggestions for products that will help strengthen your portfolio or fill any gaps.

And there you have it. A strong, diverse Med Supp portfolio.

Mentioned in this Lesson:

Download Ritter’s Medicare Supplement Portfolio Worksheet
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