There are a lot of things you have to do to prepare your practice for the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period. A lot of it is work in the office behind the scenes. But some of it is client preparation. Our older clients by now have a better idea of the schedule, but newer ones need some training. 

Why is preparing clients important for this period? Simply put, if you do not prepare your clients, I can guarantee someone else will. There are too many other agents and brokers selling Medicare products for your clients not to be solicited by them. And even for the ones you don’t expect to leave, the advertising, temptation, and word of mouth among friends and neighbors may be too great for some of them. It does not take a lot of effort to just remind your clients that you are here, you know what’s coming, and you have their back. Most of the time that is all you need to do to retain their business. Here is what we do to prepare our clients.

August:

Robert A. Miller, M.S., M.A., of New York City and Vero Beach, Florida, a retired Managing Partner at Miller-Pomerantz Insurance and Financial Services in New York City and NAIFA Past President, has been selected as the 2025 John Newton Russell Memorial Award recipient. The award is the highest honor accorded by the insurance industry to a living individual who has rendered outstanding services to the institution of life insurance. Miller will be celebrated and formally presented the award at NAIFA’s Belong Dinner, October 14 in Arlington, Virginia.

Dwane McFerrin has spent decades navigating the complexities of Medicare policy and product development and he understands just how disruptive regulatory changes can be for the professionals who support seniors every day. That’s one reason he became a founding member of NAIFA’s Medicare Collective, a new initiative created to empower professionals working in Medicare and healthcare solutions through advocacy, education, and community.

John Davidson is a Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow and Financial Services Specialist serving a diverse client base, including municipalities, private schools, and public corporations. A long‑time leader in his profession, John is a certified Financial Security Advocate and has served in top roles within NAIFA, including National President in 2006-07.

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Ask your clients to rate the life they’re living on a scale from 1 to 10.

Their car? An 8 or 9.
Their home? Maybe a 7 or 8.
Their kids’ school? An 8, maybe higher.

Your clients work hard to provide a life they’re proud of. But when it comes to protecting that lifestyle, too many are only planning for a 3. To me, that’s a disconnect. If your clients are working hard to give their families the best, why would the plan to protect it fall short?

As more states launch automatic retirement savings programs for private-sector workers, the national conversation around retirement readiness is growing. A recent article in Stateline explores how states like Nevada and Colorado are addressing this issue through auto-IRA programs designed to reach workers without access to employer-sponsored plans.

When Jane Ahrens transitioned from a 25-year career teaching Health Education to working in Medicare sales, she didn’t just start a new chapter—she found her calling. What began in 2008 as a solo effort to help clients understand their health insurance options has since grown into a thriving business with a team of more than 160 independent agents trained and mentored under her leadership. Her peers now affectionately call her “Mother Medicare.”

Kate Shafer is the Director of Member Engagement & Communications at the American Fraternal Alliance, a nonprofit that supports fraternal benefit societies across the US and Canada by offering advocacy, education, and financial services to over seven million members. In her role, she leads initiatives to enhance member engagement, communications, and programming across the Alliance’s network. Kate plays a key part in organizing signature events like the Spring Symposium, which focuses on member engagement, digital transformation, and governance.

I was encouraged to see NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux’s recent column in  InsuranceNewsNet spotlighting two critical legislative initiatives that NAIFA strongly supports: the Credit for Caring Act and the Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act. These proposals aim to provide meaningful tax relief and expanded savings tools for caregiving families—support that’s urgently needed as more baby boomers reach their 60s and the demand for long-term care solutions continues to rise.

Because of the special circumstances demanded of us during the annual enrollment period, it takes us months to prepare for what is essentially a 68-day selling season. We are basically a normal health insurance office from January until June, and then beginning in July we start getting ready for October 1, the date we can begin speaking with clients new and old about their health plans for the following year. Here is what our office does: