Stepping Into Success With Medicare Supplements With Greg Etchison and Scott Wilson

Greg Etchison is an experienced professional in the Medicare supplement business. With a career spanning over 25 years in the healthcare industry, he also has extensive experience across major carriers. Greg is passionate about educating people about healthcare options and optimizing coverage for seniors. He is a leading voice in Medicare supplement education, guiding individuals through the complexities of healthcare.

Scott Wilson is a seasoned professional with 23 years of experience in the Medicare supplement business. He has extensive knowledge in all aspects of the business, from product strategy to compliance. With a focus on product development and operations, Scott has also overseen aspects of financial management, including profit and loss responsibilities. His comprehensive background enables him to offer holistic insight into the industry, ensuring a thorough understanding of the intricacies of Medicare for anyone seeking guidance.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[04:28] Greg Etchison and Scott Wilson discuss the Medicare supplement plans that offer predictability and flexibility for clients
[07:21] The regulatory changes affecting Medicare supplement products
[14:24] The hidden value of the Silver Sneakers program
[17:10] What does it take to be a successful seller of Medicare supplements?
[24:09] How instant underwriting can streamline the application process for clients
[32:58] The importance of strong field marketing organization (FMO) relationships for new agents
[47:13] The benefits of incentives for brokers and how they drive sales
[47:28] NAIFA's role in advocating for agents and advisors in healthcare legislation

In this episode…

Navigating the intricate Medicare landscape can be challenging, especially with the ever-changing regulatory environment. How can you offer clients competitive rates and comprehensive coverage while remaining compliant?

Medicare supplement experts Scott Wilson and Greg Etchison understand how to balance market trends, regulatory changes, product development, and strategic planning. They maintain that Medicare supplement plans offer dependability and value for customers, so offering compelling incentives and value-added services can increase customer loyalty and retention. By staying abreast of state and federal regulations in the space, you can ensure compliance and expand coverage options.

In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan sit down with Scott Wilson and Greg Etchison, seasoned professionals in the Medicare supplement business, to discuss how to demystify Medicare supplement sales. They share the Medicare supplement plans that offer predictability and flexibility for clients, the regulatory changes affecting Medicare supplement products, and what it takes to be a successful seller of Medicare supplements.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

"Medicare supplement is just a very predictable, reliable product for our clients."
"We're trying to incentivize agents to go the extra mile, go through the extra steps, and learn our process."
"We don't want a broker that only sells for us because of an incentive. We want them to sell for us because it's the right thing to do."
"Once somebody purchases a Plan F or a Plan G, there's not a tremendous out-of-pocket cost to the member after they set their initial benefit plan."
"The pain to stay the same has got to be greater than the pain to change."

Action Steps:

Leverage technology for efficient underwriting: Embrace electronic submissions and instant underwriting tools to expedite the client application process.
Understand regulatory changes: Stay informed about state-level regulatory changes affecting Medicare supplements to anticipate impacts on premiums and client options.
Value-added services matter: Offer products with services like Silver Sneakers, as it can impact client satisfaction and retention.
Align with a field marketing organization (FMO): For new agents, partnering with experienced organizations provides crucial support and resources for navigating Medicare supplement sales.
Utilize compelling incentives: Engage with incentives not just for additional earnings but to expand knowledge and experience within the Medicare supplement market.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by Humana Medicare Supplement, a leading provider of Medigap plans in the United States. Humana is committed to putting health first, and through Humana insurance services such as Medigap offerings, they strive to make it easier for millions of people to achieve their best health.

While Humana is well-known for Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Supplement and Part D plans are also offered to complement Original Medicare plans.

For agents looking for more information on selling Humana plans, click here.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:02

Welcome to NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series where we focus on how financial advisors work live and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now let's get started with the show.

Chris Gandy 0:20

Hi, NAIFA Nation, this is Chris Gandy, one of your hosts for Advisors Today podcast. Today, we have a very special podcast, and we're super excited to bring it to you. But before we get going, I want to say hello to our co-host, Suzanne Carawan, hi, Suzanne, how are you doing today?

Suzanne Carawan 0:36

I'm doing great, Chris. I'm super pumped for today.

Chris Gandy 0:39

Suzanne, we're halfway through July, we have a big meeting coming up in Arizona, and we're super excited. And prior to that, though, we have some exciting guests that are on the podcast. So Suzanne, we always have sponsors and individuals and corporations who host these podcasts. So can you share with us who our sponsor is today?

Suzanne Carawan 1:03

Sure today is sponsor is by Humana, and we're really excited, because today we're actually going to talk some of the trends and what's happening out there. Today's guests are Greg Etchison and Scott Wilson, and they're out there helping brokers and advisors prepare for upcoming annual enrollment period. Everybody's favorite time of the year. I know there's been a lot of changes to Medicare, as I'm sure many of you know, as many of you know, hopefully, or if you don't know, NAIFA works very diligently on a lot of the Medicare issues. We have a spot on the CMS roundtable.

We have been really there to advocate and ensure the agents, how their commission structures and all those how things are marketed. We've got a say in that to protect, of course, our agents and advisors. So with those changes in Medicare, and more specifically, Medicare Supplement landscape, we want to hear from Greg and Scott today and learn what we can expect in the coming months, including changes to all the plan offerings, location, availability, what the timelines look like for approvals, and some of the different incentive plans that are happening for licensed agents. So with no further ado, Chris, I'll turn it back to you to talk to our guests.

Chris Gandy 2:12

So let's go. Greg and Scott, welcome to Advisor Today's podcast.

Greg Etchison 2:18

Thank you, Chris, good to be here.

Scott Wilson 2:21

Yeah? Thank you.

Chris Gandy 2:22

So let's jump right into it. Shall we? Can you guys just take a moment introduce yourselves to NAIFA nation, so people know who you are and kind of little bit about you.

Greg Etchison 2:35

Yeah, Scott, you want to go?

Scott Wilson 2:36

Sure, yeah. I'd be happy to Yeah. Thanks so much, Chris and Suzanne for having us today. A little bit of background for me. Scott Wilson, long time Humana associate, been with Humana 23 years later this year, much of that time has been working in our Medicare supplement business. I have a background in and have responsibilities with product development, product compliance, product operations, some profit and loss financial responsibilities as well. So you name it, product strategy had a hand in it or currently do to help Greg and the rest of our team deliver a competitive medicare supplement product to market. So great to be here.

Greg Etchison 3:14

Yeah, and I'm Greg Etchison, AVP of Medicare Supplement here at Humana, I'm the new kid. I've been here just over a year. I is a Scott's 23 year mark. But I will say, in the business, just over 25 years background at a variety of carriers can seek a Cigna, Aetna even had a little bit of experience on the distribution side with AmeriLife. So excited to be here today talking with all of you about my absolute favorite subject in the world, Medicare Supplement. So thanks for having.

Chris Gandy 3:57

Awesome so, we kind of go back and forth a little bit and obviously, you guys can both pipe in, but I'm going to lay out the questions, and you guys can kind of pipe in based on so I'm going to direct this a little bit. So I'm going to direct this at Scott. So, Scott, if you would share with NAIFA nation, what are some of the key components of a Humana Medicare supplement plan, and how does it really benefit our clients?

Scott Wilson 4:28

Sure, yeah, I'd be happy to. So Medicare supplement is just, it's a product that really, it's a very predictable, reliable product for our clients, for your clients, we like to bring a competitive product to market, a stable, predictable premium for our members and for our agents as well. Once you purchase a Plan F or a Plan G or a plan in which are the standardized Medicare supplement plan, some of the popular standardized plans. From there on, there's not a tremendous out of pocket cost to the member after they set their initial benefit plan. So, just real quick.

Some of those selling points of meds up is predictability with what you have out of pocket, whether it's premium or what you pay out of pocket to use your coverage. Plans are never going to go away. They're referred to as guaranteed renewable, once somebody purchases that plan, as long as they pay their premium from then on, it's a guaranteed renewable plan. They'll never get a cancelation notice. Then also, flexibility with provider network tends to be a pretty important part of the puzzle as well for Medicare Supplement, as long as they see providers who accept Medicare, Medicare supplement will always be accepted.

So there's a lot of value predictability honestly, fairly robust coverage for our members as well. What we tend to see is high satisfaction rates with Medicare Supplement. I think we see that in the industry, and we also see it in our own block here at Humana, we tend to see folks who are very pleased to extremely pleased with their coverage, when we look at member surveys, and then also we see that play out as well in our member retention, and folks who stay on their plans for quite a while after the fact. So, so really robust, moderate to robust coverage, very predictable, very reliable, easy to understand, or some of the components I would offer for our Medicare supplement plans.

Chris Gandy 6:26

And Scott, our clients can find those plans in the marketplace today, right?

Scott Wilson 6:32

Absolutely so. And thanks for that question. We have Medicare supplement plans in all states, plus DC and Puerto Rico. In some places we have more than one plan, but many places we have one featured product. And so, yeah, they're easy to find every day. And I'm sure Greg will talk about this later too, every day we work in a very focused way on, these are standardized products. We also offer value added services. We're always looking at ways to find extra value, deliver extra value, but we're also finding ways to be able to for agents to engage with us as easily as possible. So yeah, I would offer, I think Greg would echo, easy to find they're everywhere nationally. So yes, I'll stop there.

Chris Gandy 7:21

Awesome. So, Greg, I'm a pivot. Now, my previous background, I've been to business 23 years, and I played sports in my previous life. I'm a recovering athlete myself. So I played basketball. And so, you got to pivot if you don't expect to travel. So I'm going to pivot to you Greg. I'm going to ask the question. And so the bomb passing the ball. If I had one of those balls, I'd pass it and, like, it'd be kind of fun. Suzanne, like, would be fun. So, Greg, could you speak to us a little bit about your outlook on Humana's Meds up plans leading into this year's AEP, and are there any product development activities that you would like to highlight.

Greg Etchison 8:01

Yeah, extremely bullish. As we head into AEP this year, we at the risk of tooting our horn, and I shouldn't be that surprised, because I know all the work that's gone into it, but we are seeing record sales right now for the organization in our Medicare supplement line of business. So, we couldn't be more proud of where we're at. We couldn't be more excited. And there's so many, not everybody gets this, but there are so many timing elements, things that just have to line up sometimes in order to ride the wave. And we have really, from a timing perspective, things have just really lined up well for us. So again, I hate to restate it, but couldn't be more excited going into this AEP, and what the Humana outlook on meds up is going to be.

The second part of your question, which is, anything new, anything you know, what do we have going on? Well, so right now, as Scott touched on, we do have two separate medicare supplement products in the market. One of them, we would consider it. We call it more traditional, and that's where Scott talked about it's a national footprint. It would be, in most cases, that's going to be an older product. It's been in the market a little bit longer, and then we have another product that's labeled. If you're going to label it, it would be labeled our Humana achieve product was much more strategic, much more focused. And so that was in a smaller pocket, 25 states to be specific currently, and that product, obviously, is newer to the market, a little more aggressive from a rate perspective, hasn't seen the amount of rate increases that some of our traditional product offering has. And what I'm excited about is we're looking at expanding that achieve product from 25 to 34 states.

Now, we would love to get those states all in before AEP, but at the moment, we've got two states sitting on the horizon that have received approvals that will be launching within the next month and a half or so, and then obviously the balance of those, hopefully a quick follow, or maybe we can get them worked in where we can release them, when we release the first two. I will say, because you never know when agents are going to consume this information. If you were to look, if I flashed a map and you could see our achieved footprint, you'd say, oh, man, you're pretty much right in the middle. And that's typical for Medicare or something, and that's really the geography, the places you really want to win, it is at 25 state range. However, we're going to be doing some, what will we call this, some exploring into the West. So just to give a little hint, we're going to try to get some more state approvals in the West, and then a sneaking in a couple of states in the Northeast.

And so we are really excited. I know our distribution is excited, and we're just, we're happy to expand this. And one more thing I just want to mention, people always say, well, okay, so one of them's been out longer than the other, and so rates probably on the newer one are going to be more competitive than the older one. And in most cases, you're absolutely correct. But there is one other major difference between our traditional and our achieve, and it has to do with what we call a value added service. So our traditional product comes with a Silver Sneakers, the optional gym membership, if the policyholder so chooses the achieved product does not. So I just want to try and make that easy but and clear distinction between the two products.

Chris Gandy 12:41

Again. So it comes with you mentioned Silver Sneakers. So, can you share with us what I'm assuming Silver Sneakers are not a pair of Jordans. I'm assuming it's a unique product. So I'm assuming it's a service or something kind of cool that I'm sure most of the NAIFA nation is unfamiliar with. So can you share with us what that is?

Greg Etchison 13:08

Yeah, Silver Sneakers, essentially, in and of itself, is a gym membership. And so Scott, I don't know if to bring you in on this. If you have anything further to expand on Silver Sneakers. You've been here, and you were part of making sure that was on the traditional plan. Would love to have you help answer Chris's question.

Scott Wilson 13:32

Sure, yeah. Silver Sneakers is a nationally known fitness program. And what basically, we deliver is a membership to the gyms that are in the network of Silver Sneakers, and it's fairly robust. But then also, if folks prefer to have an at home, what word am I looking at? An at home version of Silver Sneakers that's available as well. So they can work out, yeah, so they can work at home. There's classes associated with Silver Sneakers that our members can sign up and attend classes at the gyms that are in the network. So, yeah, it's a fairly well known national I think a fairly successful and well regarded gym membership. So we're excited to offer it in those core plans, where the ones that Greg had referred to where we can.

Chris Gandy 14:24

They do say that longevity of life is to continue to move. And obviously with that benefit, that's a very exciting, exciting benefit that you guys have as a feature. So that's pretty cool. So Scott, I come back to you again. I pivot into paint again. I think I got three seconds already, but that's okay. They didn't blow the whistle. It's only if the ref, only if the ref sees you actually. Suzanne.

Suzanne Carawan 14:51

That's true. You can beat the ref. Beat the ref, that's right.

Chris Gandy 14:54

So, Scott, we come to you. There seems to be a lot of regulatory changes. Yes, right? So we're gonna go to about the regular regulation that's happening in all insurance, especially in the Medicare landscape. Can you walk us through what's going on and what kind of like changes are we expecting, anticipating, and how will this impact the product, and the cost of the product, the premiums to the client.

Scott Wilson 15:23

Yeah, sure, there's a lot there. And Chris, I wish we were talking back in probably December. I could have coached youth basketball. I could have picked your brain on a few things, it sounds like. But anyway, there's always a very active regulatory environment with Medicare Supplement. Medicare Supplements a bit different than Medicare Advantage, and that, if anybody's not familiar, it's really regulated at the state level. So when we bring a meds up product to market or any carrier, if you bring it to product, bring it to market nationally. You have 50 regulatory bodies, in our case, 52 with DC and Puerto Rico, that we're always monitoring and ensuring that we are operating compliantly and reacting to any changes.

And so some of the things that we see, currently, are some proposals to expand. Some states don't require medicare supplement to be offered to the underage 65 population. That's something that's fairly active in the market, where some states are considering that. There are some other states that might be considering what's called a birthday rule. In the Medicare Supplement market, where there's a guarantee issue opportunity, where prospects would bypass underwriting or medical questions for accept or decline answers, generally, from carriers. So that's a pretty active regulatory item. Some states are adopting that, some will stay as they are. There's always the opportunity that looking at benefit designs could come up again, or could come up.

In general. We had some changes back in 2020 that included a bit more cost share, such as, with most popular plan and mess up a Plan G, having the Part B deductible as an out of pocket cost for our members. So, I would say there's always an opportunity that that could receive some attention. Are the benefit structures as they should be going forward now, those tend to have, you know, fairly long runways in, or lead times to those types of conversations. So I don't see that in the immediate right in front of us anytime soon. But I think just, consideration of the value prop permits up and how does it fit into the overall environments, probably always a reasonable topic, but I would say for us, right now, immediately ahead of us, we'll be navigating through and making sure that we are either offering commentary to the industry or, certainly, implementing any regulatory changes that might take place in terms of, how does that impact premiums, occasionally, states will take different approaches to how they implement regulations.

So sometimes they're a bit more flexible, so you can perhaps rate the risk directly, so you can set your premiums where they need to be based on the risk involved with a particular cohort of membership. There's other times that states might add a new regulation and say that the benefit, excuse me, the premium relativity, needs to tie out to somewhere else on your premiums. In those cases that can, depending on what the regulations are, that can impact premiums up, or it's probably a little less common to see them go down. But we're certainly monitoring all those regulatory items that are being circulated throughout the states, throughout the industry. Let me ask. Let me bring in Greg too. Greg, those are some of the probably more obvious items in the regulatory environment that we're attentive to anything that I might not have mentioned, that may be on your mind.

Greg Etchison 19:00

No, I can't think of anything else that you didn't think of. But just listening to you talk and we all talk about this all the time, and the market's very much aware of this. And as much as something sounds good like a something that's called guaranteed issue. As good as that sounds and as helpful as it sounds like that would be, I think I just want to reiterate Scott's point in that that actually does have an impact on premiums. So carriers have to take that into consideration. Whenever you're guaranteed anything, that means there's absolutely no opportunity to help with the risk. So you'd have to take it all. And so you have to plan for that. And so I think I just want to maybe call out. So as much as maybe agents and advisors would think that we are happy about that and cheering that on. While that is a can be a good thing for certain individuals.

Unfortunately, I think it can lead to more of a negative for more of the population, than for the view that it would benefit, and I say, negatively impact, in that it would make the rates go up in those states to help offset the potential risk that the carriers are bringing on. That would be the only thing additional I would bring, especially if there's agents out there, advisors who maybe this isn't what they do every day, and maybe they've not heard anyone mention this. They very well could say, well, gosh, that sounds like a win, and it can be. But I just want to temper the excitement with well, but then there's a price to pay.

Scott Wilson 21:02

Sorry Chris, Suzanne, if I could just add on to the end of that. So, I would say, if you looked at our history, if we had a deep dive into our premium history, and pretty much be in here for the entirety of our med sup product, we take it very seriously, the premium experience that our folks who have entrusted their Medicare Supplement policy to us. We certainly want them to have a smooth experience over time. We don't love having to react in big ways in a single year, to react to additional exposure, to a risk pool changing. So you may hear us. You may hear Greg's team in frankly, you probably hear it from any carrier talking about mix and incoming mix. We there's not a tremendous amount that we can do after the fact, after, this isn't managed care, there's not risk scores involved with Medicare Supplements.

So we certainly, we look to manage that incoming mix so it's balanced and so it meets our actuarial assumption. So just to echo what Greg said, whenever there's additional opportunities for guarantee issue that may sound simple in the market, and it may sound good for folks to be able to navigate through without being asked medical questions and, like Greg said, there's some good to that, and we know why folks, why interested parties pursue it. That said, you may hear like, like, I said, like Greg's team, or some of our other sales partners and professionals talk about a balanced mix. Once our members are here, for the member and for the agent, we want nothing more than for that person to have a smooth experience consistent with how we anticipated pricing to work.

We have no interest in gaining a member and having a dissatisfaction with a higher than anticipated rate increase shortly thereafter, that doesn't help the agent, and in our view, and doesn't help the member either. So just a little perspective, as we try to balance all of those things, when we think about possible regulatory changes in the market.

Chris Gandy 23:14

Well, I think every, every, every client, right? I work with clients every day, and I think they all want the perfect product, right? They want the cheapest product with the best benefits. And they don't want to go through Android, right? That's the ideal space, and they wanted to every time, right? I mean, that's and so...

Suzanne Carawan 23:33

And marketing that's called optimize.

Chris Gandy 23:35

Yeah, you guys have a very difficult job of managing that experience. And I appreciate you saying experience, because that's exactly what leads me back to Greg. So Greg, walk me through this experience. Once I talk to my advisor, my broker, how long does this process take? And we form covered. And then how should advisors out there prepare their clients to go through this process? So can you walk us through that process a little bit?

Greg Etchison 24:09

Yeah, so it's actually, man, it has changed so much over the years. It has become, well, let me back up. So there's, there's three types of business. We talked about, guarantee issue, but there's also open enrollment. So both of those scenarios, when someone applies, they don't have to go through the underwriting process. Open Enrollment would be, you're just turning 65 just enrolled in Parts A and B. You can have any plan you want from any carrier you want. It is your bite of the apple. This is your chance to really make a good decision. And quite frankly, you don't get that opportunity ever again. You get one shot at it. Guarantee issue. Something happens to you, something happens where it creates a guarantee issue, situation where you have a right to a limited number of plans, not all of them, like an open enrollment.

Now let's move into underwritten which was your question, Chris, and I appreciate it. This is the, it feels to agents, especially new agents, like, oh my goodness, there's just no way. I'm not going to get anybody through, that couldn't be more wrong. Obviously. Are there going to be declines? Of course, that's what helps us manage the risk. That's what helps us keep the rates under control. But to your specific question as you go through the application. And Humana is a little bit unique in something. And I do want to point this out. There are other several carriers out there, that as you go through the application and you ask those underwritten questions, it almost been like program. Oh, so if I get a yes answer, I'm to walk away as the agent, hey, well, Chris and I went through this question 3c he said yes. With many carriers, it's a okay, Chris, we're gonna have to stop.

We're gonna have to go find another carrier. One thing that that we try, try, try, try, to encourage our agents is to take what you know about everyone else and throw it out the window. With us, just because you get a yes answer to one of those health questions as you're walking through doesn't mean it's an automatic decline. We actually go the extra mile to try and find a way to issue the policy, versus just making it an automatic decline. So I think that's a win for us, but the process itself, as long as quickly as an agent can talk through the questions. I think it's probably a 10 minute process, to 20 minutes to walk through those questions and get the answers, and then on our end, because I know that was probably the bulk of the question. Okay, we've done our part. What are you going to do now that you've got it? The majority of our business comes in electronically.

Which, holy cow, how different is that from 10 years ago? Electronic? What are you talking about? Here's the paper app. And so we have now, and this is what's really exciting, because just in the short year that I've been here, we have made significant progress in our technology, and one of those hot spots has been our automatic underwriting tool. Now I'd love to tell you that that's unique to Humana, that's actually there are several carriers now who are using an automatic underwriting tool. And so what's great about that is that, in some cases, Chris is working with Suzanne, and the second you hit submit, within seconds, you've got a congratulations, Suzanne's approved. I mean, how cool is that? In that process that you almost talked yourself out of before you went through it, you almost let yourself psych yourself out of it. So the process can be as quick as instant.

It can take two days. It can take five days. It can take longer, if especially in those cases where we're digging to try and find a way Chris, to get your policyholders approved, we may, on our end, be asking your doctors for additional information that are going to help us make a decision. But I've taken you to the extreme. If I dial it back, I would say the majority of these, if they aren't instant, you're looking at a three to five day Max turnaround time, and what's going to happen if it's not auto approved, they're going to get a phone call. So this is how you prep. Mrs. Jones, your phone is going to ring, when it rings, answer it because it's Humana calling to finish this application.

Now you can do it yourself at the point of sale, but in many times, the company is reaching back out to the applicant. So if they don't answer the phone, because, like all of us, are screening our calls, all that hard work you went through, unfortunately, is for not because we need, our underwriters have to talk with the applicant. They’re ask them almost word for word, the way the questions are worded on the application. Just to make sure, you'd be surprised, how many people, and you got to be sensitive to this, right? I mean, how many people who, gosh, I don't know. I don't really want to tell Chris that I have had a heart catheterization, but for whatever reason, and it happens even if you're so, I just told you no Scott now calls me from Humana, or you got Scott on the phone because you called Chris Humana to talk to an underwriter to go through this process. It's amazing how all of a sudden, and I've had a heart catheterization and the doctor 10 times in the last week.

And Chris, you're going, what! If you told me all this, we wouldn't have even made the call. So you said we would have some fun Suzanne, so that's my little we're having some fun, but it is interesting. And I've heard from so many agents like man, I am so sorry, if they would have told me that I would have known that it was a decline, and I'll say one more piece to this. We, in no way, shape or form, take any sort of delight or pleasure in declining business. In fact, if you think about it, we have, then we have now made an investment in that application that we're never going to see a dime on, because every application we decline, we paid an underwriter to do the process, and we're going to get nothing in return. So we put the tools that we have, an underwriting guide, we have an agent guide. We make it crystal clear what it is we're looking for, a height, weight, build chart, a medical decline, medication drug list, a drug list that tells you, if Mrs. Jones is taking this, don't submit it. It's a declinable drug.

So we do everything in our power to stop an agent from sending business into us that's going to end up in a decline. It's going to make you have to go back to the house and write them somebody else, and quite frankly, it's going to be a frustration on the applicant, because there could be some, it's a little embarrassing, who wants to be declined. And so we do our best. And if we go through and we've done this exercise before, we've asked the underwriting team, hey, are there some common declines? And they come back almost every time and say, You aren't going to believe this. If they would just look at the decline drug list, if they would look at the build chart, if they would read the tools we put out there, we wouldn't have, it would probably cut five to 10% of our declines out. So I know that I just talked for probably what felt like 10 minutes answering one question. Yeah, it's one of those things where you try and settle what, for most agents, feels scary, and there is absolutely nothing to be scared of.

Suzanne Carawan 32:58

Well, what I heard was that you have tremendous support for agents and advisors, right? Like you've got all sorts of tools and resources, and you want to be in the yes business, right? Yeah, there's going to be some notes, but you want to see what you can do. So I know that, as we're you know. So how do you get the agents and advisors pumped up to talk about medcare SOP, when you're coming into open enrollment, and everybody's thinking about Medicare Advantage, like, what does that look like from your end?

Scott Wilson 33:24

Yeah, fantastic. So, yeah. So as Greg said before, we're really bullish about where meds up is heading into this AEP and through the rest of Roy we have some products that, as Greg talked about before. So just to echo that a little bit, we have, we have products that are, you know, new achieve, products that are coming out in additional states. And we have a couple that Greg alluded to that are already approved, and we'll get those out in the market soon. So there will be some announcements there. I'm pretty bullish on getting several more of those file products online prior to AEP. So we're excited to have new products talk about in some states where it'll, we'll really advance our competitive position where we haven't, we looked at opportunities where we hadn't refreshed in a while, or had a competitive product in a while.

So we'll advance forward quite a bit in those additional states. So we're excited about that. We're also excited about just the value that meds up brings, and being able to tell the Mets up message, and having Humana being in the consideration set. Some of our teammates here have been really, really working on Humana meds up for quite some time, and we have a really good growth story to tell. I think we all know that Humana has a really a stellar reputation and Medicare Advantage, and we've grown alongside Medicare Advantage, but we certainly feel like we've assembled a team and are delivering product and value to the market in really, really advancing our presence in the market to also be known as a Medicare Supplement carrier. So we're excited about our presence in the. Space. We're excited about some additional investment and resources that we have, such as Greg and his channel development team that's out there talking daily and partnering with our market point organization that is also out there talking to our valued and trusted agents daily.

So we're excited about the relationships. We're excited about our present really, we're highly competitive. And we all know that premium is a big driver in the Medicare Supplement space, so we are constantly being considerate of our competitive position. It's quite strong right now we anticipate that to sustain but we're always looking at that competitive position. We're looking at how are we performing? So we're trying to stay ahead of any drivers of claims or any concerns anywhere throughout the country that, again, we really, I know probably most do. We certainly take it seriously to try to be as stable as we can be to once we have a member, keep the member, and once that agent or broker has a member with Humana, know that there's some trust there, and know that we're doing what we can to retain that member on our Medicare Supplement policy and provide value to them. So when you look across those factors, we have great product. We have sound operations.

Greg, I would think we're probably, we're always going to be on this journey, but I would say we're easier to do business with than we ever have been. The underwriting process that you mentioned, and just to mention this, I'll be quick. There's nothing that we've stopped on or consider even if we're happy with a retention rate or we're happy with a net promoter score, we're happy with some new features that we put in. Everything is continuous improvement. We'll continue, as Greg mentioned, to look at opportunities to say yes to more folks coming through underwriting. We're continuing to look at ways to take days, or hours out of the lead times when folks submit business. So we're excited about that. We're excited about our agent and Greg, you may perhaps you might mention this later. We're excited about some of the things we looked at coming out of last AEP, and ways that we can continue to enhance that agent experience as they submit business with us coming into this AEP.

So really, across the board, from product competitiveness to presence in the industry to relationships with distribution, also competitiveness in the agent compensation category as well. We've been quite intentional about putting compelling incentive programs in the market for folks to consider us for the first time. I know if I was an agent, I would probably get settled into some being comfortable with certain carriers or plans that they sold in the past. They're comfortable. They understand. They know the processes. So, I like to think if I was an agent, I would appreciate some, some incentive programs to entice me to be interested and have a compelling reason to give somebody a shot. So I think I'll stop there. I think across the whole spectrum of competitive factors, we feel good. We'll see what happens in the Medicare Advantage space, we hear some things about some, maybe some pressures here and there in the industry, on some value props, and not speaking specifically about Humana, but just it seems like that this AEP could be a little bit interesting in that respect.

And so it'll be interesting to see how meds up overall, not talking about Humana, just overall, if that med sup consideration is different this AEP or not, but we certainly like where we are across many of the most those competitive factors leading into this AEP.

Chris Gandy 38:54

Let's go to incentives. Because I like incentives. I mean, incentives are always right. So, Greg, I'm an agent. Talk to me about when I recommend Humana is Medicare, sup plan, are there incentives that are there for us, not necessarily, just because of incentives, obviously, because it's product, but gives us the incentive to do more than less. Share with NAIFA nation, some of those, some of those incentives. Or are there incentives to make it to sweeten the deal for them.

Greg Etchison 39:32

Yeah, definitely there are incentives and, and to your point, Chris, it isn't about, we don't want a broker that only sells for us because of an incentive. We want them to sell for us because it's the right thing to do, and as a result of the right thing to do, you got an incentive. Where we see the incentives really playing a piece is that, I heard this a long time ago. In order to make any significant change in your life, the pain to stay the same has to be greater than the pain to change. So if you think about it, the pain to stay the same has got to be greater than the pain to change. So we put some incentives in the market that bring the pain. And I say that to say it really, hopefully has, if an agent is on the fence and they're trying to decide, our hope is that our incentives help them go, you know something, I'm comfortable with, this company, that company, that company.

Gosh, do I want to get to know one more company's processes? Do I want to get to know one more carriers procedures? Gosh, I guess. So our hope is that, with the incentive, it's a tire kicking experience, but to be specific, yes, we've been running an incentive, and a lot of carriers do a yearlong incentive, typically by the quarter, it gives you an opportunity to make adjustments to it. But I will tell you, and this has been the case since before I came to the organization, we have the absolute strongest bonus in the industry, bar none of any other carrier. In fact, I just did somewhat of an analysis on what everybody else is doing. And as an agent, you have to think about this. It isn't just the amount of the incentive, but how do you qualify? So many of our competitors, it's well, you get x, but you have to write X amount of policies first before we will give you x. Humana doesn't work that way. If you'll only try us one time, if you just give us one application, you're going to get the bonus.

And as we've talked about earlier, we incentivize the underwritten sales higher than we incentivize open enrollment sales. So again, we're trying to incent agents to go the extra mile, go through the extra steps and learn our process, because we would love, we want you to send us that good, underwritten business that helps us smooth out everything and keep the party going, for lack of a better so, yes, but some, some great incentives going on right now.

Chris Gandy 42:29

Well, I think every agent is looking to by doing the right thing, someone once told me in this business when I joined a long time ago, is that if you help enough people do the right things, you'll make enough money, right? So leading them down that path of saying, okay, well, take a second look, take a look at something maybe you've never looked at before. By putting the incentives out there is, is very important. So for the two of you, we're coming up to time here. But is there anything else that we didn't talk about that's important for our audience to know that you guys would like to share?

Scott Wilson 43:10

Well, Greg, I'll jump in real quick, I guess. I think we've really covered a lot, and I think what we mainly wanted to impart here is that, we're really excited about our growth in Humana meds up. We're excited about growing our presence and our reputation in this space. I think we've been known for a long time, like I said before, as quite a carrier in the Medicare Advantage space and in PDP and some other products. And while we have a long history in meds up, we've been in medsup since, in this iteration, since 2004 so we have a lot of know-how, and a lot of underpinnings to run this product. We're not brand new. There's some new agents out there, and maybe some folks that have sold other carriers over time, but we just have a tremendous team, a blend of long term and new with know-how, and I'm sure a lot of folks, a lot of carriers fall into this.

But I work with these folks every day. They care deeply about our agents and our members. So, just where we sit competitively with everything that I know, that we're working on behind the scenes. I just think it's a tremendous time granted, I'm biased, but I think I do objectively, if I may, think it's just a tremendous time to consider Humana Meds up, if you haven't, I think it's compelling, compelling premiums, sound valuable, predictable products, compelling incentives. Like Greg mentioned, there's really no needs, no reason that I can think of not to try. And we certainly, from what we see behind the scenes, we believe that the experience is there after the fact. So leading into this AEP, I couldn't be more excited. We're excited what we see every month.

Chris, I don't know that I've added anything new, but I just wanted to sum up some of those key points that really were how we feel about the product. We think we have a quite compelling value prop today, and we think we have a really bright future in the immediate term, in the moderate term, and going forward. So we're super excited. So I'll leave it there. Greg, anything to add?

Greg Etchison 45:29

Yeah, the only other thing I would add is just the impressive. It's impressive to me, the investment that Humana has made in the Medicare supplement product. I mean, my team is brand new. I've got three channel directors that go out and cover the country, helping teach, train, tell the story. So and like I said, investments in technology and trying to improve, trying to be easy to do business with, trying to keep simple, it's probably one of the most under How did things that the company has done, but to recognize, yeah, there's some folks that are going to do this on their own, but there is a ginormous number of individuals on a Medicare Supplement policy, just like there's a significant population on Medicare Advantage.

And I think our message, you'll probably see going forward from us more of a message of, we're Humana. Come to us, we've got everything you could possibly need to meet your needs, instead of we're Humana, and we can solve an MA, if you're looking for a med advantage, come to us, we'll help you. I think it's where Humana come to us. We can help you with whatever it is you need help with. So excited about the future and the investments the company's making and their willingness to sort of expand the footprint into this other line of business, and really shine a light on it.

Chris Gandy 47:06

Hey, Greg, we call that in sports, right? We call that the home team. Humana is the home team that said, I just put that just, I just coined that. So, Humana is the home team. You know, you guys start using that. So with that being said, Suzanne, we got time for the lightning round. I'd like to get these two gents on the lightning round.

Suzanne Carawan 47:28

Yeah, I think that'd be fun. I'll make just with one comment. So for everybody out there, NAIFA, of course, all of our members ascribe to a code of ethics, so we always want to put those clients best interest first. But I love everything that Humana is saying today. And with Peak 65 still going for another six plus years, it sounds like Humana is like that one stop shop, right? We got a lot of people to cover, so let's get more Americans covered, but yeah, let's go to the lightning round. Chris.

Chris Gandy 47:55

All right. Gents, so this is how this works. So people may know you as professionals. They may know you as Scott, the development guy and regulatory guy at Humana and Greg, they may know you as the guy this helping with channels. But the whole goal of this is just so people know people, right? And so part of it is just getting to know you guys a little bit when you let your hair down, right? And so my hair is a little short like yours over there, Greg. And but that's okay. So it's just a series of questions. And so we'll go back and forth. We'll go, Greg Scott. Greg Scott. Greg Scott. How's that? And then just answer the question. First thing comes to mind. There's no right or wrong answers. Just, just be yourself. Fair enough, with that being said, first thing is, Scott, did you have a mentor when you started in the business?

Scott Wilson 48:55

Oh, my goodness, that's a great question, certainly here at Humana, and I'm sure it's not a unique experience to other places, I suppose, but it's been quite special here. Yeah, it's hard to say one, there's been several leaders here that have just been tremendous leaders over time. If I were to name, if I were to name some names, we've had some past leaders here, such as Alan Wheatley, Steve McCulley, and those are some names probably some folks will know in the industry. They have since retired folks who are still here. Bill White, he was a tremendous leader in the time that I had working with him in our also Susan Diamond, who's, who's a leader here at Humana as well. So, so I've been very fortunate to have a series of leaders and exposure to leaders who have just been tremendous in their background and their professionalism, and their just their overall, vision to have. Take product to market and how to serve our agents and members. So it's hard to say one, but certainly, have been very fortunate to have several who've served in that role.

Chris Gandy 50:11

Awesome. Greg, your favorite food?

Greg Etchison 50:16

Oh, steak.

Chris Gandy 50:19

Steak. What kind I mean, well done. Medium,

Greg Etchison 50:23

If I'm going to be specific filet from Ruth, Chris medium,

Suzanne Carawan 50:28

That's very specific, okay.

Greg Etchison 50:29

I mean this, and that's we're being real, right?

Suzanne Carawan 50:33

Yeah. Sounds like, yeah, it's a lot, yeah, yeah.

Chris Gandy 50:38

What about let's go with, what would you tell your Scott? What would you tell you've been in the business for a while? If you could go back and tell your younger self, something first day you started in the business, what advice would you give yourself?

Scott Wilson 50:57

Yeah, those are just a good point. I don't know how Greg got favorite food, I'm getting these thoughtful questions.

Greg Etchison 51:02

My next one will be favorite color, Scott. So just hang on.

Scott Wilson 51:03

So, I'll be quick, but we have some longtime associates on our team. We have built a product from scratch. So if I was going back from today, and we've had a lot of folks who over time, you build a team from a pretty skinny team early to where we are today. And I would still say we accomplish a lot with the size of resources that we have. Probably I would have more clarity to go back and advocate for probably the biggest things, and probably be able to advocate in a, when you're very you know, you're starting out, you may not know the things that you don't know. And today, I think I would be able to impart probably some clarity about these are the really the things that are required to advance things forward in a bigger, faster way. So I think that's probably the advice something in that world that I would share back with a younger version of me.

Chris Gandy 52:06

All right, wonderful. Everybody is started somewhere, right? But where you start is not where you finish. And we all learn something along this path. And so thanks for sharing that. I got one. Okay, so we'll switch gears. You ready, your favorite motivational book?

Greg Etchison 52:24

Oh, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat.

Suzanne Carawan 52:28

Boom, do that one right away.

Chris Gandy 52:30

Yeah, you do that one right away. See, yes. Well, there you go. And then last, but not least, for the for the two of you is, if you have people that are listening out there in NAIFA nation that have a license, but they haven't yet explored the medicare supplement world, but they know it's important, what advice would you give them? And I'll go to Scott first, and then I'll go to you Greg, and then we'll go to Suzanne and close it.

Scott Wilson 53:00

So Chris advising in getting into medicare supplement for the first time, is that correct? So, I think what I would give is that there are just tremendous resources available from carriers like ourselves, or even not. There's other resources out there that can really, I think, a strong foundation early will really serve agents well. So there are some resources created by CMS and AIC, about what medsup is that you can really get a strong underpinning right away. And then I would say that, you know, really having a good partnership with the carriers that you intend to sell, we can be very helpful. We see lots of questions that probably, sometimes circulate around in social media and other places, which is great.

There's great agent forums out there for folks to connect and speak and occasionally I'll see a question here, there that I'm thinking, I mean, we could we, could we could help that immediately, I think, just forging those partnerships with the carriers that you're interested in selling, and we have resources available to folks, to help, to answer questions, to demystify things that sometimes. It seems like that there's some confusion on different topics here or there that there really doesn't need to be. So I think just really getting grounded early will really serve you well later and met up in particular, it's just a wonderful, predictable, valuable product that member surveys would show that folks really are pretty stable in they're pretty satisfied with it after they have it. So I think, yeah, it's a really compelling product, and just getting grounded early and those product features goes a long way.

Greg Etchison 54:48

Yeah, Chris, if I'll wrap this up here, I think I would encourage an agent to Scott's point, there's some incredible content on like YouTube, type in Medicare Supplement, difference between N and G, why Plan F. Incredible content that an agent could go watch and teach themselves. But beyond that, I would encourage them to align themselves with an FMO, a field marketing organization, a partner that has marketers in place, trainings in place. They've got their back. They'll support them. Maybe they have a career distribution. Maybe they've got an independent distribution and a career distribution. Typically, they would help them with leads.

And there's a cost to that, of course, you you'd probably be at a reduced compensation. But my goodness, starting out, the hardest thing I've been told over all these years is waking up with no one to see. And so my encouragement would always be, go find an expert, find an agency that will envelop you, wrap their arms around you, love on you, because they don't make money if you don't sell. So they are in it to win it with you, for you, and they've got your back. So I would, I would add that on to what Scott said.

Chris Gandy 56:14

Suzanne in it to win it, and the home team. I mean, we've covered a lot, we've pivoted, we've hung out in the paint today. And you guys are winning. So Suzanne, before I close it out, any final words or any announcements for NAIFA nation.

Suzanne Carawan 56:34

Yeah, I would say just a couple things. So first of all, thank you, Humana for bringing these two fine gentlemen to us and getting to learn this today. Within the NAIFA world, we have a lot of medcare south and Medicare experts. So a lot of our members like to do business with the experts. So just remember that. And also remember that we have all sorts of Medicare information and resources in our limited, Extended Care Planning Center, one of our centers of excellence. So, and this is something that if, again, I will just say, NAIFA members are heavily involved in. If this is your passion point, we often have spaces, and we try to get members to go to the CMS roundtable, and we're doing this actively from our advocacy front. So if you're not a NAIFA member, we're out there doing that work for you.

So you need to join today, and we would love to have you, and then all of the cool NAIFA people are coming to the Arizona Biltmore in September coming up. So it's time to book your flights. The flights are looking really good, September 19 to 21st for this year's Apex conference. So I know Chris is going to be there. You're going to be there. I'd love to see Scott and Greg, but we're happy to be able to put that out again this year. Back to you, Chris.

Chris Gandy 57:41

Greg, if you come, I'll buy you a steak from Ruth Chris, I don't even know if there's a Ruth Chris there, but we'll find one, taking you and Scott out. Biltmore, but thanks number one, thank both of you for doing the work you do. I know that it goes unthanked numerous times. And as an advisor myself, who out there and work with clients, and we're out shaking hands, kissing babies, it is always difficult to help people understand the complexity of insurance and the importance of it, but understanding that the satisfaction is very high. You guys have done a great job thought leaders and putting together a great product. The incentives are awesome and that I can learn along the way.

As I don't have to be an expert on everything. I can ask questions and I don't have to seem like I'm the guy that doesn't know that's kudos to you guys for putting that together and bringing that to our NAIFA family. So out there in NAIFA nation, if you're not enrolled in APEX, get enrolled in Apex. We look forward to seeing it at the Biltmore. Thanks Humana for supporting this program, and thanks for bringing these two gentlemen who it looks like I'm going to owe them a mistake if we see them at Apex. And remember, Advisor Today is where we get the best of the best. We're the home team. We bring the best comments and thought leaders in the industry together to uplift the voice of those of you that are advisors and agents. So thank all of you for tuning in. We'll see you next week on Advisor Today's podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Bye, bye.

Outro 59:20

Thanks for joining us for NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series. Make sure to subscribe to get future episodes, and if you're interested in coming on the show, let us know.

43 min read