- Hi, I'm Rebecca Gordon.
- I'm Sylvia Gordon.
We're gonna be talking about solutions
for your clients' drug needs.
Gotta get creative,
and President Biden has put forth several possibilities.
that we're gonna discuss in this episode.
(Rebecca laughs)
(lively guitar music)
- Fact check.
Did you know that if you compare the United States
with all of our peer countries,
such as Canada, Germany,
- Japan.
- Japan,
that we Americans spend 2.5 times more on drugs
than they do.
- On the same drug.
- And I ask- - The same drug costs
2.5 times more.
The same drug.
- Are we 2.5 times healthier than them?
- [Sylvia] I know, really.
- [Rebecca] Probably not.
- Right. Probably, definitely not.
- Yeah. I mean, this is just a continued issue.
I feel like we talk about this every year.
- I was talking about this 10 years ago,
- The cost of drugs. - when Governor
Rod Blagojevich was the governor
of Illinois, - Yeah.
- before he went to prison.
He was trying to import it to lower the cost
of the state employees
for Illinois. - [Rebecca] Forgot about him.
- The main thing is most agents are very law abiding,
and they know it's illegal to import drugs.
There's a reimportation prohibition.
And so they're not gonna recommend
their clients get their drugs from Canada.
- But you should. - It's never been enforced.
And if the president is saying - [Rebecca] Yeah.
that he wants to try to find a way
to import drugs from Canada,
you need to be well versed in what websites
and how to work them.
You still gotta get a prescription,
and how it works
- So this is crazy. - to save money.
- You know, they say
that nearly one in three Americans report
not taking their medications as prescribed
because they can't afford them.
- Right.
So not all drugs are able - That's a big deal.
- to be gotten through the mail,
because they have to be refrigerated.
But it's talking about drug importation
from Canada is something you should,
it's a conversation you should be having
with most of your clients.
- Yep.
- And I've been getting my own drugs for years
from Canada. - As an agent
I mean, being a successful agent,
it has nothing to do with just the product.
It is clearly troubleshooting,
making great recommendations for future spending,
how to make that dollar go the farthest.
We talked on our last episode
about GlicRx and when to use Good Health.
It's just another layer of the value that agents bring
to their consumers.
So, good luck.
- Right, it's getting creative.
Let's talk about our AEP kickoffs.
They're coming up here very quickly.
Our first one is August 9th - So happy.
- in Orlando.
August 10th in Fort Lauderdale.
Our main event here in Indiana will be August the 19th
on a Thursday.
First time ever not on a Friday.
I don't know what I'll do with my Friday.
- I like Thursday.
It was always my favorite night to go out in college.
So I have a feeling I'll be extra perky for this event.
- And we have three in Idaho, Boise, Twin Falls,
and Idaho Falls.
And then Long Island, September 22nd.
So remember that these events,
these are not product rollouts.
We're not gonna say,
"This is what Humana's doing this year.
This is what Aetna's bringing up."
We're talking about all the other stuff
that nobody covers on AHIP,
nobody covers on their product certifications,
the carriers don't cover.
There's so much arcane stuff that we have to know
to be successful agents and stay compliant.
And nobody talks about 'em.
I don't know when we're supposed to talk about it.
It's always just product, product, product.
- So we talk about it.
- So that's what we do at our kickoff.
It's really valuable.
If you haven't ever attended,
- Come. - you can register
on our website.
Go to gordonmarketing.com.
At the top, where it says "events,"
you will see AEP kickoff,
and you can register for your event there.
Let's talk about the Affordable Care Act.
- So this is just interesting, my God.
This roller coaster ride
just does not ever stop amazing me.
When ACA started, it was a huge bonanza.
It was a Wild West.
Everybody was in it.
Huge, huge, huge.
And then, of course, they stopped paying commissions,
and then we had nobody.
And that's how it's been like the last couple of years,
like over half the counties
in the United States did not have an ACA plan.
I don't know what she's doing.
- Stretching.
- Now we're feeling the momentum.
So UnitedHealthcare has an ACA plan,
and they're gonna be rolling out selected states.
Anthem has continued to be in it.
We're hearing a lot more traction with Molina,
and expansion.
So now, evidently,
CVS and Aetna, there's word that they're coming
into the market this year.
So stay tuned for that.
We've had a robust, and continue to have a robust,
under 65 division.
As soon as we know what's going on, we'll be telling you.
You can always check out our website under the health tab.
And we keep all updated maps up there
with who, what, when, where and why.
- So the current administration is basically giving money
to everybody.
The money printer is just going.
As the in people say,
"The money printer go brr."
And money, money, money.
Who wants money? Who wants money?
So if you know anybody that has an Affordable Care Act plan,
that does not have a subsidy,
chances are,
if they go in and reapply before August 25th,
what's the date?
August 21st is...
They are eligible - Oh.
- for a subsidy.
So I went in for Dave,
- Mm-hmm.
- and he was eligible for a huge subsidy.
Everybody's eligible, it's everybody.
But most people are like,
"Oh no, I checked it before, and I'm not."
You are now.
So go save your friends, and family, and clients some money.
Go in and reapply for that subsidy.
Okay, let's go to Social Security Disability.
- Okay, so I have a great story
I'd like to read here,
just as soon as you pull it back up on your phone.
- Then it continues on our quest
to talk about Social Security and train you guys.
And we have another Social Security Webinar coming up.
- Are you saying that because we do,
or you do? - Yeah, we do.
We do.
So I'm saying, if you wanna get trained,
we're doing these three hour classes
to get you guys the foundational information
on Social Security.
But I'm still on TikToK every day,
and getting questions every day from the American consumer.
And so this is a great question
that I'm sure most agents don't know the answer to.
- Yeah, so this poor woman was diagnosed with ovarian cancer
and she was in remission, and it came back,
and that mixed with her brittle juvenile diabetes,
just in bad shape.
And her question is, her son just graduated high school,
and so she wants to know,
is the money that he was receiving
from her Social Security,
can that be rerouted to her?
Because she's having a tough time making ends meet.
- And everybody thinks this.
So let's say we were a gay couple.
And we're married,
which is what, whenever we check into a hotel,
I always try to say.
- She does try to say.
- So I could either draw 100% of my own Social Security
or 50% off my spouse,
if 50% of hers is more than 100% mine.
So what people think is,
that if I take from her, that I'm reducing hers,
or if I'm taking from my ex-spouse,
I'm hurting him or I'm hurting his current wife.
It doesn't work like that.
Okay?
What I get is based on your percentage,
but I don't actually take away from you.
So this woman that's on Disability,
if you're on Social Security Disability,
so the mom was on Disability,
- Mm-hmm.
if you have minor children,
or if she had a spouse that stayed home and cared for them,
they can get up to 50% of whatever she's getting.
So if she's getting $1000 a month,
he could get $500 a month,
which would greatly help her.
- Right. - Right.
Which really is gonna go to her.
But it's, you know,
- Going to him. - on him.
So until he graduates high school,
which is typically at 18,
although you can have people who don't graduate until 19,
yeah, there's an exception to everything, okay.
So once he graduated high school, his payment stopped.
That $500 stopped.
And she's going, "Dang." - Right.
'Cause she just lost
basically 1/3 - 1/2
She needs the money.
- yeah, of her payment. - And so she's like,
"Hey, since he's no longer taking it off of me,
is it gonna be added back into my payment?"
And no, he was never taking it off you.
- [Rebecca] Mm-hmm. - What he was getting was
to help you raise a minor children.
He's no longer a minor.
That money just goes back to the Social Security trust fund.
- That's a bummer.
- I try to do like an hour of answering these like,
"Dear Abby" type questions a day.
And it's really depressing.
- That is depressing. - 'Cause most of the answers
that I'm giving these people are no.
- Right.
- No. (Rebecca sighs)
But this is stuff you, as a Medicare expert,
should be well-versed in.
You should be able to answer these questions
for your clients on Social Security.
And if you wanna learn this whole other body of knowledge,
because they're sister programs, Social Security,
they're not twins, but they're sisters.
Sister power.
Start by attending one of our webinars,
our three hour webinars.
And we do have it filed as CE in many states.
After AEP, we'll hit the road again
first quarter with a lot of in-person CE
to really go deeper into Social Security.
So, those of you that have been following along,
we've been talking about this for six months, now.
- Not a long time.
- And I hope you guys are starting to stick your neck out,
and try to talk to your clients about Social Security,
because universally, the American public is confused.
- Yeah.
- If you call Social Security, they cannot give you advice.
If the Medicare agent's not helping them,
there's basically
- There's nobody, yeah. - nobody out there,
unless they wanna hire a very expensive elder law attorney.
That's all I have.
- That's all I have.
Talk to you soon.
- Thank you.
- Good selling.
(upbeat music)