- [Both] Hi!
- You go.
- I'm Rebecca Gordon.
- I'm Sylvia Gordon.
- And on this week's edition
of The Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up,
we're gonna talk about OEP.
- OEP and only OEP, so stay tuned.
- Only.
(upbeat music)
All right, well first off, I just wanna ask,
this is a new year--
- Yes.
Happy New Year! - We've been doing this,
happy, we've been doing this for a year.
- Yes, our one year anniversary.
- And a lot of you think that we are big celebrities.
And, we are, right?
However, I just want to show you what I sit on.
I sit on, as does Sylvia, we sit on boxes.
- Okay.
- So that we look taller.
- And let's see what's in the box.
- We're not sure what's in these boxes.
- I don't know, looks like some
important stuff. - I still think
it's money laundering.
- I'm happy that it's not worse.
- So I was asking when, in our career,
can we get real chairs?
And so Sylvia said when we have 7,000 subscribers.
So I'm gonna ask all of you.
Will you please, please,
not that I don't enjoy sitting on this--
- It's not a GoFundMe.
- It's not a GoFundMe. - All you have to do
is click the button.
- My feet don't even hit the ground.
- When we get 7,000, so we're at 4,500 subscribers,
- We can get a chair. - That was one year.
So if we, when we can get to 7,000,
we will splurge and buy real chairs.
- That's all I want.
- It's not a GoFundMe,
we don't want your money. - Help me.
- We just want your click.
- Help me. - Okay?
- Help me get what I need.
- Let's talk about OEP.
This is the second year of OEP, first thing I wanna do is
I wanna give a shout out, give credit where credit is due,
which is the NAHU.
- Yes. - Your representation in DC.
This didn't just happen, people.
When CMS took OEP away,
I think it was basically inadvertently,
they didn't understand.
It took eight years
for it to come back.
And it didn't just come back because someone said,
"Oh, you know this would be cool."
NAHU fought for eight years
and they fought using the money that's our dues.
So those of you that are not a dues-paying member,
you're benefiting, your clients are benefiting,
and we urge you to please consider helping NAHU,
because there's a lot of stuff they need to do.
And they can't do it without money.
And they're only asking for like 25, 30 bucks a month.
- Yeah, so thank you NAHU, thank you for all you do
in supporting us and our fantastic industry.
- And all of those of you that are members of NAHU.
So, what is OEP?
- Well, and I also wanna say,
if you don't know how to join,
you don't know how to get started,
just go ahead and hit us up in the comment box
and we'll get the information right out to you.
- Right, so OEP, like I said, is not new,
we had it for many years back in the day.
- And-- - In the day.
- For the people that are new to the industry,
they thought last year it was a brand new phenomenon.
- So what does it mean, 'cause we love acronyms.
- So, it's like all these acronyms,
they don't mean anything.
PPO, HMO, they don't mean anything.
- OEP stands for-- - Open enrollment period.
- That's what it means, open enrollment period.
- What it should be is, you have one change,
if you don't like what happened during AEP.
- [Rebecca] One change.
- So what should it be, "You Have One Change",
YHOC, it should be called that instead of OEP.
'Cause OEP doesn't mean anything.
Anyway, you have one change.
Unlike OEP, how many changes could you make during OEP?
- Outside of OEP?
- I mean, how many changes could you make during AEP?
- As many as you want, last one in wins.
- So, the agent walks into Walmart,
he likes the guy, he takes in that.
Then he walks into CVS, he likes the guy,
he takes in that.
Then he comes to you, and you're like,
"What'd you do that for?"
And you're like, "Oh, okay, can you fix it?"
And you fix it.
The last one in
wins. - [Rebecca] Wins.
- So OEP is not like that.
- You get one shot.
And it's only, it's only around Medicare Advantage Plans.
So you can do MA to MAPD, MAPD to MAPD,
can you do anything with PDPs?
- Not unless it's embedded in MAPDs.
So if it's a stand alone Part D, you can't go,
"I have a MedSup and a stand-alone Part D,
and they're no longer covering my--"
Like, it wouldn't cover Bella's inhaler yesterday.
You can't be like, "They're not covering my inhaler,
"I wanna move here," you can't do that.
So, that is stupid, they should be able to do that too.
The old OEP allowed you to do that.
And the new OEP of the future that NAHU is working on,
will one day allow you to do that.
But right now, you can't.
So another push, like, NAHU is working on this--
- Right. - To fix this so that
people that have a drug plan, and they buy it during AEP
and they go to the doctor in January--
- And it doesn't work.
- And they're like, "Oh darn it, I made a mistake
"on the Medicare Plan Finder!" - I need to fix it.
- They can't fix it.
- What if they decide they want to go back to a MedSup?
- So, they can go back to a MedSup.
Okay?
They can go from a Med Advantage,
the key point is, you have to have a Med Advantage.
You have a Med Advantage, some type of Med Advantage,
to make a change.
So you have a Med Advantage,
and you wanna go back to a MedSup and a Part D.
That way you can fix your Part D problem here, okay?
What is the big pitfall that agents mess up on?
- Well, if you go in and change your PDP first,
you just dis-enrolled out of your MA,
which is only a really big deal
if you don't get approved with your MedSup.
So, going from an MA to a MedSup, you're underwritten.
- Right, it's not guaranteed.
It's not like you're using your trial rights,
where they have to take you.
- You could get stuck.
- So if you go (claps),
the PDP's fast, you take that PDP app and you send it in,
boom, your one change as far as OEP's concerned, is done.
You've used that election
and CMS terminates your Med Advantage,
and now you have original Medicare and a Part D.
And then, Anthem doesn't approve your underwriting.
- Yeah.
- And then you're like, "Oh crap,"
because if Anthem didn't approve you,
Cigna's probably not going to approve you,
Aetna's probably not going to approve you.
- So always go in the MedSup first, that's the bottom line.
Go through underwriting first.
If you get approved, great.
Then apply for your PDP.
If not, stay.
- Yeah, it's not guaranteed.
That is a problem.
So, we all understand 'cause we do AHIP
and we understand that there's no marketing during OEP.
- Yeah. - Then agents call,
and they're like, "This is so unfair, these carriers,
"they're flooding the airwaves and direct mail,
"and they're still marketing."
You can still market, everybody can market.
You can say, "Everybody that's ready
"to retire in my community,"
or "I'm a Medicare agent and I'm holding seminars,"
you can continue to market.
- You just can't encourage the change.
- You can't market OEP.
You can't say, "If you bought a plan during AEP
and now you found out your doctor's no longer in network
or your drugs--" - "Come over to us!"
- You can make one change during the months
of January, February and March.
So, you can not do that in any form.
Verbal, written, any type of ads that you would do.
That could get you in trouble with your carriers and CMS.
So, AEP's pretty easy.
if you have questions
ask us in the comments,
we can send you the cheat sheet on OEP.
And Rebecca, what's the question that we're gonna ask?
- So, we have a question of the week
from one of our top agents
and they want to know what's the number one complaint
that clients have with PDP plans.
- Right, so we answer the phone,
we know what you guys are complaining about.
Tell us what you think everybody's complaining about,
see if you are all having the same shared experience,
put it in the comments below,
and we'll be back next week.
- We'll share it next week.
- Happy selling.
- See ya.
(upbeat music)