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Hi folks!
I was attending an agent meeting when I a colleague stopped over to tell me that Lifetime will be limiting the hours seniors on fitness programs like Silver Sneakers, Renew Active and OnePass can attend.

If you are concerned about this, give Lifetime a call, it’s their policy and decision.

Let me know what they say!

With people traveling more now, I started asking people if they’d bring some of our stuff with them and get a handshot (or the braver ones can show their face) holding our stuff in front of something where they are. Here’s the latest from Scottland!

Happy October!

I was driving in to the office today and the colors are really starting to pop! This my favorite time of the year!

It’s also my busiest season as it’s open enrollment for so many different plans, like Medicare, group insurance and individual health plans.

Medicare has come out with their numbers for 2023.

To find out their Part B premiums, deductibles, copays and coinsurance, click HERE

Of course, if you have any questions about how all that works, please give me a call at 952-295-3830, our Medicare Member line.

Thanks for reading to the end!

Happy Monday morning the 19th of September, getting close to what my wife calls my Accountant time of the year. Accountants turn off their lives for a few months of intense work till all hours. We here at Leverty Insurance Strategies have a similar time of the year where work is intense and sometimes some very long days.

I’ve said before, the best part of this time of the year is getting to reconnect with customers. The hard part is that it can become a conveyor line as everyone’s time to chose and review is all crammed into one two to three month period. Forgive me if I am slower to getting back to you.

So, here’s my latest thoughts on call recording. I’ve asked my phone company to record all calls and begin by welcoming callers with the two disclaimers I’m required to say before connecting with me. My agency that I write a lot of my business with has a new program that will start recording calls from the initial start of the call, including the disclaimer. The upside is the full call, with disclaimer, is recorded. The downside is the calls need to go to a different phone number. The new number for Medicare people to call is 952-295-3830.

We hope this works perfectly so we’re starting it right away.

Thanks for reading!!!

It’s a Friday before Labor Day, just brewed some coffee and I’m trying to decide what changes to make to my Medicare Solutions page of this website. I like to make the page an easy place to shop for health insurance and see all your options.

What’s new for the open enrollment period this fall is CMS (Center for Medicare Services) is requiring us to record our sales calls. What’s a sales call? Any phone discussion that results in a sale. Rather than try to decide when to record, we’ve set up call recording on all calls and then go back later and download the calls we believe will be examined later by CMS or an insurance carrier doing an audit.

I have always enjoyed working with prospective clients and clients and the rapport that we create. I wish we didn’t have to have the cloud of recording hover over the conversation, but you have to follow the rules. I’m a worrier by nature, always wanting to do what’s best for the customer, but this will probably be fine. If you don’t want to be recorded, we’ll happily and cheerfully set up a time for you to come in or a zoom-ish call (that seems to be outside the rule, so far).

Secondly, Medicare requires that we give this disclaimer on our website, in email and on the phone:

We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.

I contract with every company I can, and what makes sense for my customers. Sometimes there’s a low cost plan with great coverage, I’ll add that horse to the stable if I can. Some carriers don’t sell their products through agents, so I can’t offer every plan.

What that statement does is direct Medicare people to Medicare, not a bad idea as there’s lots of helpful information there. But if I had a nickel for everytime someone went there to sign up for plans and all of a sudden got routed somewhere to some questionable salespeople that kept calling them.

You won’t get that here! We’re looking out for YOU.

I haven’t posted like this on my website, but it’s a great way to drop some quick thoughts, so stop here often and you might just hear something interesting!

Enjoy the last official weekend of summer!!