More and more people are wanting to enroll and compare without speaking to an agent. While this is possible, there are some things you should consider prior to making this decision.
Why would someone want to do it on their own?
Horror stories
Feeling pushed, rushed, hurried, harassed.
Satisfaction of knowing they understand the plan they choose.
Mostly because people do not like to feel like they are being sold!
Unfortunately, like so many other things a bad apple ruins the bunch. There are agents out there that care more about their pockets than your needs. This small percentage puts a stigma in some people’s minds, think car salesman. The reality is that most really do care about their client’s health and needs.
You can find many more positive stories on how an agent has saved the client money or put them in a better situation to protect their health than you can stories of the opposite, unfortunately, most people don’t think about telling the story or giving a review on something unless it was a negative experience. It's Human nature, think of how many products or items did exactly what it was supposed to, do you always give positive feedback? When the item or service does not work properly, most people are quick to tell the story or give a negative review.
Most agents do care about their clients and will do their best to assist you, keep in mind, most only offer 1 or 2 companies, and this limits their ability to help, For best results use an insurance broker that offers several options, and has the ability to compare all options, not just the ones they offer.
On the surface comparing on your own is easy, the truth is there is a lot of misinformation out there, and the understanding you have on how things work or are supposed to work may not be accurate. I can’t tell you how many times someone was confused thinking they had a Medicare Supplement, when in fact they were on a Medicare Advantage plan. Or that a client thought what they were looking at included drug coverage when that plan did not. Or even confusion thinking Medicare and Medicaid were the same coverage.
If explained properly in the beginning Medicare can be simple but having too many sources can cause confusion and can make the process complicated or convoluted.
If you are wanting to compare and enroll on your own, find one source of data that explains things simply and don’t research the same data over and over from many sites as you could get opinions not facts, or maybe a blogger that is not licensed and may have misunderstood something they researched. Get your data from Licensed and Appointed agencies.
Can all products be enrolled online?
Unfortunately, no, some carriers and products do allow self-enrollment, others require you to go through an agent.
I don’t want phone calls; I only want the quote online.
Unfortunately, MOST agencies and websites will say, click here for a free online quote, 99% of them will NOT provide a quote, but instead pop up a screen after saying that an agent will be calling you. Most of them will then turn around and sell that information to several companies to contact you. Since they sell your information, it can be weeks or even months before the calls stop, imagine doing this on 3 or 4 websites, not getting a single online quote, but instead thousands of phone calls. There are only a few agencies that will show you prices and allow online enrollments, such as www.E-AdviseInsurance.com.
Some plans are shown and can be enrolled with on Medicare.gov, however, if you go that route and something happens, you have no advocate on your side to help, Medicare employees are not licensed agents, and therefore can only give basic information, the same information you get from the "Medicare and You" book for example. If the enrollment is not processed correctly, you could miss your window for enrollment. Enrolling online with a brokerage like E-Advise Insurance. If there is an issue with the application, they will contact you and work with you to resolve the issue. This also gives you an advocate to help you with issues that may arise in coverage down the road.
We would love to be your advocate, give us a call (727-768-1505), or shoot us an email for help. We pride ourselves in providing accurate information so you can make the decision that is best for your needs and not the insurance companies needs.
You can view and even enroll in some of the most popular Medicare Advantage carriers and plans on our online quoting tool. (Not available in all states)