Steps to Becoming a Medicare Broker
Below is a brief overview on how to get started selling Medicare plans to eliglible individuals.
Step 1: Health Insurance Licensing
The first step toward getting set up as a Medicare broker is obtaining the adequate licensing to do so. Typically we recommend using Kaplan's pre-licensing course to obtain your Life, Accident & Health pre-licensing certificate to qualify for your state's Life, Accident and Health exam. You must pass both the pre-licensing course and the state exam before working toward broker status.
Step 2: AHIP Certification
The next step that we recommend is for you to take the annual AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) Medicare certification. This course covers the basics of Medicare and will allow you to begin the carrier contracting portion of becoming a broker once completed. Our agency offers a discount for the course, once onboarded as a PIG broker.
Step 3: Carrier Contracting & Certifications
After completing the AHIP course and passing the exam you will be able to contract with carriers of your choice. Poindexter Insurance makes it easy to complete this aspect of getting started, once you determine what time of Medicare sales you would like to persue and what type of agent you will be (LOA or Licensed Only Agent, or street broker). The type of agent you decide to be, is how you will be paid for your work. It is worth noting that each carrier has their own annual certifications that must be completed along with the annual AHIP, in order to be in good standing with CMS and to sell plans for the upcoming year.
Step 4: Quoting, Enrollment & Customer Management Systems
After completing your carrier contracting and certifications you will then be 'ready-to-sell' that carrier's Medicare plans. Each individual carrier has a portal in which you are able to quote and enroll individuals you meet with, they also offer customer management systems within their portal that allow you to track an application post-enrollment and also track commissions. At Poindexter, we use a third-party quoting, enrollment and CMS system called Sunfire that allows you to compare plans across carriers, directly enroll individuals from the platform, and keep track of your client base.
Step 5: Leads Generation
It is often said that Medicare is a marketing business. Meaning if you are able to put yourself in front of people, you most likely will gain them as a client if you are respectful, CMS compliant and helpful in providing the individual value. The hardest part of any business is generating leads, there are a plethora of different ways to generate leads from paid telemarketing leads, to online leads, to T-65 Medicare basics seminars. At Poindexter we offer our brokers a $500/month marketing stipend to use toward marketing purposes, helping our brokers to generate business for themselves.
Poindexter Brokering
If you are interested in persuing a career in Medicare sales, and would like Poindexter to walk you through the above process, provide you sales resources, and work in a team atmosphere; reach out to us today and we will make this a smooth and seemless process.
