Medicareful Expands Opportunities for Insurance Agents

HARRISBURG, PA--(Marketwired - February 06, 2017) - Medicareful, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved Medicare product comparison website, strengthened its standing in the online marketplace after adding unprecedented functionality in 2016. Medicareful allows independent agents to market Medicare products with their own branded website.

A direct enrollment option for select Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans is chief among the latest additions to Medicareful.com. Medicare beneficiaries can now enroll in select plans directly on an agent's unique Medicareful site or contact the agent for further help. Electronic enrollments are directly tied to the agent for commission credit.

"A little over a year ago, for the first time, CMS allowed third-party websites to collect enrollment information on behalf of health plans and Part D Sponsors," said Ritter Insurance Marketing President Craig Ritter. "We wasted no time in building a secure, compliant environment to facilitate this on behalf of our agents. We are working on expanding the enrollment opportunities with more health plans and Part D Sponsors in the future."

The website will validate the agent's certification status, state licenses, and state appointments to ensure compliance with CMS' "ready to sell" regulations. This validation happens instantly and once complete, a Medicare beneficiary can complete the enrollment process in less than five minutes without leaving Medicareful.com. Agents immediately receive an email confirmation, and the beneficiary also gets a confirmation that their enrollment has been sent to the health plan or Part D sponsor for processing.

Another brand-new feature, the electronic Scope of Appointment (eSOA), enables contracted agents to compliantly document their Medicare appointments on their website. The electronic copy of the eSOA is retained in the agent's CRM and the agent can print and sign the paper copy for submission to any Health Plan or PDP Sponsor that accepts a generic Scope of Appointment.

"Collecting a Scope of Appointment prior to discussing Medicare Advantage and Part D plans has been a challenge for agents for years. On June 10, 2016, CMS clarified in their Medicare Marketing Guidelines that even telephone conversations about MA and PDP products require a Scope of Appointment in advance," Ritter said. "Medicareful.com makes this process seamless for the agent and simple for the Medicare beneficiary. Mailing these paper documents can take up to seven days, but with Medicareful.com it can be done in two minutes over the phone and web."

"The one-two combination of electronic Scope of Appointment and electronic enrollment in one website with zero redirects will greatly expand sales opportunities and efficiency for both our agents and their customers."

Additionally, the Medicareful platform now features Medicare Supplement insurance quoting to better assist consumers in deciding which coverage is the best fit for them.

"We are excited that, for the first time, agents can give their customers options for Medicare Supplement, in addition to Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D," Ritter said. "This allows agents to have a complete conversation about which options are best suited for their Medicare clients."

Medicareful.com is created and administrated by Ritter Insurance Marketing. Agents contracted to sell select Medicare products through Ritter Insurance Marketing are eligible to receive their own unique Medicareful.com URL at no cost.

Medicareful agent websites require no maintenance, and all CMS compliance submissions are handled by Ritter Insurance Marketing's software development and compliance teams.

Ritter Insurance Marketing, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a national field marketing organization for senior insurance products. With more than 350,000 Medicare policies in force, seven offices, and 140 employees, Ritter Insurance Marketing is a national industry leader in the external marketing and distribution of Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Part D plans.