Excellus BCBS Medicare Broker News Vol. 6 No. 4

NEW! Broker Spotlight

Excellus BCBS sees the hard work agents put into their profession and the value they bring to their clients and the community. That’s why they are adding a quarterly Broker Spotlight to this newsletter. They look forward to featuring the expertise and advice of some of their most valued partners. If you’re interested in being featured in this newsletter, please reach out to your Broker Account Executive.

The first broker spotlight will feature Amanda MacLachlan of "I’m With Amanda Medicare Solutions". Use the link below to read Amanda’s interview with the team.

April 2024 Broker Spotlight (PDF)  

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Application Submission Best Practices

Consider this a “spring cleaning” newsletter full of reminders and best practices to set you on the path to success this year. In line with that, Excellus wanted to extend a helpful reminder about application submissions.

• When submitting both Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage applications, be sure to include the application, scope of appointment, and agent appointment checklist. These need to be submitted within 24 hours of receiving them from your client.
• For applications submitted by mail:
  • Signature date received must be clearly indicated on the application.
  • Scope of Appointment and Agent Checklists are not required to be mailed with the application, but agents must retain both for 10 years per CMS.
  • 24-hour requirement still applies.

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Filed Event Do’s And Don’ts

With spring events ramping up for many of our broker partners, we thought it was a good time to review best practices for educational and sales events.

For Educational Events

You may:

• Give away promotional items that include agent contact info.
• Use sign-in sheets that clearly indicated that providing contact information is optional.
• Provide meals or refreshments with light snacks (Max $15 per person combined nominal retail value when combined with any other gift).
• Invite a provider to speak at the event.
• Collect lead cards and business reply cards.
• Hand out your business card.
• Call attendees after the event has concluded (with written permission at the event).
• Obtain compliant permission to contact that is method-specific and event-specific.

You may not:

• Discuss specific carrier plans/products/benefits.
• Distribute plan materials.
• Provide or collect enrollment forms.
• Discuss or cross-sell non-healthcare related products (e.g., annuities, life insurance)
• Use contact information provided by attendees for any other purposes.
• Give away cash, gift cards or other monetary rebates.
• Respond beyond a specific question a consumer asks.
• Ask attendees to fill out an SOA form for future appointments.

As a reminder, the following limitations now apply to Educational Events in 2024:

• During educational events, brokers can no longer make available and receive Scope of Appointments or schedule future appointments.
• Marketing events cannot take place within 12 hours of an educational event at or adjacent to the same location.

There are different rules for Medicare Sales Events. We’ve outlined best practices in the attachment below.

    Medicare Sales Event  Resource (PDF)  

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REMINDER: Social Media Policy Update

Social media can be a powerful tool when used in an intentional and compliant way. Excellus BCBS encourages you to use social media to communicate with your clients, build your brand, and generate new leads. Please use the link below to access their guidelines and best practices for using Excellus BlueCross BlueShield in your social media campaigns. You can also find this resource on the Sales Hub.

    Social Media Best  Practices For Brokers (PDF)  

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