New recording requirements punish the wrong people

Just recently, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS - and I'm not sure about you but the fact that it's not CMMS is unsettling to my orderly brain!) created new requirements for all agents and brokers selling Medicare plans. Unfortunately, these new administrative requirements take up a lot of our time without any compensation. We now have to record and store calls at our expense, and we all had to scramble to figure out a way to do this, costing us hundreds of hours of time and several thousand dollars per year.  

But, what I'm concerned about is the wider impact and who this rule is punishing and who is really guilty but getting off scotfree. Because of the cost to our time and resources, this means is that we will have to shorten our appointments. This means we will know our clients less well and will be more focused on the clock than we had to be before. And while we will do everything we can to continue to provide best-in-class service, our response times will be longer as our administrative burden has increased. In sort, we are being punished.

Why (do we think) this rule was created? Every year, millions are spent by call centers with "independent agents" (meaning they don't work for an insurer) who telemarket plans. These call centers are everything we aim not to be--they are churning mills who will do anything for a sale, who have no sense of the local plans, networks, or customer service, and who call people on repeat. They aren't scammers in the legal definition, but by all ethical standards they are scammers. And they get big celebrities like Joe Namath to sell their services. 

Much like all of the commercials this time of year, the commercials are massively misleading. They mention only the perks and not the costs. They provide no advice about making sure your doctors or medications are covered. They make everything sound like it won't cost you anything, or give you money back. There's a grain of truth, but it's no where near the full picture. 

Last year, there were hundreds of thousands of complaints against these call centers--who actually already have to record calls. The complaints against local brokers are statistically tiny in comparison to these call centers. But, these big corporations have huge sway. So, instead of more closely monitoring the claims in their ads or making requirements that they ethically assist with plan selection, CMS decided to respond by making local agents/brokers record all conversations. And while I have nothing to hide, I also have to pay for that recording capability, storage space, and the administrative time to save and file all those calls. It is not a cheap or easy task. 

And these hucksters are still out there with no check on their power. They are calling confused older folks without insurance experience and moving them into plans that are terrible fits. This isn't a made-up story, I talk to dozens of people every year who have had this happen. One fellow was actually sold a plan with copays that did not cover his doctors, when he had full coverage under a different type of plan.  

I'm sure there are unscrupulous local brokers, too, but by and large we have accountability--you know our names and can find us, you can make a complaint if there is a problem, and so on. We are available year round to help with problems or questions.  Call center agents are called "churn and burn" agents by industry insiders. 

This just isn't right, and it's not fair to the beneficiaries because they are also going to suffer as local help dries up and only the biggest dogs are left in the fight. 

We're going to do all we can to make sure our clients are taken care of right, but I also had to speak out about what's happening on the back end and the pressures, both time and financial, that we are having to deal with for no good reason. 

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