What Does 'Ready-to-Sell' Mean for Medicare Agents?

You must be ready-to-sell with carriers if you want to sell Medicare products during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), or anytime of year. What does it mean to be ready-to-sell Medicare plans?

Here are the requirements to sell Medicare plans and how to become ready-to-sell each year!

You Hold a Valid Health Insurance License

Naturally, obtaining and maintaining a valid health insurance license is crucial to achieving your ready-to-sell status. The license is the foundation you can build your health insurance business from. If you’re unsure whether you have the right insurance license for selling Medicare plans, you typically have to go through your state’s Department of Insurance to get it. If you don’t recall doing that, then that’s your first step!

There are a few tasks you must complete to obtain, and then maintain, your license, such as:

• Complete pre-licensing courses
• Pass the licensing exam
• Apply with an application and pay fees
• Renew your license, typically every two years

Note: Exact requirements vary by state.

Do You Need a Special License to Sell Medicare Insurance?

Whether or not you need a special type of health insurance license to sell Medicare plans depends on the exact states you intend to sell in. For example, in some states, you can sell Medicare products with a life and health insurance license or an accident and health insurance agent/broker license. North Carolina requires a specific Medicare Supplement/Long-Term Care license. We recommend you review the requirements on your states’ Department’s of Insurance websites.

You’re Contracted to Sell Medicare Plans

Once you’ve ensured you have a valid insurance license, you’re still not quite ready-to-sell yet. The next step is you have to contract with carriers to sell their Medicare Advantage, Part D, and Medicare Supplement products. If you don’t, you won’t have anything to sell!

Once you’re contracted with a few carriers, don’t make the mistake of assuming you’re all set to sell their plans. You still have other ready-to-sell requirements to meet!

View available Medicare contracts for your portfolio

See why you should contract with an FMO to aid you on your journey once you’re contracted to sell in our How Insurance FMOs Work eBook!

How Do You Contract with Carriers to Sell Medicare?

The easiest way independent agents can contract with carriers is to partner with them through a field marketing organization (FMO), like Ritter! Working with an FMO doesn’t negatively affect your earnings and can elevate your business to the next level with training resources and incentives. Additionally, it may be the only way to gain access to some carrier contracts, especially when you’re just starting out!

There can be different types of insurance contracts and levels, from carrier to carrier and one FMO to the next, so be sure to do your research. Pay attention to the specifics required by each carrier, and you should be good to go!

Ritter makes the contracting process easier with our tool Contract Now within the Ritter Platform. Register with Ritter to have access today!

Do Agents Need to Recontract with Medicare Carriers Each Year?

It depends on the individual carrier and their needs. Most of our carrier partners do not require recontracting each year; only recertification. Some carriers require both — recontracting and recertification.

You’re Certified to Sell Medicare Advantage & Part D Plans

While you may be able to contract with a carrier once and not have to recontract with them to sell in future years, you must complete certain certification trainings every year, especially if you wish to sell Medicare Advantage and Part D plans.

These Medicare agent certification requirements include Medicare and Fraud, Waste and Abuse (FWA) training as well as product trainings.

Note: Most carriers don’t require Medicare Supplement agents to complete certifications.

Check out Ritter’s Certification Center for a comprehensive hub for all your certification needs. Register here to learn more information about the Certification Center.

Medicare and FWA Training

Acceptable Medicare and FWA training are usually offered by third parties, like AHIP and the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals (NABIP). The most widely accepted Medicare and FWA training among carriers tends to be AHIP’s certification training, but acceptance of NABIP’s Medicare certification program is growing.

Carrier-Specific Product Trainings

In addition to Medicare and FWA training, many Medicare Advantage and Part D carriers also require agents complete their own specific product trainings annually. These training courses vary from carrier to carrier, and year to year, because each carrier focuses on their specific plans and offerings (e.g., new plans, service areas and expansions, new features, etc.). Carriers may offer these trainings through Miramar, PinPoint, and Sentinel Elite.

Make Getting ‘Ready-to-Sell’ Medicare Products Easy!

Now that you know what being ready-to-sell Medicare plans means, it’s time to start work toward achieving that status! We aim to make this process as easy and straightforward as possible for new and returning Medicare agents with our free tools and blog posts like this.

Simply create a free profile on our site to gain access to our free online contracting tool and certification center, which includes details, dates, requirements, and links for major Medicare Advantage and Part D carriers’ certification trainings! Our full-time licensing and administrative support departments will follow up to help you complete the necessary tasks, as well as be your advocate with the carriers you contract with.

Already contracted with carriers through Ritter? You can easily check if you’re ready-to-sell with each of your carriers in the Ritter Platform! Simply log in to the Platform and confirm you’re ready to go by following the instructions here or learn how to use Ritter’s RTS Checker.

Please remember, even if your contract status says Appointed, you may not be considered ready-to-sell. You must check that you have completed your carriers’ certification requirements for the current and/or upcoming plan year as well, depending on which plan year(s) you’d like to sell for.

Becoming ready-to-sell is a pretty simple process, once you know what to do. While it may be tempting to view it as another hoop you have to jump through to sell Medicare plans each year, think of it so you make sure you have all your ducks in a row before the busy season starts! You don’t want AEP to arrive and not be ready to maximize your earned commissions. The ready-to-sell process just helps you ensure you’ll be set to go!

Note: Carriers may send you a ready-to-sell confirmation notice once you’ve completed all their RTS requirements. If you don’t receive these, you may want to contact your carriers to confirm you’re all set. We’ve had agents assume they’re good to go with carriers, only to find out at the start of AEP, they still had certain requirements to meet (e.g., certification trainings) before being able to sell.