Ray's Retire Right Report Retire Right — Retire Smart! Raymond T. Martin, Retirement Coach and Medicare Planning
October 2023 Happy October! This month all our Zany Holidays are about foods -- popcorn, apple butter and tacos. Yummy, enjoy!
October is Popcorn Popping Month October 13th – 15th is Apple Butter Days October 4th is “National Taco Day”
One-in-a-Million Chance Larry Hatch and his wife were in Nebraska visiting their son when they stopped at Burger King for a beverage. At that time, Burger King was running a “Cash is King” contest in all 50 states. The top prize, won by finding a special peel-off sticker on a drink cup, was $1 million. There was only one such ticket in the entire country. Hatch was thrilled when he found it. To protect his claim, he went to a local store to photocopy his ticket. Later, back at home, his son asked to see it. It wasn’t in Hatch’s pocket. (Yikes!) The family urgently retraced his steps, first returning to the Burger King and then to the copy store. There it was on the floor by the cash register, likely having fallen out of his pocket when he paid for the copy. It had lain there for three hours undisturbed. Luckily, none of the subsequent customers noticed that a chance to win $1 million dollars lay at their feet.
What have more presidents done in October than during any other month? (See the Answer Area.)
Churning is when a policy is switched unnecessarily just to enrich the agent. It can be done repeatedly, hence the name churning. This can happen with any type of insurance but here we’ll discuss Medicare. An insurance agent’s task is to evaluate their clients’ needs then match those up with the product which serves the clients’ best interest. While that may be what happens most of the time, unfortunately not always. Because Medicare is the health care insurer through all the final years of life, some seniors may have diminished capacity to understand their choices. Crooks take advantage of this. Medicare options can be complicated. That makes it ripe for unethical sales practices. Seniors can be convinced to change to a different insurer or plan by deception, manipulation, presentation of confusing information, or even threats or intimidation. Signs of churning are:
Answers to your questions are evasive, not straightforward.
Being pushy or forceful when trying to convince you to buy.
The offer seems too good to be true.
Medicare Open Enrollment Period is from October 15th to December 7th. You may be bombarded with promotions, calls, or offers for a “better” Medicare plan. Be wary before making any change, however not every Medicare policy replacement is churning. Don’t replace your insurance without a clear understanding of how doing so is in your best interest. And only work with an agent you trust (like me!) Call for an honest evaluation of your current policy or future needs.
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