How Has Medicare Insurance Distribution Evolved Over the Years?

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The Medicare insurance marketplace has experienced tremendous change over the past several decades. In this Ask an Expert interview, Dwane McFerrin, Senior Vice President, Med Solutions, CLU^®, CFP^®, RHU^®, CLTC^®, LLIF, discusses how distribution has evolved, why independent agents continue to play an essential role, and why recruiting remains one of the greatest growth opportunities for agencies.

Q. How has Medicare insurance distribution evolved over the years, and where are things going?

A. I think back to the beginning of my career. Distribution was really career distribution owned by carriers — New York Life, MassMutual, Prudential, Mutual of Omaha, Bankers Life and Casualty. They were the big players, and it was all company-owned.

Then independent distribution came along and began to supplant career distribution because the cost of brick-and-mortar operations was much lower.

Then we got into Medicare Advantage, and that spawned the creation of a lot of call centers that became active in the space.

Then the pandemic encouraged even more growth in the call center business. That business wasn't necessarily profitable for carriers or even for the call centers themselves. If you look at the publicly traded call centers, you'll see their stock has really been beaten down over the last few years. There's still a shakeout going on.

But the independent agent remains a key cog in the wheel. It's critical for agents to keep working hard and doing the right thing.

Ultimately, consumers want to have a voice they trust to tell them whether they're making the right decision. There's a lot of discussion today about using AI so people can simply buy on their own.

Trust me — people may do all the research in the world, but ultimately they trust you.

They want to hear from you. They want your opinion. That's much more valuable than relying on a SHIP counselor or a neighbor. They want to speak with their independent agent or broker.

Call centers still have a place. They reach consumers that many independent agents may never serve, so they'll continue to be an important part of our distribution ecosystem, along with brokers.

Q. If you're a recruiter, should you be confident about the future?

A. Where there's change, there's opportunity.

As a recruiter, you want to find people who see the glass as half full.

How are you going to invest your time? You're going to invest it in someone who's willing to work hard, stay optimistic and fight through issues.

There are recruiting opportunities today. With the shakeout among call centers, there are licensed agents who know how to enroll people — they may not know how to sell. That also creates an opportunity to recruit a younger generation of agents.

So my advice is simple:

Recruit, recruit, recruit — always and in all ways.

I've been doing this for more than 40 years, and the lifeblood of an agency is recruiting.

When you stop recruiting, you start seeing decline in your business.

I encourage you to never stop recruiting.