Why I Chose to Become a Medicare Coach

Editor’s note: In this edition of What’s Working Now, an AdvisorRADIO feature in which Horsesmouth members tell us about recent success they have had running and growing their businesses, we hear from advisor Joyce Khoury, who coaches clients through Medicare decisions.

The following article includes edited excerpts of Joyce’s comments, or you can listen to the full interview below.

I’ve had a long career—I started working when I was 9, and at 68 am still going strong. I can’t even imagine working part time, and I’m lucky to have a job where I’m my own boss and I have a good income.

The bulk of my career was in the mortgage lending business. The longer I worked in the business the more stressful it became, and I realized I wanted a change of direction.

Of course I was helping people when I got them a mortgage, but that was usually the last time I saw them. I wanted a service position where I could help people more long-term, but also something “nuts and bolts.” So I started looking into insurance. In the insurance world you can sell one or two items, or you can sell all the products. It was a bit confusing in the beginning, but as the first year progressed, I realized I wanted to specialize.

I decided to focus on retirement-age people because I felt a camaraderie—I needed certain information and knew they needed it too. These are my people, the same age as me. We have questions about some very important things, and what could be more important than health care? When you’re young, you’re healthy and don’t see the doctor. You could care less about health insurance until something disastrous happens. But at age 65 your employer says, “Good luck, bye,” and you’re on your own. You have more risk and less information. It’s a scary journey.

Getting the education on Medicare

When I stepped into this world of insurance it was a foreign entity for me. I hadn’t thought about insurance during my working life. But I went into it full bore, knowing that this was something I really had to learn and get good at. I found excellent mentors within the industry through organizations that manage insurance agents and offer courses. I just happened to run into one or two excellent advisors who pointed me in the right direction and were helpful no matter what time of day I called. I think the key is to find someone in the industry who is knowledgeable and dedicated and willing to take you under their wing.

The most interesting part of this education for me was learning about the history of Social Security and Medicare and how the government plays a role. I learned things I never expected to learn and it made me feel even better about the career because it’s well-rounded: based on facts and based on actually helping people.

Just to share a little bit of history that gets me excited, Social Security was signed into law by President Roosevelt in 1935. It was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution: as people moved to cities, families were separated and the older people had no one to care for them. The whole system developed because America cared for these older retired people who needed help. Then in 1965 President Johnson signed the Medicare Act. That just gave me such a good feeling and confirmed that this is something I want to do. The whole purpose of Social Security and Medicare is to provide for those who can’t take care of themselves.

Anyway, after this background information I worked on my certification. Every year you have to go through something called AHIP, America’s Health Insurance Program. You take an online certification course to make sure that you’re up to speed on the latest developments in the industry pertaining to Medicare.

Keeping abreast of a lot of changing information

From there, you choose whether to be a captive agent—working for one company—or a broker, meaning you sell anything and everything related to insurance. I chose the broker route because it felt to me like that way I would be able to give more education and more service, because I could help people compare the different products. That choice has served me well, and I feel people appreciate that I can help them choose.

That means that every year I have to get certified with every carrier that I wish to represent—Blue Shield, United Healthcare, etc. There can be anywhere from six to ten carriers in addition to the AHIP, in addition to keeping abreast of all the events happening with Medicare and the government so that you can give the best advice. There’s always something new that they want you to know, which is why you have to recertify every year.

I would say the actual certification studying and testing takes me only about 20 hours because you become more and more familiar every year and it goes more quickly. Usually you can recertify online, although sometimes it requires an in-person test. It’s not terribly difficult. If you have determination, you can master all the information—and it’s a lot of information.

The key is not just studying for certification but keeping abreast of all the latest developments. Why is Plan F being taken off the market? Why are they presenting Plan G now instead? How come Joanne’s Medicare Part B premium is $135 a month and mine is $450? These are all things that we are unaware of when we step into the lovely world of Medicare, and they hit every single one of us in a different way. Medicare is customized to each person.

Learning, learning, learning

When I first started in this field I was a complete novice. I joined teams of telemarketing callers and just dialed and dialed and dialed hoping that the person would answer and stay on the phone. But I didn’t really know what to say, other than, “Hey, this is your insurance policy. You have to buy it for $500 a month.” It was discouraging.

I tried to learn as much as I could to know the “why.” I was always attending another certification class or conference, trying to find camaraderie with other agents and asking them questions. I started to dread client questions because I didn’t want to have to pick up the phone and call my mentor. So I just kept learning and learning. Any time they offered a course in something like long-term care or caregiving or whole life insurance, I went. I wanted to know the foundation so that I could personally be a spokesperson to the customer.

Creating a brand

Clients will buy the policy if it sounds right, but I didn’t want to sell something that wasn’t useful, and I wanted them to know why that particular product would help them. I realized that I needed to differentiate myself from all the other insurance agents. For the customer, it’s hard to tell, they are wondering “Who should I go to?” That is why I created Medicare Coach 101, so I could have a brand. I think the name sounds good to somebody who is searching for answers.

I chose “coach” because I don’t want to sound like a sales pitch. I’m happy to coach them along on their journey and show them that maybe this choice would be better than that one. Education is a key marketing tactic for me. I started with an extensive website because I want to be able to offer articles, videos, etc. I also wrote a book: Your Amazing Itty Bitty Medicare Book: 15 Key Steps to Successfully Navigate Medicare.

Then I joined the insurance carriers during their open enrollment period seminars. They essentially advertise with you by asking for your mailing lists and augmenting it with people in the local area. They procure a restaurant and serve coffee and pie (Medicare agents are not allowed to serve meals). About 30 people came to each meeting, and they all had questions.

But these meetings are specific to each carrier, and they only happen during open enrollment season. I realized that it was more important during the year to have general informational meetings. Now I give talks about Medicare in general several times a year at my local church and the YMCA.

Networking is key

An important part of my marketing is networking. I am part of four very strong groups for retirement-age people. We meet once every couple of months and everybody gets to know one other. Just yesterday I gave a talk at one of these meetings. And as we chat at these meetings, people learn about what I do. When I’m with friends socially, they know that I work with Medicare, and we’re at the age where everyone needs to know about it. If I was 30 they might not ask me questions, even if they knew I sold Medicare. It’s an advantage to be in my own home court with my own people, so to speak.

It’s a matter of sharing and knowing that we have these questions because everyone is watching his paycheck. Unfortunately, as we get older our health plays with us more and more. It’s an important topic. A lot of times we’ll just be talking about health and it kind of leads to the Medicare Coach.

An annual cycle

Being a Medicare specialist is pretty cyclical. It’s June and right now I’m studying for the AHIP certification, the general exam. After I finish that I will be able to start certifying for all of the carriers that I represent. Each one offers a different date for the exam. Some offer it in June, some July, some as late as September. You just have to put them on the calendar and get it done.

Then you make sure you have all your updated materials ordered. That part is simple. In June you start scheduling all of your coffee and pie meetings between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7. You need to be ready to go. It’s only seven weeks, but it’s very important. We go to different locations that we think would bring a good turnout, and talk to the manager about scheduling an event.

I definitely use Savvy Medicare material&v=u22zq5aoz3t0rwukqflldb3s in my marketing and presentations. At first I just leveraged the material in general, incorporated into what I already had, so that I could see how comfortable I was. But it turns out most of the Savvy Medicare content is similar to what I was doing, so I use a lot of the material because it is extremely valuable and gives a professional approach to the presentation. People seem to appreciate it.

I try to put on presentations throughout the year to seed people for open enrollment period, but I haven’t done a whole lot the last year. I want to begin doing Social Security presentations this year. It’s a perfect match because people are approaching claiming age and at 62 they get all this information thrown at them and are really looking for answers. I went to the Savvy Social Security and Medicare workshop so I can be a better mentor, advisor and coach.

I’m planning to start with informal presentations at the YMCA, church, and a restaurant later in the summer. Just advertising with fliers and giving out water bottles at the YMCA, to test it out. I think during summer it has to be informal because everybody’s on their way to a vacation or wherever. I just want to try it out, then do the formal presentations starting in October.

Over the course of a year I work with probably 100–125 people. I sell the whole range of Medicare, because I feel you need to understand why somebody has this or somebody has that. There are two very separate types of plans and you don’t want to sell just one. You need to show clients the differences and explain why this would work and maybe that wouldn’t work.

A perfect fit late-stage career

For me, Medicare coaching is a full-time job—probably about 90% of what I do. I enjoy what I do and I’m fortunate that at my age I have such a stable job. I intend to continue to develop my business and even train two or three people to work with me. I want people my age who are dedicated and want to educate.

At first I thought, “What am I doing, focusing on only one subject?” I wondered if I should sell long-term, sell whole life, advise on 401(k)s. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough substance just concentrating on Medicare. I’m happy to say that it’s probably the best choice I could have made, because there are just so many twists and turns with Medicare choices. It’s really worked for me to be a resource for people to get the answers they need.

I also partner with financial advisors. Medicare knowledge is valuable and helpful. Medicare agents enhance the palette of service offerings of a financial advisor. There is no way someone who is a financial planner and busy dealing with 401(k)s, annuities, etc. can know all that you need to know about Medicare. There’s no competition; it’s all value-added. I get paid very well and I’m happy. Agents are happy to be an enhancement to other service offerings.

My advice

My advice to others considering devoting more time to Medicare is to make sure that you really want to know this information. Be prepared that some people will question you to death and then walk away. It’s the nature of the consumer-oriented business. The best thing for an agent to do is brush up on all of the information, and the information is out there. There are people who will help you become an expert. Once you get it under your skin it’s not that hard to digest, there is just a lot you have to be aware of. When you do, you’ll feel good about helping people when they need it.