At Westland Financial Services, we believe that being able to offer a professional Medicare resource and guidance to your clients and prospects will help you achieve even more success in your practice.
Let Us Be Your Trusted Partner
The Medicare market is complex and an opportunity awaits advisors who understand the basics about Medicare, but realize that they don’t have the time to be an expert. Top advisors just want to make sure their clients receive the information they need and are guided professionally through the maze of options.
Westland’s Medicare Division is only focused on assisting financial advisors and their Medicare eligible clients. With our partnership, you can better incorporate “Healthcare Planning” in your client’s financial plans.
We want you to stay in the driver seat of your client relationship. By offering assistance with Medicare enrollment and ongoing education through Westland, your clients won’t have to go to a stranger.
Protect your clients from having to engage an insurance agent who is unknown, untested, untrusted and a potential competitor.
We are licensed Medicare Insurance professionals who specialize in working alongside financial advisors, understand financial planning and will help you incorporate final choices into your client’s overall planning. Not including Medicare planning – leaves clients exposed and seeking outside and unknown insurance advice. With Westland as your trusted partner, we will only transact Medicare business and seek to identify other opportunities for you as their advisor to pursue. You and your clients pay nothing to get our counsel.
Westland Financial will work to make sure that the Medicare planning experience with your client ALWAYS reflects positively on you. Your clients are treated as you would treat them, professionally!
Additionally, we often discover opportunities for you.
- We identify for you, lifetime income planning needs.
- We identify for you, Long Term Care planning needs
- We identify for you, 401k rollover opportunities.
- We identify for you, legacy planning aspirations and life insurance opportunities.
The Westland Medicare Program
SIMPLE STEP-BY-STEP
- Identify all clients age 64 or soon to be age 64.
- Call us to discuss the case – we would like to know a little about the client and your relationship with them so we can truly be an extension of your practice when we contact them. Option – joint call for introduction only
- We will work with your client directly to handle all their Medicare questions, discuss options and get them enrolled in the program that is most appropriate and in their best interest.
- We will follow up with you to let you know the details of their program that we recommended, any costs for you to incorporate in your planning and if we discovered additional opportunities for you pursue.
- We may be able to pay you a referral fee up to $100 on paid cases, depending on compliance approval.
What You Should Know About Medicare
More than 55 million Americans rely on Medicare for their health care coverage. Every day, another 10,000 people turn 65, making them eligible for the government-provided health insurance program. But the rules are complicated.
Medicare is mandatory Once you turn 65 and are collecting Social Security benefits, you must enroll in Medicare Part A, which covers hospital costs. If you don’t want to enroll in Medicare, then you must repay your Social Security benefits. Medicare A is free for most people who have worked at least 10 years to earn the minimum 40 credits required for coverage or who are married to someone who is eligible for Medicare. If you are not yet collecting Social Security, you can delay enrolling in Medicare penalty-free under certain conditions.
Don’t forget about or ignore signing up Your initial enrollment period (IEP) to sign up for Medicare Part B, which covers outpatient services and doctors’ fees, begins three months before your 65th birthday, includes your birthday month and extends three months beyond that. Miss that seven-month window and you will pay a delayed enrollment penalty of 10% per year for each year you were eligible but failed to enroll. Wait until 70 to enroll, for example, and that five-year delay will cost you an extra 50% of the standard Part B premium every month you are enrolled in Medicare. There is also a 1% per month delayed enrollment penalty for Medicare prescription drug plans.
You may work longer to avoid penaltiesWorking longer is a valid reason to skip enrolling in Medicare at 65. If you or your spouse is covered by a group health insurance through a current employer or Union, you can delay enrolling in Medicare penalty-free. You have eight months after that insurance coverage ends to sign up for Medicare during a special enrollment period (SEP). Retiree health coverage does not count as creditable coverage, but can be used as a supplemental coverage plan to fill the gaps in Medicare coverage.
Medicare has a lot of gaps Medicare doesn’t cover everything. If you need certain services Medicare doesn’t cover, you’ll have to pay for them yourself unless you have other insurance that covers them. Even if Medicare covers a service or item, you generally have to pay your deductible, coinsurance and copayments. That’s where Medigap or Medicare Supplemental coverage comes in.
NOTE: Some of the items and services that Medicare doesn’t cover include; long- term care, most dental care, eye exams and eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids and routine foot care.
Income determines Medicare premiums Although most people who enroll in Medicare Part B in 2017 pay the standard monthly premium of $134 per month, high-income retirees pay more. Individuals with modified adjusted gross incomes (MAGI) of $85,000 or more and married couples with MAGI topping $170,000, pay monthly premiums, including surcharges, ranging from $187.50 to $428.60 per month per person. Premiums are based on the latest available tax return, so 2017 Medicare premiums reflect income reported on 2015 federal income taxes.
Income brackets change next year Starting in 2018, Medicare premiums will undergo some major changes. The top three income tiers that determine Medicare premiums will be compressed so that higher premiums are triggered at lower income levels than are in effect today. Those premiums, which will be announced this fall, will be based on 2016 income tax returns.
If your income has declined since the last available tax return due to a life- changing event such as retirement, divorce or death of a spouse, you can appeal the high-income surcharge. Follow the instructions on the letter you receive announcing your income-related monthly adjustment amount. However, if your income spiked for other reasons, such as large investment gains or the sale of a second home, you must pay the higher premium in 2018. But don’t worry; Medicare premiums are reset each year and if your income drops, so will your future premiums.
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A few of our services include:
Medicare Training & Updates
Competitive commissions
Price & Plan Comparisons
Lead programs including Turning 65 leads
Many quality, top-rated carriers
All plans A-N
Guarantee Issue Plans
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