Is your insurance agent selling you an inferior Medicare Advantage insurance plan in exchange for a fat commission check? It has been my experience that in business, incentives alter the behavior of those in the system. We see this in the healthcare space where finding caring and competent care is more difficult than ever. Visit an ER today and see what corporatization has done to the experience. The incentive is to do the least and charge the most. The experience is horrendous. We see the same with insurance agents who sell auto insurance and give people the pip switch option which makes their health insurance primary, even though it just makes their experience of being injured in an auto accident more problematic which complicates their care and markedly increases their personal costs. Unless you live under a rock, everyone knows health insurance is far worse than t was 15-20 years ago. Pip switch was offered in 1990 as a cost-saving device when we all had acceptable insurance and saves you little on your premiums but there is an incentive commission and sales-wise to offer this outdated and useless product. If you have watched television during the day, you can’t miss the ads for Medicare planning experts offering you a plan that covers everything in exchange for you giving up regular Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans have smaller networks, more claims denials, and often they must pay their network providers less, keeping the balance for themselves while making the healthcare experience more stressful than it needs to be. The silver lining is you may get a free health club membership. If you believe that these ads that lead you to huge boiler room operations to get you into inferior plans that offer the agents fat commissions are in your best interest, think again. MedPage Today, a healthcare provider site has the information you may want to look at before switching out of Medicare, which offers better access, and has a national network with out-of-network coverage. If you purchase United Healthcare’s AARP secondary, that gives you a free gym membership. Read about this more below Medicare Plan Commissions May Steer Beneficiaries to Wrong Coverage — Commonwealth Fund report: opaque, misaligned agent incentives influence enrollment choices by Cheryl Clark, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today February 28, 2023 Agents and brokers who sell Medicare plan coverage often steer their clients to a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan because it earns them a higher commission compared with a Medigap supplemental plan with traditional Medicare that might better serve the beneficiary’s needs. That’s the finding from a new Commonwealth Fund report opens in a new tab or window that was based on responses from more than two dozen sellers of MA, Medigap supplemental, and Part D plans who participated in focus groups the fund organized in September 2022. Agents and brokers who sell Medicare plan coverage often steer their clients to a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan because it earns them a higher commission compared with a Medigap supplemental plan with traditional Medicare that might better serve the beneficiary’s needs. That’s the finding from a new Commonwealth Fund report opens in a new tab or window that was based on responses from more than two dozen sellers of MA, Medigap supplemental, and Part D plans who participated in focus groups the fund organized in September 2022. For example, one California broker was extremely candid: “A lot of times … you’re pushing an Advantage plan when someone wants a freedom of choice [of doctor], which would be a supplement plan,” the report said. Read more