CMS Home > Site Tools & Resources > Media Release Database > Press Releases |
Media Release Database |
Content Section
Press Releases
CMS ISSUES AGENT COMPENSATION REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICARE ADVANTAGE AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROGRAMS The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued revised compensation requirements for sales agents and brokers who sell Medicare Advantage and prescription drug benefit plan options to people with Medicare.
“The steps we are taking should help to make sure that brokers and agents are selling health or drug plans that best meet beneficiaries’ needs when open enrollment begins on November 15,” said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. “The rule we are issuing will help to resolve any confusion about how the private plans should implement compensation structures to meet those needs.”
This CMS interim final rule with comment period modifies regulations issued on Sept. 18, 2008. Those regulations established how health and drug plans should structure the compensation for agents and brokers by reducing existing financial incentives to enroll a beneficiary in a new plan based on the agent’s or broker’s financial interests rather than the beneficiary’s health care needs. The Sept. 18 regulations required that compensation be paid on a six-year cycle, comprised of an initial enrollment year and five renewal years, and that the renewal rate be paid for a beneficiary changing plans during the renewal years. Compensation includes commissions and bonuses as well as other incentives, such as sales awards.
The rule issued today revises the Sept. 18 regulations by:
Other rules from the Sept. 18, 2008, regulations still apply.
The interim final rule with comment period, Medicare Program; Medicare Advantage & Prescription Drug Programs: Clarification of Compensation Plans (CMS 4138-IFC2), is effective today, November 10, 2008. It will be was published in the Federal Register on November 14, 2008. Comments must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 15, 2008. The rule may be viewed at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthPlansGenInfo/
########
|
|||||||
|