We are excited to introduce our Broker Connect comparison, quoting, and enrollment tool to our brokers. After the challenges broker experienced with Medicare.gov last AEP, Broker Connect is an easier way to shop and quote Medicare and enroll beneficiaries.
Ultimately, it will better equip you to serve your clients and the community.
Features include text to scope, Blue Button integration, and email and text electronic enrollment. Plus, it’s user-friendly with responsive pages, giving you and your clients the ability to use desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and even smartphones.
The video below and this post include a comprehensive look at the program. We can’t wait for you to get started with Broker Connect.
Table of Contents
- Introduction and Login – 0:00
- Account Overview – 4:00
- Main Page and Enrollment of Beneficiary
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- Search Beneficiaries – 5:26
- Scope of Appointment – 8:28
- Preferences – 12:38
- Plans – 18:52
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- Plan List
- Plan Details
- Quote
- Enrollment – 26:48
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- Add to Cart
- Enrollment Form
- FAQ – 36:02
Login
To start shopping, quoting, and enrolling in Medicare plans enter your username and password on the BrokerConnect through PlanAdvisor login page.
You will be immediately sent to the Search Beneficiaries page. You can get back to this page by clicking the BrokerConnect icon or Search Profile in the header. You can also create a new profile from the header.
Account Overview
Your Account Overview can be found under your name in the header in a drop down menu. You’ll want to check the Account Overview when you first login to ensure that all the information, including your licensed carriers, are correct.
Your Personal Account Information will include a list of all the carriers you are licensed to sell through Plan Advisors.
At the top of the page, you will also see your Shopping Link. This link is for beneficiaries who want to shop and self-enroll. They will be sent to a consumer-facing site to enroll. When this link is used and the beneficiary enrolls, you will get credit for that enrollment.
Enrollment of a Beneficiary
The bulk of this training is on how this tool is used to shop plans, send quotes, and enroll a beneficiary. There are some great advantages and features here, too. The entire process is streamlined to make your job easier.
Search Beneficiaries
Back on your main page, you will see Search Beneficiaries. You can fill out as much or as little information as you want to search through your book of business. You can also use this information to create a new profile, if no beneficiary is found.
You will search by name and information and pull up the profile you need. On the profile, you will see spaces for all of their information. Fill out as much information as you can at the beginning because the program will use this information to pre-populate email addresses, phone numbers, and other fields, including the enrollment form.
On the right hand side of the beneficiary profile, you will also see Notes and Tasks, where you can save anything specific to the profile. Notes will also fill in for you as you move through the process.
Below the beneficiary information will be a section for Quote History and Enrollment History. Any quotes you send the beneficiary and any enrollments will appear here. It will also include any enrollments you start, but don’t finish. You will be able to come back later and pick up where you left off with all of the information saved.
Scope of Appointment
From the beneficiary profile, you can continue to the Scope of Appointment. There are several ways to collect the Scope. You can upload your own form, you can print the consumer form and upload that into the system, or you can email or text an electronic scope of appointment to the beneficiary.
Should you choose to email the beneficiary an electronic SOA, they will receive an email to fill out the form. Once completed, you will receive a confirmation and it will appear on the SOA page. You will then complete the rest of the form, then submit and save to the profile.
Preferences
From the SOA page, you can go directly to Preferences or view the Plan List. Preferences are also located on the left hand side of the plan list page. Without preferences selected, the plans are listed is a general overview. Filling out preferences gives you more information and helps you make plan selections.
Click “Add preferences.” You will be taken to the first part of the preferences section, which is the Get Started page. Here you will answer the basic coverage questions.
The next page is Health Status, which will help estimate the costs. You’ll answer the beneficiary’s level of health needs (generally healthy, some health needs, or significant health needs) and their age range. Age range will be preselected if you entered their date of birth in their profile.
The next page is Prescriptions. You have the ability to build on the prescription list every year, so filling this out is important and time saving in the future. Using the smart look up tool, you can select a medication from a drop down menu. Here you can add every medication they take, plus the dosage and quantity. It will also show if there is a potentially cost-saving direct generic option with a message from the FDA. You can select whether or not you want to do the generic option instead.
A new feature here is the Blue Button integration. Rather than input every medication, you can send the beneficiary an email to allow access to their claims data. From the email, they will log in and give you permission. Once that is complete, you will be able to see that prescriptions were shared successfully and be able to import a list of all past prescriptions and claims data from the last eighteen months.
Once medications are added, you can always make changes, delete drugs, or add new drugs to the medicine cabinet. We will also note that you can go to any of these pages quickly by using the drop down menu under the beneficiary name in the header.
The last preferences page is Pharmacy. If they have one, you will choose the beneficiary’s preferred pharmacy. Once back on the plans list, you will be able to see if the pharmacy is in network or out of network for the plans shown.
Plans
Now that preferences are filled out, you will see this information integrated multiple places, including in the Plans List. The next step will be to shop the plans and send a quote to the beneficiary.
Plan List
On the plans list page, you will see a list of available plans. You can see the types of plans and sort them whichever way works best for you. From here, you can also view individual plan details, add to quote, add to cart, and click up to three plans to compare side-by-side.
With the updated preferences, you can also see a lot more information in the plan cards: if the prescriptions you added are covered by the plans, if the pharmacy entered is covered, an estimated drug cost, and total estimated annual cost.
To compare up to three different plans, you can check the “Add to compare” box and then click “Compare Now” to pull up the plan comparison page. The comparison page will highlight the differences in plans in yellow. It will also break down the page into four categories: cost, benefits, the preferences you’ve added, and optional add-on coverage.
From here, you can view all the details, add to cart, send a quote of all three plans, or see the details for the individual plans.
Plan Details
If you go into the plan details, you will see all the information provided on this plan, plus prescriptions and total cost. From here, you can send a quote of this one plan or add it to your cart and begin the enrollment process.
Under prescriptions, you can view the pharmacy you’ve added, as well as the drugs and a tier breakout.
Under total costs, you can see a breakdown of all costs, including a breakout by month.
Quote
There are multiple ways to send quotes to beneficiaries. From the individual plans page, you can send a quote just for that plan. On the Compare Plans page, you can click “Send quote” to send the quote comparison. You can also send a quote from back on the plans list page using the “Add to quote” button.
When you select a plan to add to the quote, it will appear at the top of the page. After you’ve selected the plans, click “Send quote.” A window will pop up with the pre-populated email address, and you will be able to enter a custom message. Click “Send quote” again. A new window will appear with the confirmation and authorization code. The beneficiary will need this authorization code to access the quote. The code will also appear along with the quote in the Quote History section of their profile.
After the quote is sent, the beneficiary will receive two emails: the authorization code and the link to the quote. They will enter the authorization code on the quote landing page. They can view the quoted plans and information you’ve added. They can also make any changes, if needed. From here, they also have the ability to enroll themselves after choosing a plan and you will still get credit.
Enrollment
If the beneficiary needs your assistance to enroll in a plan, you have the ability to enroll them from this program with ease.
Add to Cart
To begin the enrollment process, you’ll add the chosen plan by clicking “Add to cart.” On the Cart page, the plan will appear at the top and you can view plan details, make changes, or remove the plan from the cart. Below the plan, there is the option for any add-on coverage. You can view details of the add-ons. If you select an add-on, the additional cost will be reflected immediately in the total monthly premium. When you’re ready, click “Continue to apply” to go to the carrier’s electronic enrollment form.
Enrollment Form
Once added to cart, you will proceed to fill out the enrollment form. At the top of the page, you will see a progress bar that shows where you are in the enrollment process and the shopping cart on the right with the plan and cost. Any information filled out on their profile will populate here. You will need to fill in any additional information and upload any additional documents.
The next page is Benefit Information, where you will be prompted to enter their Medicare information, their special enrollment period reason, and other coverage questions.
The next page is Payment, which includes a section to select how they would like to pay for their plan premium: receive a bill, transfer from a bank account, charge a credit card, or deduct it from Social Security payments.
The next page is the Agent information, where you will check to attest that you are an agent licensed to sell this product.
The last step is to review and submit. Make sure to look over all information for accuracy before submitting. If you are with the beneficiary in person they can sign where necessary. Otherwise, you will send an email or text for signature and submitting of the enrollment.
Click “Submit.” A confirmation will appear with all of the plan details, the ability to email it to someone other than the beneficiary (they will receive a confirmation of their own if their email is provided), and the ability to print the page and download a PDF copy of the plan.
FAQ
The initial instruction is followed by questions asked by training participants and answered by the hosts. Here you will find more in-depth looks at several of the steps. Check here first for any questions you have about this tool. You can also visit our Broker Connect FAQ page.
You should now be equipped with everything you need to successfully shop and quote Medicare plans and enroll beneficiaries. This streamlined program will make Medicare sales easier than ever.
All brokers who attended the training will automatically be registered for the tool. A Plan Advisors team member should have sent you your login information. If you did not attend the training, start using this revolutionary tool to simplify and maximize your Medicare sales — register today!
