Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden recently sent letters to several health insurance marketplaces, seeking information on the marketing tactics they are using to sell Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to seniors. The letters, sent on behalf of the Senate Finance Committee, were sent to the executives of GoHealth, eHealth, Agent Pipeline, SelectQuote, and TRANZACT, and ask how the exchanges generate leads, market, and partner with third-party marketing organizations (TPMOs) to sell MA plans.
Wyden notes in the letter that it has “become clear that the lead generation industry remains a significant factor in the outrageous practices seniors have reported and TPMOs are complicit in these practices through the purchase of leads,” which is “particularly problematic because taxpayers are footing the bill through Medicare Advantage plan payments.”
In the letter, Wyden is seeking a range of information from each company, including a list of the TPMOs and lead generators from which the company purchased leads from 2018 to 2022 and the contracts for the five largest (based on dollar value per year) TPMOs/lead generators for each year during that same time period. Wyden is also seeking information on agent pool distribution, comparing full-time equivalent employees to 1099s as well as seasonal employees compared to full-time equivalent employees.
Wyden also sought information on how many individuals were enrolled for each year between 2018 and 2022 and what the rapid disenrollment rate and the enrollment cancellation rate were for each of those years. Additionally, he sought clarification on the information that was collected on individual leads and how many individual leads were purchased from 2018 and 2022, plus the average price per lead during the Annual Enrollment period and outside of the Annual Enrollment period.
Other Actions by the Senate
The letters follow a November 2023 report by the Majority Staff of the Senate Committee on Finance, Deceptive Marketing Practices Flourish in Medicare Advantage. In that report, “widespread evidence of unfair tactics” were found, including “fraudulent mailers, misleading TV advertisements, and unending sales calls–undermining the seniors’ ability to navigate and trust the Medicare plan marketplace.”
The Senate Finance Committee also held a hearing, where testimony was offered that the Medicare open enrollment period is an “open season” on seniors and that personal information of these individuals is often sold between third-party marketing companies.
Wyden Statement
“Seniors are being bombarded by well-intentioned brokers and bad actors who use various ploys to sell Medicare plans such as providing misleading information about plan options, and misrepresenting themselves as from the Medicare program,” Wyden wrote. “Witnesses confirmed the widespread sale and transfer of seniors’ personal information between third-party marketing organizations (TPMOs) and lead generators. The largely unregulated sale of seniors’ information to lead generators and TPMOs has led to a race to the bottom as unscrupulous actors put their own financial interests ahead of seniors’ health needs.”
A copy of the letters sent can be found here.