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Medicare Advantage Shops

November 18, 2022 01:33AM
I am scheduled to do an in person shop for a different msc than the one mentioned with first letters of words. This msc only allows me to do one in person shop and one virtual shop. I believe all the shops are for the same medical insurance company. Is this true of other msc's? I see several have mentioned they have done more than one. Are these for different providers (for instance one for Blue Cross and one for Blue Shield but for the same msc).?
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November 18, 2022 02:45AM
Blue Cross/Blue Shield is the company name and it's just one company.

Can you hint what MSC your shops are with?
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November 18, 2022 05:07PM
I just did a Medicare Advantage shop near me a few days ago for $40. I was happy with that since it was at a hotel only a 5-minute drive from my home and the guidelines stated that I only needed to stay for the main presentation and not the Q&A afterwards. I stayed anyway since it was informative and I could help myself to coffee from the hotel lobby. Oh, and I could attend even if not 65 - there's no age requirement for this one so you can say you are approaching retirement age or a caregiver for someone who is eligible.

It was for United Healthcare/AARP and the report wasn't too bad, at least for this MSC. It's the first time I've done a shop for them in years.

I had deactivated my account probably 10 years ago because I was fed up with how long their reports were for such little pay (I used to do lots of airport circuits for them). But I saw this pop up on Presto (NOT an InstaShop) and reactivated to give them another shot. Wasn't bad, but I was contacted by the editor for more info. However, I admit I was very tired when I entered my report and had left some details out of my narratives. All in all, I don't think $40 was bad for this one, since I did not have far to drive.

It is not the same MSC someone else mentioned. Here's a one-word hint: NUDE.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2022 05:44PM by shopnyc.
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November 20, 2022 05:39AM
I went to the "nude" company website and tried to open the spreadsheet of locations/time/date of presentations to no avail, unless I was in Florida. Then when I tried to email the contact person, J Fisher, my email was returned. Any insite? It does seem $40 is worth it for a short presentation even if there is a lot of detail.

BTW, loved the MSC hint.
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November 21, 2022 08:04AM
Icubed3 and wrosie, Yes the shops are with the "nude" company but finding one on the site is not very straightforward. I had originally gotten an email listing many locations but went to the site and found it quite difficult. Had I not gotten the email I would have given up. I cannot remember now exactly what I did but I was able to click through somehow and find a shop that was not exactly how it was stated on the website and apply for that even tho it was different. I too contacted J.Fisher and got emails back quickly but it was not a weekend. I wonder if the shops in Florida are all gone. I live in California and there were still shops a week ago. There is no space or dot between the J and the F in the email address.

@lcubed3 wrote:

I went to the "nude" company website and tried to open the spreadsheet of locations/time/date of presentations to no avail, unless I was in Florida. Then when I tried to email the contact person, J Fisher, my email was returned. Any insite? It does seem $40 is worth it for a short presentation even if there is a lot of detail.

BTW, loved the MSC hint.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2022 08:06AM by sandyf.
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November 22, 2022 09:14PM
Yes the NAKED company is good. They must love skinny dipping to have such a name.
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November 23, 2022 01:40AM
Did my shop yesterday. It was not very difficult but unfortunately even tho the presenter was nice I came away confused. I know a lot about this stuff since I worked in the Medical Industry for 35 years. There is an awful lot they have to go over in a short period of time. I would not like the job of presenter.
In any case Yes, they would have paid for lunch but we were never told we could order anything but coffee. And yes there were givaways but no one got any of them. I could see them on her desk! I had a negative impression already when the one person who ordered lunch and went to the cashier to pay for it was told the presenter paid. This was when we all left the session together. I even asked if we could order something other than coffee. I meant other drinks but the answer was we could order soft drinks. And all along we all could have had lunch!
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November 23, 2022 02:29AM
I do believe that the presentations that are shopped are not meant to be the only information one should get if they truly were signing up for Medicare Advantage.

They are only meant to familiarize you with the product and then schedule a one on one appointment, if you would like, to sign up for it.

At least all of the presentations I've been to over the last six or so years, the presenter offered to meet later, one on one, if anyone wanted to.
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November 23, 2022 03:42AM
I did one of the MA vs MS phone shops, and I'm glad I'm staying with my Medicare Advantage plan! I love it, and for 2023 some of the co-pays are going down and some of the benefits up. Some benefits are decreasing slightly but overall, I'm happy with my plan and am staying with the same one. I just got a fit-bit style watch through my OTC benefit for $18! Can't beat that.

I haven't done an in-person Medicare shop here because at least twice, the agents didn't return my calls and the last time, the agent refused to meet with me unless I gave him information that the MSC said not to give (since then the guy would know I'm not a dual recipient). Only recently have the group presentations shown up again locally. If the fee goes up, I might try one.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.
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November 23, 2022 07:54AM
In regards to that spreadsheet for the Nude people. you have to "unfilter" all the tabs at the top once you get into the spreadsheet to see other states. It seems to be "saved" on FLA.
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November 23, 2022 03:53PM
@lcubed3 wrote:

I went to the "nude" company website and tried to open the spreadsheet of locations/time/date of presentations to no avail, unless I was in Florida. Then when I tried to email the contact person, J Fisher, my email was returned. Any insite? It does seem $40 is worth it for a short presentation even if there is a lot of detail.

BTW, loved the MSC hint.

I just tried to e-mail J Fisher and got this reply:

"Thank you for your email!

Josh Fisher is no longer working with BARE. To receive a response on your email, we kindly ask that you resend the email to Michele Lawlor at: mlawlor@bareinternational.com for assistance."
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