FAQ: Medicare Scope of Appointment Forms

An agent from Markham, TX asks…

Q: On Medicare Advantage plans, we need a scope-of-appointment form before we meet with Medicare customers. How about meeting a customer for a Medicare supplement; do we need a scope-of-appointment form also?

A: You do not need a scope-of-appointment to market/sell/enroll a Medicare beneficiary in a Med supp plan. As scope-of-appointment form (SOA) is only required if you are discussing Medicare Part C or Part D products. However, to do a proper fact finding interview, we recommend an SOA be signed at the beginning of each sale. No presentation is complete unless you discuss their current PDP or Part D status. When dealing with CMS (or any government agency), we always advise brokers to be safe and get the SOA signed anyway. We also advise brokers to record the interview on a digital recorder. While this may seem like compliance overkill, we have been able to clear any allegations against a broker when the recorded interview presents the other side of the story.