Applied Underwriters has announced that it is completing the development of EOS, an MGA and technology platform for use by independent agents and brokers in offering the best available healthcare arrangement for their clients’ Medicare needs.
The Medicare buying decision is mandatory, occurring annually for most people in the US age 65 and older. EOS technology platform will allow insurance producers to provide a high-value, white-labelled web app to their clients that will assist in evaluating Medicare needs, and provide live quotes and instant enrollments in plan alternatives.
According to Jamie Sahara, President of Applied Underwriters, the Medicare buying decision often falls through the cracks between traditional P&C, health and life insurance producers with many buyers ultimately making suboptimal plan selections.
Sahara commented, “Medicare decisions are complicated and daunting. The marketplace in every state for Medicare Advantage Plans and Medicare Supplement Insurance is large. There is a wide range of choices available to consumers, but the plan alternatives can vary significantly in the ultimate economics for the buyer based on unique medical needs, benefit preferences and expected medical usage. EOS has the capability to review every credible plan offered in the marketplace, match it to the buyer’s circumstances, and then recommend the optimal, most cost-effective Medicare plans presenting an explanation and the economics associated with each alternative.”
Sahara describes the competition in the private Medicare retail space where the company perceives a large-scale opportunity as its competitors are mostly phone-based marketers supported by limited-function web apps targeting consumers to gather leads. These organizations typically focus on some specific carrier appointment rather than providing a broad-based, unbiased marketing analysis given the actual needs and ultimate costs of an individual.
During the fall of 2022, the company bought the intellectual property rights from a failed InsurTech for technology that optimizes consumer Medicare buying decisions through a proprietary optimization algorithm and the automated gathering of precise insurer plan benefits and costs.
Steve Menzies, the Chairman of Applied Underwriters commented, “It was a great idea that didn’t make it to market. So many InsurTechs struggle to bring out good ideas after expending large amounts of investment capital only to discover that successfully running an insurance underwriting and distribution operation is in actuality a difficult and complicated matter.”
Applied is currently completing the system design and build-out for EOS, within its own development environment adding significant enhancements to its algorithms, front-end design and cyber security.
Menzies concluded, “EOS will help our agents to build their client relationships by bringing them a unique resource, and, will incrementally increase agent revenue without adding overhead in this high-volume, complex, irregular area of insurance. Rendering Medicare advice is a high-value relationship proposition for an agent, but its complexity and per transaction low dollar commission lends itself to our automated, white-labelled model.
“We see this as a natural fit for our agency and brokerage partners, business owners and hardworking entrepreneurs like the professionals at Applied, who want to improve the scope of their value to insureds by always striving to be the essential source for essential products and services, of which healthcare is central. We will be scheduling a limited release of EOS with select agents for the coming annual enrollment period starting this fall, continuing with a full rollout across 2024 with comprehensive retail advertising support.”
