The Scope of Appointment is there to protect YOU!
A Scope of Appointment (SOA) is a form outlining exactly what plans you would like to be presented in your meeting with a Medicare plan broker. The SOA ensures that you are not “pitched” plans other than those you originally requested. This requirement was put in place to prevent Medicare beneficiaries from being enrolled in the wrong plan by high pressure sales agents.
Every "marketing" appointment requires a Scope of Appointment
Every meeting requires a Scope of Appointment if specific plans are being discussed. These are referred to as "marketing appointments" by CMS, the agency that oversees the Medicare program. Your agent can only discuss the information you requested on the SOA. If you decide you’d like to know more about a Medicare plan option that wasn’t included in your original SOA, you can fill out second SOA covering the new information before your agent continues. If you want to learn about non-health related products, that must be done in a future appointment.
We take a more slow-paced and consultative approach with our clients at Dayton’s Bluff Financial. The first time we meet, you typically won’t need to sign a SOA because we’ll be talking more generally about how the Medicare system works and how you use your healthcare before we offer specific plan recommendations.
This combination of education and fact-finding does not qualify as a “marketing appointment” but if we transition into looking at specific plans or plan types for you, we will stop and ask you to sign a Scope of Appointment.
