An ongoing Senate investigation into Medicare Advantage marketing is now targeting online insurance brokerages.
Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent letters to eHealth, GoHealth, SelectQuote, Agent Pipeline and TRANZACT on Tuesday requesting information on how they identify potential customers, advertise and direct older adults to choose specific Medicare Advantage plans.
Related: Marketing limits could shake up Medicare Advantage market
Wyden's committee has been scrutinizing Medicare Advantage marketing for several years and considered legislation to rein in tactics critical lawmakers see as misleading and manipulative. Wyden also has advocated for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to tighten its oversight of Medicare marketing and compensation for third-party sales organizations.
Medicare Advantage enrollment growth continues to accelerate. Just over half of Medicare enrollees are covered under Medicare Advantage this year, according to CMS data compiled by KFF.
In his letter, Wyden accuses marketers of employing high-pressure, unfair sales tactics to drive enrollment into plans that promise high commissions rather than into coverage best suited for customers.
“The largely unregulated sale of seniors’ information to lead generators and third-party marketing organizations has led to a race to the bottom as unscrupulous actors put their own financial interests ahead of seniors’ health needs,” Wyden wrote the companies' CEOs. "Seniors are being bombarded by well-intentioned brokers and bad actors who use various ploys to sell Medicare plans."
Wyden instructs the brokerages to provide information on where they buy and sell prospective customers' personal information, disclose previous customers’ disenrollment rates, and submit examples of recent marketing materials.
Wyden's office declined to comment. The brokers did not immediately respond to interview requests.
CMS has already taken action to curb certain Medicare Advantage marketing practices.
In April, the agency issued a final rule that prohibits advertisements that don't specify plan names and materials that include words or images that could be misleading, such as the Medicare logo. CMS used this authority to block 300 ads during the recent open enrollment period. In November, CMS published a proposed rule that would establish a hard cap on how much Medicare Advantage insurers can pay brokers for sales.
