Tyler Insurance GroupStraight talk on Medicare, the business, and where it's headed.
Field notes from agents who still sell. What's changing in the market, what we're building at TIG, and the plays that actually grow a book.
Medicare AEP Game Plan: How Agents Prepare for Annual Enrollment
AEP is still months out, but it should sit in the back of everything you do until then. Here is the five-part game plan: stay in front of clients year-round, know your book cold before September, get into advisor mode now, out-prepare every appointment, and map your outreach before the mail hits.
Austin Tyler 6 min read Jun 2026Medicare's 2027 shake-up: plan exits, Part D premium hikes, and the star ratings fight
Humana is exiting plans covering roughly 600,000 members. The Part D subsidy that held premiums down dies January 1. And a federal judge just forced CMS to rebuild the star ratings math. Here is the 2027 disruption map, and why every piece of it favors the prepared agent.
Austin Tyler 8 min readCarriers are grading your book: the quality metrics that will decide Medicare agent comp
The volume era of Medicare distribution comp is ending. Carriers are wiring overrides and marketing dollars to quality metrics: complaint rates, HRA completion, rapid disenrollment, provider selection. It starts at the top of the hierarchy, and it rolls downhill. Here are the four numbers to know, and how to protect yours.
Andrew Horn 8 min readThe under-65 window: ACA subsidy expiration is pushing clients to your desk
Enhanced ACA subsidies died in December and marketplace enrollment has already fallen by about 3 million. Millions of people are priced out, uninsured, or underinsured, and most agents are ignoring them because they are not 65 yet. Here is the product shelf, the compliance lines, and why this market feeds your Medicare book.
Austin Tyler 7 min readThe New Medicare Marketing Rules: What Changes October 1 and How to Rebuild Your Process Around It
On October 1, the 48-hour Scope of Appointment wait dies, the TPMO disclaimer moves, and the wall between educational and sales events comes down. The rules got looser. The winners will be the agents who redesign their process in September, not the ones who merely know the rules changed.
Austin Tyler 7 min readThe 2027 Part D Premium Increase: Why It Is Coming and How Agents Get Ahead of It
CMS is ending the Part D premium stabilization demo after 2026. The subsidy and the cap that held drug plan premiums down for two years are gone, right as the deductible and out-of-pocket cap rise. Here is why the sticker shock is coming, and the September playbook for it.
Andrew Horn 7 min readWho owns your book of business? A straight answer for Medicare agents
There is one question that decides whether you are building a business or renting one, and most agents never ask it: if I leave, do my clients come with me? The answer is one word in your contract. Here is how to find it.
Austin Tyler 7 min readHow Medicare FMO Commissions Work: Street, Override, and Who Pays You
FMO pay sounds complicated on purpose. Strip it down and the carrier pays in two directions, the override is about the same everywhere, and “we pay the most” is mostly a myth. Here is how the money actually moves.
Andrew Horn 7 min readMedicare Agent Commissions in Kentucky: 2026 and 2027 Pay
Kentucky uses the national CMS commission maximums, and they went up again for 2027. Here are the real numbers for Medicare Advantage, Part D, and Supplement, and why your renewals matter more than any of them.
Austin Tyler 6 min readHow to Build a Medicare Agency From Scratch (If I Were Starting From Zero)
If I lost it all tomorrow and had to rebuild a Medicare agency from nothing, I wouldn't go hunting for a secret. I'd do four boring things, in order, before I let myself get distracted by anything shiny: start a Google Business Profile, get the word out, get around other agents, and make my carrier reps my teachers.
Austin Tyler 7 min readBuilding a Medicare Book of Business: Asset or Just a Job?
Strip away the tactics and one question sits under everything you do in Medicare. Most agents never ask it. The ones who do build a book they could sell one day, not a pile of applications that churns.
Austin Tyler 7 min readWhy Is Medicare So Confusing? It's Not the Agents
MedPAC's new report on how confusing Medicare has become is, almost by accident, one of the best cases for agents we have seen from the government. It also takes a few cheap shots. Here is the honest version.
Austin Tyler 6 min readWhat's a Medicare Book of Business Worth? Why Everyone's Buying
A retirement wave on one side, hungry buyers on the other. Here is how books are valued today, why so many people are buying them, and what it means for the asset you have built.
Austin Tyler 7 min readWhat Is a Medicare FMO, and How Do You Choose One?
Your FMO is one of the biggest business decisions you will make, and most agents pick the one whose recruiter called first. Here is what an FMO actually does, old model versus new, and what to look for.
Austin Tyler 7 min read2027 CMS Commission Changes: What They Mean for Medicare Agents
CMS just raised what you can get paid in 2027 and loosened the marketing rules right before AEP. Here is the plain version, and what the move really signals.
Andrew Horn 6 min readWhy more clients are choosing Medicare Advantage in 2027
The plans changed, the math changed, and the conversation at the kitchen table changed with it. Here is what is actually driving the shift, and how to talk about it honestly.
Austin Tyler 6 min readGet the next one in your inbox.
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