Medicare FAQ

Full-time or Part-time

Working full-time depends on the goals and current position of your business.

Medicare is incredibly lucrative, but it takes time to build up your business. Based on 2022 renewal figures it only takes 350 Medicare Advantage cases on the books to have a six figure renewal book. This is often the hardest $100,000 you’ll accumulate and business will move much easier after that book is built. It is completely possible to build this book. It is only an average of a couple cases per working day. Even though it is possible first year, many agents struggle to reach the goal. We have the resources to help you reach it, but know it’s not the average 1st year outcome.

Medicare as a solo business can be hard to build without dedication to see it all the way through.

That said, many agents jump in for AEP (the biggest enrollment season from October 15th through December 7th) and work other lines of business throughout the year to pay the bills as they build their business.

It’s worth knowing AEP Medicare Advantage business doesn’t pay right away. Business written through this season doesn’t get paid until January or February of the following year since clients are able to make unlimited elections through this season. You should have enough money saved up to weather the season.

What if Medicare is only part of your business?

Many Life Insurance as well as Property and Casualty agents look to utilize Medicare to supplement their existing business. This is a great opportunity considering you have an existing book of business and can cross sell your existing leads. This makes the venture into Medicare much less risky.

Don’t Over Think It

We are big fans of running the numbers, but understand as you start out in Medicare there will be a learning curve. Your first few cases will take some time and consideration. You have to go into this business with the ability to think quickly on your feet as well as to grow from your experiences and move forward. If you’re easily discouraged, it will be a hard road. Make sure you have the mindset as well as the time to make your business work.

We highly recommend selling before AEP to get your feet wet and get some of the learning out of the way before you get in the thick of it.

Cross-sale Profitability

For full-time Medicare agents, as I stated before first year profitability can be a struggle. A huge help in that is cross-selling your book of business other products. This can even help you sell more cases.

Products like Final Expense, Hospital Indemnity Policies, Dental, Vision, and Hearing coverage as well as others can help bolster your profits. Being able to sell these products is an absolute necessity for full-time Medicare agents and helps agents create sustainable first-year profits.

Advantage or Just Supplement

Many agents look to get into Medicare Supplement business before they take the big bite into Medicare Advantage (MA or MAPD) and Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage (PDP or Part D coverage).

Why?

There’s less regulation and education required to sell Medicare Supplements.

It’s completely possible to make this decision, but in the long run you’ll struggle providing a full service business to your clients. Medicare Advantage business is growing quickly and you’ll run across clients that have no other option. Additionally, clients will need their Prescription Drug coverage and not being able to offer it can invite an additional agent into the mix. There is more work selling these products, but the reward is well worth the investment.

Conclusion

The best way to weigh the options, is to take the considerations above and discuss it with our Brokerage team. You can reach out to us and enter into the business having fully considered the options. Reach out and we’ll help you think through your options.

Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage as well as Medicare Prescription Drug Plan maximum commissions are regulated by CMS the organization that runs Medicare. Most carriers pay maximum street level commissions to agents. We’ll look at 2023 numbers since elections for AEP 2022 are for policies starting in 2023. Here’s the 2023 grid:

Let’s break some of this down.

“Initial Year” commissions generally means the first time a client has been enrolled on Medicare Advantage or Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage. Generally this is for people first entering Medicare. This amount is generally paid regardless of when in the year the policy is written and it is usually paid in two separate payments.

“Renewal years” is generally a client who has been moved from one MA/ PDP plan to another one and the renewals the years there after. This is the annualized value of the renewal rate you’re paid as long as the client keeps the policy with you. It will renew until the client moves off the plan. This is what you’ll be paid for most of your AEP business. First year commission is advanced, renewals are paid monthly, and generally these commissions are pro-rated if the policies are written after AEP.

PDP commission rates are only paid for stand alone Prescription Drug Plans. You don’t get a second commission if you sell a Medicare Advantage plan with included Prescription Drug coverage.

AEP commissions (October 15 – December 7th elections for the following January) are not paid until January or February.

Medicare Supplement

Medicare Supplement policies are paid as a percentage of annual premium and tend to trail off after time.

Exact commissions vary from state to state, policy to policy, and company to company. Generally it is in the ball park of 20% from 3-7 years before the commissions start to trail off.

You can extend this commission period by re-writing the client with a new carrier if their rate goes up to save them money.

The average annual premium is around $1,400.

Carriers offer to pay an advance and it’s common for them to charge a nominal interest rate on advances.

Ancillary Lines

Products like DVH (Dental/Vision/Hearing), HIP (Hospital Indemnity Plans), and Cancer plans pay as well. These plans tend to be first year heavy with minimal renewals.

Actual commissions vary based on product, carrier, and state, but are generally in the 50% of annual premium for first year.

Selling a $300 annual premium plan tacked on to a medical plan can be a real sweet $150 bonus and can seriously add up. We can train you to help attach these policies to up to 50% of your sales.

AHIP

CMS requires that Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug carriers manage a certification process that includes basic Medicare and Medicare Marketing education requirements every year an agent markets for the company as well as every year the agent is paid a renewal.

Although there are a couple options for this education, we recommend the AHIP as it is accepted by every carrier we work with. The AHIP normally costs $175 each year, each carrier offers $50 off. You can also get that discount using our link for AHIP. Click here for the link.

You only have to take this course once per year and the test scores are electronically submitted to the carrier when you sign in using the carrier’s link and selecting the “transmit” button next to the carrier’s name. The time requirement for this course and test is generally about 8 hours.

Carrier Training

In addition to the AHIP training every carrier is required to run a carrier specific product training for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Coverage. This training is carrier specific and must be completed for every carrier. Time requirements vary based on carrier and generally take 1-4 hours each.

These need to be completed every year you wish to write business or receive renewal commissions.

Because of this requirement, we recommend agents contract with as few companies as possible to get the job done when they’re starting out. That way you can customize your carrier base around the kind of business you cultivate.

These are not requirements for Medicare Supplement carriers.

Here at digital BGA we provide top notch sales training to all of our agents. Industry leading Lead programs and carrier contracts are no good if you can’t get a client across the finish line.

Recorded Training

Our core sales training processes are recorded for you to review on-demand. You’ll have all of the skills needed to help get a client from ‘hello’ to application.

Our training is not just about getting a sale, but working through the process of maximizing each sale. We can help you attach more cross-sales, keep your business on the books, and find that extra referral waiting to be had.

Morning Huddles

We share morning huddles with our team where you can get:

• Carrier and Industry Updates
• Sales tips from our coaches and top producers
• Team sales updates to see how you’re matching up with the rest of the team
• In the trenches pointers to make sure you’re getting the most out of your sales
• Our Zoom huddles are twice a week.

One-On-One Pointers

Your assigned Brokerage Manager is a sales expert that can give you one-on-one coaching at tips to refine your craft.

Our Brokerage Managers are seasoned professionals, they’re not new agents. You have one-on-one access with our industry leading Medicare experts.

Since calls are recorded, we’re also able to review calls with you and help you understand where you can improve right from the call itself. Agents often find hidden profits in these sale calls that allow them to go after the next big sale in the following call. It is immediately actionable content.

Chat

We provide the ability for our agents to reach out using our chat feature. It keeps you from having to call each time you have a question and helps you get the quickest possible response.

They Need Health Insurance, Right?

It is incredibly common that agents come to us wanting to get into Medicare because they have sold Final Expense insurance and struggled. The assumption is that Medicare will be an easier sale than Final Expense.

This is sort of true, and sort of not true. Let’s look at that:

What Makes Medicare Easier?

This is obviously a product that is easy to make a decision on. Meaning it is rare a client won’t want a product. Medicare Advantage often doesn’t even cost any additional premium.

Some products are easier than others, but once you get your rhythm the product is simple to navigate.

There are time based deadlines that help you create some immediacy behind your statuses.

Once you’re outside the first 3 months of the policy, policies can tend to stay on the books for a while with less of a chance of them falling off the books.

What Makes It More Difficult?

Medicare products still take a level of sales. You will still have many of the same objections you hear with Final Expense.

• I already have coverage
• I’m afraid to make a change.
• I like my agent that wrote me a policy 8 years ago and has never called me since.
• I keep getting Medicare phone calls.

These kinds of objections will come up, the question is what will you do with them? We can help you make your way through the objections, but don’t jump into Medicare assuming there won’t be any. You’ll still get some push back.

Cash Flow

Commissions can be tougher. Money comes in slower for Medicare than it does for Final Expense, but the long term renewal is quite attractive. To keep the cash flow strong, you do need to be able to sell efficiently and make sure you’re cross-selling the books.

Digital BGA is known for best in class technology.

CRM

You are given access to our custom Senior Sales CRM which allows you the ability to track:

• Sales
• Call time
• Lead closing and contact ratios
• Follow ups with your existing book of business.

This CRM includes incredible features such as:

• Automated Text Messaging
• Automated Email
• Auto-Dialer
• Click-to-Call
• Funnel Management

This is included for free to our agent partners.

Quoting

We provide at no additional cost the top quoting software for Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage business.

For Medicare Supplement we offer CSG’s quoter.

For Medicare Advantage we offer Sunfire.

Not only do we offer these great platforms, we offer the training you’ll need to make the most out of them. Including tips on when to allow clients to complete their own applications.

Our CRM also has a custom Final Expense quoter built right in.

Additional Resources

We do recommend that you pick up a few extra pieces of technology on your own.

We will recommend Direct Mail follow up for your book of clients. Not only do we recommend a top quality Mail house that will automate your mailings, we will walk you through how to set up your own mailings. Since this service includes the cost of mail, you’ll have to cover the cost on your own for this.

We’ll also make a few more recommendations that will make your life much easier.

Technical Requirements

1. Strong InternetCheck your internet speed at speedtest.com and click the “Go” button. What matters is your upload speed for making calls.
2. Under 2.0 – fix this before making calls
3. Over 2.0 – ok, but you’ll drop some calls if anyone is streaming anything
4. Over 5.0 – better
5. Over 10.0 – ideal
6. Always try to plug directly into your modem. Try not to use Wifi for call quality purposes unless your signal is close and you’ve got a really big upload speed.If your upload speed is low, you’ll need to upgrade your internet package.
7. Headset of your ChoosingAny headset will work – either USB or bluetooth. This will be connected to your computer to make your calls through the CRM.
8. Computer Recommendations
9. Minimum of 8gig Ram, 12 – 16 gig is recommended. This can often be easily upgraded.
10. Minimum I5 Processor. I3 will work, but we recommend I5 or Ryzen 5 minimum if buying a new computer.
11. Solid State Hard Drives are faster than traditional ones, but this isn’t a requirement, just something to consider if you’re buying new.
12. If you took advantage of a free upgrade to Windows 10 and your computer is sluggish, reinstall Windows 10.
13. Dual Monitors
14. VOIP Phone line
    • You’ll be making a lot of outbound calls and some leads may mark your phone number as “spam” and when enough people do, a “Possible Spam” message will show as your caller ID for that phone carrier’s network (Spring, Verizon, etc).
    • Separates business from your personal life. Your phone will get a lot of calls.
    • It’s a full business phone system. You can set up extensions and have your voicemails transcribed and emailed to you.
    • It’s more affordable than installing a hardwired line. It is also a better experience and more comfortable.
    • Outbound calls are recorded in the CRM, but having a phone service that records your inbound calls will help with compliance. It’s not a carrier requirement, but is helpful if you ever get a complaint.
    • We recommend DialPad or Line2 as a phone service if you don’t have one.

Although you are not required to buy our leads, you’ll see that we have some incredible options that are available to our agents. We only sell leads to agents that are part of our program.

AEP leads

AEP is a great season to write some business. That said AEP business can be the toughest policies to keep on the books. The best source of these are referrals. Be wary of investing too much of your start up funds into AEP leads. When you do it, make sure you’re getting leads that are from a more exclusive type of source. Most clients getting telemarketed are being telemarketed a lot by a lot of companies.

Year-round Leads

Telemaketed Medicare Supplement Leads

Many of our agents look forward to being able to write Medicare Supplement business and it can be hard to get those kinds of leads.

The best way to get a Medicare Supplement lead is to optimize the data you’re marketing and telemarketing that data. Because of it, we have a subsidized telemarketer program that can’t be beat. Our secret sauces is we’ve found the best way to hire telemarketers. Most brokerages don’t consider where their telemarketers come from and it’s a big mistake.

Here’s what it looks like:

Each telemarketer you hire will work a 4 hour shift per day at $3/ hour. Each one should return about a lead per hour depending on how you ran your data. We recommend a full-time agent run between 3 and 8 telemarketers (this amount depends mostly on how strong your follow up game is).

Here’s what the costs look like:

• Our 1 time reduced rate to hire each telemarketers: $750. This includes training the telemarketer, your onboarding and a 3 month guarantee that the telemarketer will remain on board.
• Monthly rate for data: $60 (same regardless of number of telemarketers)
• Monthly cost of a dialer for each telemarketer: $120.
• Hourly rate for a telemarketer: $3.

These telemarketers can be used to generate Medicare Supplement re-write business or Turning 65 business. Let’s talk more about Turning 65 next.

Turning 65

Turning 65 leads are the caviar of Medicare production.

More Commission

Medicare Advantage clients pay a higher initial commission. You’re making $573 in most states instead of a pro-rated amount based on the $287 of a renewal commission.

More Renewals

Younger clients will renew at a higher rate than older clients. They tend to be more content for longer. As their lifestyles change you’ll be there to offer support. Think of the referrals you can get from people who are still out talking about going on to Medicare with their friends.

More Cross-sale Opportunities

Clients coming off employer coverage are more likely to buy cross-sale products like life insurance, Dental / Vision / Hearing, and Hospital Indemnity coverage. Cross-sales to people coming on to Medicare can increase your attachment rate to around 75%. Make more off the same leads.

Downsides

Could there possibly be a downside to turning 65 business? Yep. The biggest downside is there will be follow up with these leads. You have to get in front of them early to make sure you have the first swing at the business. Also, the sales process can take a little more time as you’re having to teach them about Medicare. We can help you minimize these downsides as much as possible and help you get paid more and quicker.

Turning 65 Web Opt-in Leads

This is a revolutionary lead that gives you a low cost shot at Turning 65 clients.

These are high call volume leads that are not for everyone. It is a low cost way to develop a book of business, but has a lower response rate than other forms of leads. These leads are for agents looking to turn time on the phone into high profits. We do all we can to help you automate the response process for these leads. We highly recommend discussing this option with your Brokerage Manager before moving forward.

These leads are $2 each.

Cross-selling Final Expense Leads

For agents that are just starting out and who do not have the runway for working for reduced compensation the first year we recommend that agents get into a Final Expense / Medicare cross sale program. You’ll get both sets of contracts, you’ll primarily get Final Expense leads to help pay the day-to-day bills and we’ll filter in the Medicare leads as time goes on.

As your income grows, you’ll be able to invest more and more into your Medicare business. You’ll also be able to start offering Medicare to your Final Expense clients. Most Final Expense clients are on a Medicare plan and would make a great client for you. By the time AEP comes around, you’ll have had an opportunity to fine tune your skills and make the most of a profitable dedicated Medicare season.

The Tele-sales version of Local Marketing

Local marketing? From a tele-sales company? Of course!

Local marketing doesn’t mean you have to drive door to door to close leads. It also doesn’t mean that you have to open a physical office. We have a hybrid method that allows you to keep your sales remote, but take care of some of the staples of the Medicare space.

Why do it? Because local marketing (if done right) can lower your cost of acquisition and build a stronger referral base. This can make it easier to get into the business..

Local Referrals

You can become a local expert to your community and build relationships with pharmacists, property and casualty agents, doctors, and other area professionals that interact with seniors. They can refer business to you and the best part is all this costs you is your time and some print material.

Seminars

One of the holy grails of local marketing is the seminar. Seminars give you the opportunity to present face-to-face to a group of people and end up closing them later over the phone. Here at Digital BGA we’ll connect you with the right mail house to invite people to your seminar (and manage your RSVPs), Provide you with a proven presentation, and train you how to negotiate with local vendors like restaurants to set up your event. We have a seminar-in-a-box training that will get you moving forward.

Local Web Presence

A little known fact is that search engines like Google actually give some help to the little guy, if they believe the business is offering a local service. We can train you how to set up an online presence with things like Google My Business to make sure that you’re able to be found in the new version of the phone book for your local area. Being in your area can build trust with clients.

Local Marketing

As you grow, we can support your local marketing efforts no matter your approach. Print, Digital ads, or even television advertising. We have a team of creative marketing pros that can help you build a local marketing campaign that will get your phone ringing off the hook and help you make a dent in your community.

Turning 65 leads are the caviar of Medicare production.

More Commission

Medicare Advantage clients pay a higher initial commission. You’re making $573 in most states instead of a pro-rated amount based on the $287 of a renewal commission.

More Renewals

Younger clients will renew at a higher rate than older clients. They tend to be more content for longer. As their lifestyles change you’ll be there to offer support. Think of the referrals you can get from people who are still out talking about going on to Medicare with their friends.

More Cross-sale Opportunities

Clients coming off employer coverage are more likely to buy cross-sale products like life insurance, Dental / Vision / Hearing, and Hospital Indemnity coverage. Cross-sales to people coming on to Medicare can increase your attachment rate to around 75%. Make more off the same leads.

Downsides

Could there possibly be a downside to turning 65 business? Yep. The biggest downside is there will be follow up with these leads. You have to get in front of them early to make sure you have the first swing at the business. Also, the sales process can take a little more time as you’re having to teach them about Medicare. We can help you minimize these downsides as much as possible and help you get paid more and quicker.

Marketing Vs. Leads

Leads are the ultimate goal of the game. A lead is a person with some remote interest in the product your selling. Marketing is the processes you go through to acquire a lead.

Here at Digital BGA marketing is our game.

We give you the option as an agent. You can either buy leads from us, from someone else, or do your own marketing. Most of our agents simply purchase leads from us. We’ve plumbed the depths of the marketing game.

We do something radically different. For agents that wish to do their own marketing to develop their own leads, we provide training on how to build out your marketing.

Do you want to run local in person events?

We can help train you on how to do it and provide the resources you need.

Do you want to build local relationships with businesses that can send business?

We can help point you in the right direction.

Do you want to step up your client referral base?

Absolutely, and we can teach you how to maximize your approach.

Looking to run TV or digital ads?

We can help you build content and work on placement.

These are all areas where we’ve either had our own success or trained agents to build successful campaigns.

Should You Buy Leads or Invest in Marketing?

Early on you should definitely buy leads.

Your primary income stream comes from the ability to sell. Turning leads into buyers is your primary skillset in this business.

If you’re an individual and never wish to move beyond your own desk, it’s often easier to scale your business with leads.

As you grow, you should start considering marketing. Know that marketing will take additional time and depending on the complexity of your plan, you might even need additional staff. For example, if you run a TV ad and you’re busy, someone needs to collect the client’s information.

Once you have a steady income coming in from your renewal book you can start using that income stream to market and invest in any needed staff.

Marketing is well worth while since you can grow your business’ brand and take advantage of the additional benefits of being known as a local expert. It can also help you grow a larger office if you wish to bring on more agents.

When and Where to Move?

The advantage to working with Digital BGA you’ll have a dedicated Brokerage Manager who will walk you through the growth of your business and help you understand the right time to start moving from leads to marketing .

Who should I Contract With?

We have a core grouping of carriers that we require agents contract with so they’ll have general nationwide coverage. Based on any regional leanings we have other carriers you have the ability of contracting with. Let’s look at the core and some of the more popular optional policies.

Medicare Advantage

Core – Required for full-time agents

• Aetna
• Humana (includes Medicare Supplement)
• United Health Care (includes Medicare Supplement)
• Centene (WellCare)

Optional

• Anthem (includes Medicare Supplement)
• Cigna Health Springs

Medicare Supplement

Core – Required for full-time agents

• Aetna
• Cigna
• Manhattan Life
• Mutual of Omaha

Optional

• The Capital Life
• United American
• SBLI (Prosperity)

Ancillary Lines

Required

• Heartland: Hospital Indemnity
• Manhattan Life: for Dental / Vision/ Hearing and Under 65 Hospital indemnity

Optional

• Guarantee Trust Life: Hospital Indemnity/ Cancer.

In order for a business to be successful all parties involved have to benefit or the relationship will eventually break down.

In order for a business to be successful all parties involved have to benefit or the relationship will eventually break down.

As an insurance agent, it’s likely only a matter of time until you find yourself in a situation where you feel that your upline partnership isn’t working for you.

When that happens, it may be time to cut ties with your current upline and move on. This can be a simple or complicated process, depending on your upline FMO and the carrier involved.

It is important first to understand that, if the carrier in question will honor a signed release from your upline, it needs to be from the highest level in your hierarchy. Carriers will not accept a signed release from a mid-tier FMO.

We have a general open release policy and would normally process a release without delay. Having said that, we also give our mid-level down lines flexibility to implement their own release guidelines and allow them to release down lines as they see fit, as long as carrier guidelines are respected.

For the most part there are 2 ways to transfer your contract to a new upline. A “Signed Release” or a “Self-Release”.

Let’s take a look at these options:As an insurance agent, it’s likely only a matter of time until you find yourself in a situation where you feel that your upline partnership isn’t working for you.

When that happens, it may be time to cut ties with your current upline and move on. This can be a simple or complicated process, depending on your upline FMO and the carrier involved.

It is important first to understand that, if the carrier in question will honor a signed release from your upline, it needs to be from the highest level in your hierarchy. Carriers will not accept a signed release from a mid-tier FMO.

We have a general open release policy and would normally process a release without delay. Having said that, we also give our mid-level down lines flexibility to implement their own release guidelines and allow them to release down lines as they see fit, as long as carrier guidelines are respected.

For the most part there are 2 ways to transfer your contract to a new upline. A “Signed Release” or a “Self-Release”.

Let’s take a look at these options:

Signed Release:

An agent may request to be released from their upline for immediate transfer to a new FMO. It is important to stress that this request must be signed by the top level upline and NOT by a mid-tier. If the top line FMO signs the release, the agent is then free to transfer to a different broker immediately.

Self Release:

If an upline doesn’t want to give an agent an immediate release, then an agent can exercise the Self-Release process. It may vary by carrier, but as a general rule there are a couple of ways to do it:

• An agent stops writing business for a period of time, usually 6 months, and they will be able to transfer at the end of the time period due to non-production.
  Most Med Supp carriers follow this Self-Release process
• An agent may submit a notice to the carrier detailing their intent to transfer to a new broker. The agent should be able to continue to write business (depending on the carrier) for a time frame specified by the carrier. When that time frame is up, the agent will be allowed to transfer their contract to the broker named in the original intent letter.
  Most Med Advantage carriers follow this Self-Release process

Below is a sampling of a few carriers and their release process:

Aetna Med Advantage/Part D – Notice and new contracting must be sent to Aetna to start the clock. You can continue to write business during their 3 month Self-Release period.

Mutual of Omaha – Non-Production for 6 months will allow an agent to transfer their contract.

Aetna Med Supp – Email notice must be sent to Aetna Supplemental to start the clock. You can continue to write business during their 6 month Self-Release period. However, different guidelines apply if you have producing downlines.

Humana – Notice and new contracting must be sent to Humana to start the clock. You can continue to write business during their 3 month Self-Release period.

United Healthcare – Email notice must be sent to UHC to start the clock. You can continue to write business during their 6 month Self-Release period. (Note, they freeze transfers the earliest of carriers and you can’t move a contract if you haven’t submitted the needed paperwork by 9/1. If you submit paperwork after then, they will hold it until January).

Transfer Freezes

Some Med Advantage carriers implement transfer freezes in the 4th Quarter of each year, which prevents an agent from transferring their contract no matter what the release scenario may be. UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Humana are a few of the major carriers who implement a transfer freeze period.

With that being said, it’s important to carefully consider the timing if you’re looking to initiate a self-release.

For example: If an agent were to start a self-release and that self-release time frame expired in the middle of a transfer freeze (9/1/19 to 12/31/19), they would be forced to stay under their current upline until the end of the freeze period. In other words, they are stuck until after AEP and usually until January 1st of the next year.

Obviously, if the agent could have timed the self-release so that the self-release time frame expired before the freeze period, that may have been the more favorable situation.

Again, not all carriers have the same process, so ensure you understand the carrier’s requirements before starting the process.

The important thing to remember is that, if your business relationship isn’t working, you have options. It is also a good idea to understand the release policy of your upline, before you work with them, so you are not surprised when the situation arises.

Your success is up to you, but a bad business relationship can definitely make that success more difficult.

Do Transfer Freezes Affect New Agents?

Simply put, no. Carriers continue contracting, they just don’t want to be processing transfers after September starts. If you’ve never had a contract with a carrier, you can still contract.