“My passion is Medicare,” Mark Nienhueser said, sitting across from me at Guardian Insurance’s bright and cozy office near the square in downtown Camdenton.
“You know, that’s a pretty weird thing to say,” I responded, laughing. But after hearing the stories Mark and his wife Paula shared over the next 45 minutes, I understood: these people love Medicare because they love helping the people who need help with Medicare.
Guardian Insurance — Nienhueser Agency got its start when Mark and Paula bought a property and casualty insurance business in 2017. They eventually expanded into Medicare and acquired local agent Mike Loman’s Medicare business in 2019.
A massive change hit many Lake area Medicare Advantage clients this year, as one of the major plans is being discontinued. The announcement comes a year after the provider hiked out-of-pocket costs for the plan it is now discontinuing. When that happened, Mark and Paula were able to help around 500 clients move to new plans. “That was a lot of work!” Mark recalled.
Guardian now represents approximately 1,300 Medicare clients.
Got Medicare questions? Call Guardian Insurance at 573-410-1441 to schedule a free consultation.
Guardian Insurance Office
It’s clear that for Mark and Paula, helping clients get the right Medicare plan is fundamentally a problem-solving exercise. Every client’s situation is unique — from their existing medical issues to the specific prescription drugs they’re taking — and Guardian has tools to help find the plan that suits each person’s needs… for some surprisingly good prices.
One client in her mid-80s in poor health moved from Florida to Missouri and sought Medicare advice from the Guardian team. Her Medicare supplement at the time was costing her around $600/month. After learning the details of her situation, they were able to take advantage of Missouri’s “Anniversary Rule.” They switched her to a comparable plan that saved her around $385/month. “She'd never had it looked at because in her mind there was no way, because her health was not good,” Mark said.
In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions people have when it comes to Medicare is money.
“If somebody's on a Medicare Advantage plan, and there's no premium, meaning zero premium, I can't say it's free,” he explained. “The plan's not free. They'll have copays in it.”
Customers are also sometimes confused over how Mark and Paula are compensated.
"We had a couple come in that had the right plan — that wasn't part of our agency — and they wanted me to look at [it],” Mark recalled. “I said, ‘You are perfect. I wouldn't move a thing.’”
“When they got up, she's like, ‘Okay, what do we owe you?’ I'm like, ‘Nothing.’ I said, ‘That's what we do.’”
“Our Medicare consultations and plan reviews are provided at no cost with no obligation to enroll,” Paula added helpfully.
Whether it’s confusion over money or prescription coverage or dental, Mark and Paula are experts at helping older folks navigate the very confusing world of Medicare at what can be a very overwhelming time in life.
“I also enjoy older people,” Mark said. “I think they have a lot of respect compared to [other age groups]. I just really enjoy where they've been in their life, and hearing about their stories, and I feel like you can learn a lot that way from people.” Paula added, “They're the most fun people to work with.”
The Cost Of Confusion
They plead with their clients, “Talk to us before you make any changes!” That’s not because they’re afraid to lose the business; Paula shared they’ve seen seniors fall prey to horrible Medicare scams — or shouldn’t-be-legal schemes that end up leaving seniors bewildered and under-covered.
Paula recalled one especially painful instance. A little old man — a military veteran whom Paula had met through the Suits For Soldiers program she organizes with friend Jeanne Rackers — had obtained his Medicare supplemental coverage through Guardian.
He fell prey to one of the telephone schemes that the Nienhuesers have seen time and again: an unsolicited caller offers dubious promises and convinces the person to give their verbal assent to switching Medicare plans. “They'll figure out a way to record that ‘Yes’ as they're taking an application, and somehow that's enough where then they can send that in as a new sale,” Mark explained. “They change them to a plan where their doctor's not even in-service!” Paula added, indignantly.
This man came into Guardian’s office and told Paula he had changed plans. “Well do you have your card?” she asked. No, not yet. “Bring it in when you get it, and we’ll see what it covers,” she replied.
Before the man could do so, he fell and broke his leg. The plan he had bought through Guardian had included skilled nursing after a hospital stay, but at the hospital, he learned his new Medicare plan did not. Paula spent extensive time on the phone with hospital staff to try and help the man and his family avoid a terribly expensive bill. In the end, family members were able to help. The man passed away about a month later, Paula shared with tears in her eyes.
“We reach out to our clients three times a year,” Paula said. “We just don't leave them alone all year. We ask them how they're doing, how the plan's working, and sometimes we unearth some of that throughout the year.” One of the Guardian team members calls every single client on their birthday. It’s a chance to interact, share a story or a laugh, and listen. More than once, thanks to those regular check-ins, they’ve caught a potential problem before it happened.
Mark and Paula invite anyone with Medicare questions to call Guardian Insurance and set up a free consultation. “I want you in the very best plan,” Mark said. “If I do that for you, and our service is good, and we're calling and connecting and making sure, then hopefully you'll stick with us.”
Questions about Medicare? Considering making a change? Getting phone calls about Medicare supplements and don’t know what to do?
Call Guardian Insurance at 573-410-1441 and set up a free consult. (And mention you read their article on LakeExpo!)
Online: guardiangroupmo.com
