Agent Boost Marketing Podcast

ACA agency owner Brendan Murton of Wildcat joins Dan and Mike to talk about what agents are facing heading into open enrollment. They start with a recap of the Agent Boost Medicare and ACA kickoff, which drew about 300 people each day, why the event centered on agents and agency owners instead of carrier pitches, and the live stream that went down when the building Wi-Fi crashed.From there they break down the news that has the industry on edge: Federally Facilitated Marketplace certifications that are open for existing agents but still closed to new ones, a proposed moratorium nobody has explained, and NPN overrides where the official answer from CMS is apparently "maybe." They cover ACA enrollment sliding from about 19 million toward 16 to 17 million, Medicaid work requirements that could hit millions of people on January 1, and a marketplace call center that is moving away from taking calls from agents. Brendan then shares his path from Primerica and life insurance into health insurance, and how partnering with Agent Boost let him stop spending 15 hours of contracting admin per agent and focus on training his team.The back half covers what contracting really takes behind the scenes, why switching uplines is nothing like entering the transfer portal, and how agents can avoid selling before they are appointed or licensed. Brendan explains how Wildcat structures overrides and sub agencies, what a real upline partnership should provide, and why ACA builds the best future Medicare book. They also get into the new authorization blocks that will slow agents down this open enrollment, why ACA is actually easier than when he started, and why there are no shortcuts in this business. They close with how to reach Brendan and Wildcat, plus the Japan trip he takes his top agents on.***Chapters***0:00 Cold Open1:19 Welcome Brendan Murton2:20 Kickoff Recap: 300 Agents a Day and Casino Night4:42 Why the Kickoff Focused on Agents Instead of Carriers8:54 The Live Stream Crash10:21 Opportunity Zones and Waiting on Carrier Plans11:50 FFM Certs and the Proposed Moratorium for New Agents14:06 Fewer Agents When Consumers Need Help Most16:06 NPN Overrides and CMS Saying Maybe19:26 ACA Enrollment Drops From 19 Million20:08 Medicaid Work Requirements: A Political Nuke in January21:15 Marketplace Call Center Changes and the End of Three Way Calls22:45 The ACA Wild West and New Authorization Rules26:19 Brendan's Path From Primerica to Health Insurance29:42 Building Wildcat and the Admin Burden of Onboarding32:12 What Contracting Actually Takes Behind the Scenes35:03 The Transfer Portal Myth38:11 Agent View, Ready to Sell Status, and Unlicensed Sales40:42 No Contract, No Commission42:40 How Wildcat Structures Overrides and Sub Agencies44:38 What a Real Upline Partnership Looks Like46:30 Why ACA Builds the Best Medicare Book47:51 Open Enrollment Challenges: The New Authorization Blocks49:23 Why ACA Is Easier Than Ever51:46 No Shortcuts: Build It Brick by Brick53:37 How to Reach Brendan and Wildcat💻 Website: www.agentboost.com💰 Get Contracted: https://agentboost.com/get-contracted👨🏼‍🎓 Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606332946546184/📬 Our Weekly Newsletter: https://agentboost.com/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

Episode 133 of the Agent Boost Podcast lands right on the show's three year anniversary and a major milestone: 100,000 YouTube subscribers and over 4.5 million total views. Dan and Mike take a minute to look back at how a "boring health insurance industry podcast" grew into an agnostic platform that brokers, carriers, and CMS staff all quietly watch, then pivot straight into why this AEP might be the hardest one yet.From there they break down the state of the broker industry three years after their first episode: the multi year correction that still hasn't found a bottom, why public opinion of brokers has actually improved even as carrier support has not, and how consolidation has forced agencies and FMOs to get sharper or disappear. They get specific about this year's AEP communication breakdown, praising UnitedHealthcare for giving distribution real notice while calling out other carriers for leaving brokers and beneficiaries in the dark less than 30 days from October 1.The back half covers the two biggest structural shifts hitting the industry this AEP: roughly one third of Medicare Advantage plans going noncommissioned, and a new wave of formal CMS enrollment caps that could shut brokers out of plans mid campaign with zero public disclosure. They dig into the incentives behind it all with the "cobra effect" story, the real value a good agent provides beyond sexy extra benefits, and how the Inflation Reduction Act quietly reshaped Part D costs and commissions. They close by previewing their September 15 and 16 kickoff and making the case for why now, despite everything, is actually a great time to become a great agent.***Chapters***0:00 Cold Open: What's Coming Up This Episode0:53 Three Year Anniversary and Hitting 100K Subscribers1:52 Why Views Outpace Subscribers: The Industry's Silent Lurkers2:38 Why They Started Agent Boost and How Far It's Grown4:08 Rewinding to Episode 1: Same AEP Challenges, Three Years Later5:34 The Industry Still Needs Good Agents More Than Ever6:12 How Public Opinion of Brokers Has Actually Improved7:47 Why Carriers Don't Care If You Win: The FMO Reality Check9:32 Consolidation Has Forced Agencies and FMOs to Get Better13:40 This Year's AEP Communication Is the Worst It's Ever Been14:57 Shout Out to UnitedHealthcare for Actually Prepping Distribution16:04 Less Than 30 Days Out With No Real Exit List17:11 The Gray Period: SAR Letters, Timing, and Angry Phone Calls19:41 One Third of Medicare Advantage Plans Are Going Noncommissioned22:16 Cross Walked or Not? Carriers Won't Give a Straight Answer25:04 The Rumor: Carriers Filed to Pay Zero Commission Nationwide27:34 Enrollment Caps Explained: CMS Expands a New Lever29:31 Why Formal Enrollment Caps Are Going to Be a Disaster32:27 The Secret Cap: No Public Disclosure, No FOIA Access34:58 Fair Market Value, Broker Bias, and the Industry's Cobra Effect40:08 Fixing the Crisis: Rural Funding and Real Solutions42:15 Teaching Their Sons: The Real Value of a Good Agent45:45 How Carriers Became Gift Card Distributors Instead of Insurers47:16 This Year's Four Headed Monster: Rates, MLR, IRA, and Audits49:37 PDPs Were Barely Mentioned at This Year's Carrier Kickoffs51:01 How the Inflation Reduction Act Shifted Costs to Carriers53:36 The MedPAC White Paper: Pharma Wins, Everyone Else Loses56:01 The Ripple Effect Hitting Medicare Advantage and Medicaid58:31 Their Sons Just Got Licensed Into a Far More Complex Industry1:00:29 Becoming the Savvy Agent Who Can Weather Any Change1:01:39 September 15-16 Kickoff: Two Days, No Carrier Speakers1:02:27 Wrap Up💻 Website: www.agentboost.com💰 Get Contracted: https://agentboost.com/get-contracted👨🏼‍🎓 Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606332946546184/📬 Our Weekly Newsletter: https://agentboost.com/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

In Episode 132 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Korey Ashton, VP of Medicare at HealthSherpa, joins Mike for a deep dive into what actually makes HealthSherpa's Medicare enrollment platform different, and why she's finally setting the industry's FMO rumors straight on camera. They open by trading war stories on how much harder AEP has gotten, from 2-3 carriers to 15+, and from formulary books the size of phone books to answers a phone tap away, before Korey walks through her own path into the business: licensed at 21 through her mom's agency, years on the carrier side, a stint at Sunfire, and now building HealthSherpa's Medicare division from three people into a fast-growing team.From there they break down why ACA and Medicare enrollment are fundamentally different processes on the backend: one routes through CMS, the other goes straight to the carrier, and that forced HealthSherpa to build two completely separate, independently audited systems. Korey lays out the platform's core differentiator: agents and agencies aren't locked into a single upline or FMO the way they are on other platforms, and can connect to different uplines carrier by carrier using a simple join-code system. She also digs into why full data export (drugs, doctors, notes included) and open APIs/webhooks matter more than a pretty dashboard, and runs through the growing list of integration partners: Agency Block, Enroll Here, GoGuru X, Medicare Pro, Onyx, and Retire Flow.The back half covers HealthSherpa's roadmap into AEP 2026, including a new call center-specific workflow, a push to close the Med Supp data gap against CSG, and why they're deliberately holding off on benefit activation until the industry agrees on what it actually means. They close with a no-nonsense take on AI in the industry (a quoting platform isn't a moat anymore; the data and the relationship are), and Korey's advice for any agent on the fence: create a free HealthSherpa account and use the 1-on-1 Zoom support if you need the extra hand-holding.**Chapters**0:00 Intro & Welcome: Korey Ashton Joins Mike0:53 From 3 Carriers to 15: How Much Harder AEP Has Gotten2:15 The Old Days: Formulary Books, Enrollment Kits & No Google3:07 Korey's Origin Story: Licensed at 21 in Her Mom's Agency4:08 Why the Industry Skews Older (And Why Kids Are Coming Back)6:04 Why Young Agents Actually Want an Office, Not Just a Laptop7:36 Relationships Over Everything: Reputation in a Small Industry9:01 Korey's Near Miss: 150 Clients at 22 With No Mentor10:01 Cutting Her Teeth at Anthem During the ACA Transition12:02 Career Recap: Carrier Side → Sunfire → HealthSherpa13:13 Building HealthSherpa's Medicare Team From Three People15:23 Why ACA and Medicare Enrollment Aren't the Same Process16:10 CMS-Routed vs. Carrier-Direct: The Data Flow Explained18:09 Same Company, Different Planets: How Carriers Silo ACA and Medicare21:27 HealthSherpa's Medicare Platform & the AEP 2025 Scoop23:35 The Real Differentiator: No Forced Upline or FMO Lock-In25:06 How the Hierarchy Works: NPN & Join Codes Explained30:43 Full Data Export & Open APIs: Owning What's Yours32:12 The Integration Stack: Agency Block, Enroll Here, Onyx & More33:40 Data as Leverage: Getting "Used and Abused" by SaaS38:36 The AI Reality Check: A Quote Engine Isn't a Moat Anymore39:57 Setting the Record Straight: HealthSherpa Isn't Becoming an FMO43:36 The 2026 Roadmap: Call Centers, Compliance & Closing the Med Supp Gap48:47 Benefit Activation vs. "Care Navigation": Why They're Holding Back53:10 Korey's Advice: Just Try It, Free Account with 1-on-1 Support54:11 Wrap Up💻 Website: www.agentboost.com💰 Get Contracted: https://agentboost.com/get-contracted👨🏼‍🎓 Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606332946546184/📬 Our Weekly Newsletter: https://agentboost.com/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

On Episode 131 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Nicko joins Dan and Mike back in the hot seat for a deep dive into the tech stack that actually powers Agent Boost, and why they think most of the industry is selling agents vaporware. They open by calling out vendors who demo unfinished products as if they're live, then walk through how Agent Boost has spent the last 7-8 years building out Go High Level into what they call Rocket CRM, and why replacing a $300K/year SaaS stack has gotten so much easier now that AI can do in minutes what used to take a six-figure subscription. From there they break down a stack of integrations built specifically to solve agent pain points: a HIPAA-compliant, in-platform MARX lookup tool that gives agents real-time eligibility answers instead of carrier hold times, automated Calendly-style booking tied to AEP campaigns, and a system that tags and targets clients facing Service Area Reductions before they churn. They also introduce Jarvis, an AI virtual assistant that can call members, check calendar availability, and book appointments on an agent's behalf, plus a direct chat interface that lets agents run their CRM through Claude or ChatGPT. The back half covers the Amber Fulfillment Program (a physical retention-mail system that grew out of literally mailing chocolate truffles), real-time Sunfire and Health Sherpa data feeds that auto-populate the CRM and trigger retention workflows, and Agency View, a portal giving agency owners full visibility into every agent's licensing, appointments, and commissions across their entire downline. They close with a case for why AI is going to widen the gap between high-effort and low-effort agents rather than replace agents altogether, and a quick intro to Terry, the AI chatbot now living inside their CRM.***Chapters***00:00 Welcome & the Law of Large Numbers (Dating, Sales & Life Advice)01:22 Nicko's Back: Why Agent Boost Doesn't Sell Vaporware03:24 The Origin of Agent Boost's Tech (Go High Level → Rocket CRM)05:19 Killing the $300K SaaS Stack: How AI Changed the Math08:30 Solving Real Agent Problems: Where the Integrations Start08:52 MARX In-Platform Lookup: What It Is & How It's Compliant11:20 What Is MARX and Why Every Agent Should Want It14:59 Real-Time MARX Access Built Into Rocket CRM16:44 Should Plan-Hoppers Get Flagged? Dan's Hot Take17:44 Calendar Widget Automation for Field & Telephonic Agents21:31 Tagging & Targeting Clients Facing Service Area Reductions26:21 Meet Jarvis: The AI Virtual Assistant That Books Appointments27:22 Chatting With Your CRM: Claude & ChatGPT Integrations27:59 Retention Workflows: The 3/30/60/90-Day Follow-Up System29:02 Quoting Tools & the Pearl Landing Page for ACA31:15 The Amber Fulfillment Program: From Chocolate Truffles to Scalable Retention Mail36:15 The Sunfire API: Real-Time Enrollment Data Into Your CRM39:31 Health Sherpa & ACA Policy-At-Risk Alerts42:39 What Actually Makes Agent Boost's Tech Different43:41 Agency View: Total Visibility Into Your Downline50:40 Know Your Numbers: Finding Your Real Top Producers54:34 AI Won't Replace Brokers, But It Will Replace Lazy Agents58:33 Meet Terry: The AI Chatbot Living Inside Your CRM59:07 Wrap Up💻 Website: www.agentboost.com💰 Get Contracted: https://agentboost.com/get-contracted👨🏼‍🎓 Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606332946546184/📬 Our Weekly Newsletter: https://agentboost.com/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

On Episode 130 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Dan and Mike cover two of the biggest stories shaping the industry right now. First, fresh off a run of carrier rollouts including a trip to Boston, they break down why carriers have shifted from chasing growth to chasing profit, and what that means heading into another disruptive AEP. Expect roughly 30% of Medicare Advantage plans to see major service area reductions this year, on top of an already brutal two year stretch, and Dan and Mike explain why carriers rarely tip their hand on exits until it's too late for agencies to plan around it. They also unpack why established agents with big books of business are getting hit the hardest, why LTVs keep shrinking even as agents work harder, and why the standalone Part D and PDP environment could bring real sticker shock this year.The second half of the episode is dedicated to what Dan calls one of the most impactful shifts they've seen in years: Humana's new agent quality and tiering program. Dan and Mike walk through how it works, tying accretion rate, rapid disenrollment, and HRA completion into a scorecard that determines whether an agency, and its agents, move up or down in commission tier. They explain what this means for agents who write sloppy business, why termination under this program will follow you and block you from onboarding at a new FMO, and why they expect other carriers to copy this model soon. They close with a case for why brokers aren't going anywhere long term, even in an AI saturated world, and a coaching point every agent should hear before this AEP starts.***Chapters***00:00 Welcome & What's Coming This Episode04:53 Boston, Gillette Stadium & the Drake Maye Experience10:31 Carrier Rollouts & the Shift From Growth to Profit16:05 Healthcare's Broken Incentives & Why the Product Is the Stock Price19:47 Another Brutal AEP: Why 30% of MA Plans Are Being Cut24:12 Why Carriers Withhold Information From Distribution Until It's Too Late27:06 How the Disruption Hits Established Agents vs New Agents33:29 The Math Problem: Why LTVs Keep Shrinking36:06 The PDP & Part D Storm Nobody's Talking About Yet39:02 Why Brokers Will Matter More as AI Fatigue Sets In42:36 Humana's New Quality Program: What It Actually Does48:20 Termination, Gatekeeping & Why Bad Agents Can't Hop FMOs56:09 Telesales Isn't Dead, But Sloppy Selling Is58:14 Accretion Rate & Rapid Disenrollment, Explained1:03:31 Wrap Up & What's Next Episode💻 Website: www.agentboost.com💰 Get Contracted: https://agentboost.com/get-contracted👨🏼‍🎓 Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606332946546184/📬 Our Weekly Newsletter: https://agentboost.com/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

On Episode 129 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Dan and Mike sit down with Tyler Rees and Josh Benson, longtime friends and business partners who built one of the fastest growing Medicare FMOs in the country before selling it to Humana.

Tyler and Josh trace their path back to central Pennsylvania, where they started out selling final expense insurance door to door, eventually founding Innovative Financial Group (IFG), scaling it to over $125 million in final expense premium and $300 million in annuities, then pivoting hard into Medicare in 2020. That pivot took them from 4,500 apps their first AEP to more than 25,000 the next year, and eventually to an 18 month acquisition process that ended with Humana buying the company in 2022.

The second half of the conversation shifts to what Tyler and Josh are building now: EnrollHere, an insurance technology platform designed to solve the industry's biggest blind spot, siloed data and a total lack of accountability in lead generation and marketing. They break down how EnrollHere's call control and compliance scoring tools have helped partners cut cost per acquisition in half, why they see themselves as a neutral "Switzerland" in the distribution world rather than a competitor, and the audit framework they're building to finally hold publishers and marketers to the same standard agents and agencies already face.

They also get into the mechanics most people never see: how hierarchy actually works when one agent reports to multiple upline agencies, why lifetime value varies so wildly between partners, and why they believe cracking Medicare Advantage is the hardest and most valuable problem in the industry to solve. It's a candid look at building, selling, and rebuilding in a space that rewards the operators willing to actually understand the data.

***Chapters***

00:00 Welcome & Introducing Tyler Rees and Josh Benson

01:19 Childhood Friends Turned Business Partners in Insurance

04:58 Splitting Paths - Corporate Detour vs. Going Independent

06:03 The Cold-Call Trick That Built a 400-Agent Team

09:17 Founding IFG and Buying Out the Business11:33 The Pivot to Medicare & a Massive First AEP

14:35 The Call From Humana & an 18-Month Diligence Process

17:31 Scaling Post-Acquisition, the Walmart Deal & Stepping Away

23:56 Why They Built EnrollHere - Solving Insurance's Data Problem

28:51 Staying "Switzerland" & Building the MVP With Niko and Tim

34:06 The Call Center Breakthrough - Cutting CPAs in Half

38:08 Why Data Beats Gut Feel on Lead Quality

40:01 The Marketing Accountability Gap in Medicare

44:02 Spoofed Numbers, Dupe Routing & Bad Actor Tactics

48:01 Building a Compliance Audit Standard for Publishers

53:08 Is Telesales Dead? Why Phone Enrollment Still Matters

54:23 Shared Visibility & the End of "Pay and Pray"

59:43 What the Lifetime Value Data Actually Shows

1:02:12 Beyond Medicare - ACA, Final Expense & Attachment Rates

1:06:22 Cracking Hierarchy - EnrollHere's Core Advantage & Wrap Up

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On Episode 128 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Mike sits down with longtime agent and agency owner Riley Garner for a conversation that starts personal and ends up being a masterclass in why experience, both lived and professional, is what actually builds trust in healthcare.

Riley opens up about his son's sudden health crisis: a routine day swimming in the Virgin River turned into E. coli, then Shiga toxin, then HUS, then dialysis at Primary Children's Hospital. As a licensed agent himself, Riley walks through what it's actually like to be on the other side of the desk, dealing with ACA coverage through Molina, life flight bills, a denied ambulance claim, and the appeals process, and how even industry veterans get surprised by their own EOBs.

It's a real time case study in why insurance gets a bad rap until the day you actually need it, and why agents who've lived through a claim fight understand something no training manual can teach.

From there, the episode traces Riley's full arc in the business: Chick fil A to personal trainer to a last minute Medicare license earned three days before the deadline, into Connection Point, then Go Health during the 700 enrollments a season era, through the Covid era collapse of the big box telesales shops, and into the hybrid field and digital model that Dan and Mike built out of that chaos. Riley became a team lead, grew the WellCare book, moved to Tampa to build out that market, and has now come full circle, opening his own agency, Health Plan Assistance, in St. George, Utah, combining phone, virtual, and face to face enrollment under one roof.

Mike and Riley make the case that this hybrid, trust first model is exactly where the industry is headed, and Riley's path is a live example of what building it the right way looks like.

If you're an agent thinking about going independent, opening a physical office, or just want a real story about what insurance means when it's your own family on the line, this episode is essential listening.

**Chapters**

00:00 Welcome & Introducing Riley Garner

02:15 Riley's Son's Health Crisis: E. coli, HUS & Primary Children's Hospital

05:11 Riley's Own ACA Coverage and the Molina Bills

10:21 Why Even Agents Struggle to Understand Their Own EOBs

12:40 Chick fil A, Meeting His Wife & Getting Licensed in 3 Days

16:04 Utah as a Medicare Call Center Hub & the Old War Hero Era

19:34 How Big Box Telesales Went Off the Rails

24:13 The Two Types of Telesales Agents & Becoming a Team Lead

26:55 Growing the WellCare Team & Moving to Tampa

30:14 Building Health Plan Assistance in St. George

33:08 Why Face to Face Is Making a Comeback

36:42 Riley's 5 Year Vision & How to Reach Him

40:34 Wrap Up

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In Episode 127 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Dan and Mike open with a "week of survival" tone. AEP certifications are dropping, the agent force is demoralized, and the industry feels like it's in a constant state of flux. On a lighter note, both of their sons got licensed this week, a small but meaningful signal that the business still has a future for those who approach it the right way.

The centerpiece of this episode is a raw, unfiltered breakdown of why the telesales model in Medicare is dying, and why it's happening from three directions at once. Regulatory pressure has systematically outlawed nearly every outbound marketing mechanism, leaving consumer-generated inbound calls as the last legal lane. Even that lane is compromised, as lead generators routinely run unapproved URLs behind a single CMS-submitted site, meaning almost none of them are truly compliant. The 1-to-1 marketing rules that were supposed to clean up the industry have instead choked off the lead supply entirely.

Carriers are finishing the job. They've made clear they prefer local, field-written business over phone enrollments, and they're backing it up with 100% call audits on telesales, requiring human review (not AI), and forcing agencies to write up agents even when the consumer never complained. It's a Salem witch trial environment, and field agents are held to zero equivalent standard. The agents getting burned are often the best ones left, the ones who survived 4+ years without a termination, while 2.5 to 4.5 million Medicare Advantage members are expected to be displaced this AEP with fewer and fewer agents available to help them.

Dan and Mike also make a strong case for why FMV commissions are actually a bargain for carriers. When you pay an agent, you're not just paying for a sale. You're paying for acquisition, ongoing customer service, and retention, all bundled into one nominal fee. Carriers cutting brokers out of the equation will have to replace all three components with internal infrastructure, and they won't save money doing it.

The episode closes with a timely breakdown of the Walmart retail program for 2027, covering tiered A/B/C stores, first right of refusal for agents in good standing, and cost-sharing through FMOs. Both hosts are bullish on retail as the landing spot for displaced telesales agents, and they urge agents not to wait until September. Stores will be gone before AEP kicks off.

If you're a telesales agent wondering where to land this cycle, an agency owner trying to understand why the economics stopped making sense, or a field agent who wants to know what the carriers are actually thinking, this episode is essential listening.

***Chapters***

00:00 Welcome & Week of Survival - Both Sons Get Licensed

01:09 The State of the Industry Going Into AEP Certifications

04:29 Why Everything Is Changing Faster Than Ever Before

07:29 Telesales Is Dead - Setting Up the Core Argument

09:55 How 1-to-1 Marketing Rules Choked Off the Lead Supply

13:21 The Lead Generator Problem - Noncompliant URLs and the Washing Machine

19:51 The Economics of Telesales Are Broken - CPA vs. LTV Explained

24:54 "The Juice Isn't Worth the Squeeze" - The Math No One Wants to Do

27:52 Carriers Don't Want the Business - And They're Showing It

33:31 Salem Witch Trials - Carrier Crackdowns on Phone Enrollments

38:16 Carriers Are Turtling - What That Means for Distribution

41:14 The Warning for Displaced Telesales Agents - There's Nowhere Left to Hop

42:05 War Hero or War Criminal? Why 700 Enrollments Is No Longer a Badge of Honor

43:34 The FMV Argument - What Carriers Actually Get for That Commission

49:40 Walmart 2027 - Tiers, First Right of Refusal, and the Retail Opportunity

57:27 Wrap Up & Final Thoughts

In Episode 126 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Mike sits down with his best friend and fellow agency owner Seth Cottle, founder of Alchemy Health Plans, for a candid conversation about what it actually takes to build a thriving insurance agency in one of the most challenging markets the industry has ever seen.

Seth spent years working at Comcast while quietly building his book of business on nights and weekends before going all in on insurance. He shares exactly how he made that transition, why it worked when it doesn't work for most agents, and how that same work ethic became the foundation for everything he teaches his agents at Alchemy today.

This episode goes deep on the concept of the diverse, dynamic agent, why you can no longer survive as a Medicare-only or ACA-only agent, how to properly layer products without overwhelming your team, and why the agencies that built their entire book around one product line are the ones getting wiped out right now. Seth and Mike also break down income-producing activities, the real reason agents lose momentum and leave the industry, and what a new agent's first 90 days should actually look like.

If you're a new agent trying to shortcut your path to success, a seasoned broker looking to diversify, or an agency owner trying to build something that lasts this episode is essential listening.

**Chapters**

00:00 Welcome & Introducing Seth Cottle of Alchemy Health Plans

01:06 How Mike & Seth Met & Seth's Path from Comcast to Agency Owner

06:11 Building on the Side First - The Right Way to Make the Jump

10:03 Income-Producing Activities - What Actually Moves the Needle

12:39 The Hoodie Agent - How One Part-Timer Outsold Everyone

15:44 You Can't Be a One-Trick Pony - Diversification Is Survival

20:02 How Seth Layers Products & Trains Agents from Day One

27:48 Agency Value & Why Diversification Determines What You're Worth

33:55 Medicare Advantage Benefits Are Drying Up - The Ancillary Opportunity Is Now

35:08 Seth's Advice for New Agents - Burn the Boats & Go All In

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In Episode 125 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Mike sits down with Jeff, who just returned from the CMS Annual Marketplace Meeting in Baltimore, to break down everything brokers and agents need to know heading into this fall's open enrollment season.

This episode covers the real state of ACA in 2025, from what CMS leadership actually thinks about brokers, to breaking news about the three-way call finally going away, to a full carrier-by-carrier forecast for the coming open enrollment. Jeff shares firsthand intel from inside the CMS building, including what was discussed at the large agency roundtable that rarely gets talked about publicly. Mike adds his predictions on which ACA carriers are going big, why bronze plans and HSAs are about to become dominant, and why he believes the ACA market won't truly stabilize until 2028.

The conversation also digs into the very real pressure brokers are facing, overlapping Medicare AE and ACA OE deadlines, new consent form regulations, 75% QLE verification requirements, and the ongoing question of whether big tech is trying to eliminate brokers altogether. Plus, Dan and Jeff break down why 50% of agents have left the industry over the past two years and the two types of agents who are already gone.

If you're an ACA agent, a Medicare broker trying to cross-train, or an agency owner trying to set your team up for the most challenging open enrollment in years, this episode is essential listening.

**Chapters**00:00 Welcome & CMS Meeting Overview

00:33 Inside the CMS Building in Baltimore

03:31 ICHRA Update - Why It Still Isn't Working

07:34 Dan's Canada Healthcare Story & What It Reveals About ICHRA09:14 Jeff's AI Panel at CMS - HIPAA, ChatGPT & What's Allowed

12:01 Is CMS Trying to Eliminate Brokers?

15:07 CMS Leadership Is Pro-Broker - Here's What They Actually Said

17:18 Fraud vs. Real Brokers - Why They Keep Getting Lumped Together

19:00 2.8 Million Ghost Enrollments & $20 Billion in Fraud Cleaned Up

22:22 Large Agency Day - The NPN Problem Nobody Is Solving Fast Enough

24:45 BREAKING: The Three-Way Call Is Going Away Before Open Enrollment

27:51 Open Enrollment Shortened to Nov 1–Dec 31 (And Why That's a Problem)

29:31 Medicare AE and ACA OE Running at the Same Time

32:35 Mike: 50%+ of ACA Clients May Need a New Plan This Fall

33:06 Bronze Plans & HSAs Are About to Explode - Here's Why

33:50 75% QLE Verification - What It Means for Your Book of Business

34:41 The Utah AI Data Center Story (Kevin O'Leary vs. All of Utah)

38:16 ACA Was the Wild Wild West - How Far We've Come

39:06 New CMS Consent Form Rules Coming - What You Need to Know

40:45 What Every Broker Should Be Doing Right Now Before OE

42:30 Go Health Files Chapter 11 - The End of the Churn & Burn Era

44:08 Why You Need the Right FMO Heading Into This Open Enrollment

47:48 Carrier Predictions: Oscar, Ambetter, United, CSSC & Who's Out

50:27 Short-Term Medical Growth & When the ACA Market Finally Stabilizes

51:49 50% of Agents Have Left the Industry - Who's Gone and Why

54:26 ACA Spammers & Bad Actors Getting Eliminated

55:01 Final Thoughts & What's Coming for Agent Boost

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