Can You Really Count on Free Medicare Quoting Tools to Grow Your Business?

August 30, 2021

You probably already know the saying, “nothing comes for free.” But does that also apply to free Medicare quoting software?

After all, as an independent agent, you need to offer quotes to your beneficiaries every year during AEP, and free is better than paying for another work tool, isn’t it?


But have you ever asked yourself, what’s the catch? 

How can they offer quoting software for free anyway?

Free Medicare quoting tools primarily come from two places: Medicare.gov or an upline.


  1. Medicare.gov is provided by the government and is free to use online. It’s used by many agents to navigate the complicated world of Medicare for their clients. 
    However, the inefficiencies of that system are well known to cause both frustrations to the agent and the beneficiary (more about that later).
  1. Uplines often provide free medicare software to their agents as a way to ensure the carriers they offer are solely represented. 
    It’s a great way to get quotes out fast, but you may be sacrificing your client options and, in turn, tarnishing your reputation as an effective agent.


Why free may just not be worth it

Take a closer look at the cost vs. value of your free tool. What are you actually getting out of it, and what did you give up to use it?

In the case of free Medicare quoting software, the price is often a cut of your time, less opportunity for sales, and a hit to your reputation. 

Here are a few things to consider before committing to using any of the free quoting tools out there.


If you want to get the best deal for your clients, the limits on carriers with the free upline software will force you to use additional quoting tools. That means a lot of switching back and forth from one tool’s process to another.


Research suggests that multitasking like that wastes a lot of your time. It’s less efficient, you make more mistakes, and it can sap your energy. 


That's a lot of wasted time


If you have to toggle between apps and processes all day as new calls and emails come in, your productivity will plummet.


According to the Kaiser Family Foundation for 2021, the average Medicare beneficiary has access to 33 Medicare Advantage plans, the most significant number of options available in the last decade.

When using the free software provided by an upline agency, you’re limited to only the carriers they are contracted to offer. That means you can’t quote all the products available that year from their software. 

So unless you do a lot of the shopping around on your own, you not only won’t be able to provide the best value plans to your clients, but you won’t even know what other plans are out there. 



However, you can count on your beneficiaries eventually hearing of better plans through the grapevine. And when they do, they will be upset at the agent who was supposed to help them find the best plan. 

Ultimately, your reputation suffers. 

Blue Button 2.0 technology is Medicare’s application programming interface that allows beneficiaries to share their digital data with their healthcare provider. For security reasons, it is only available to registered applications.  

Even though you can save your data using a free upline tool, there’s no guarantee you’ll have access to Blue Button technology, and you will still have to type in medical information by hand for each of your clients.

One of the main drawbacks to the Medicare.gov quoting tool is that it won’t save beneficiary data.

That means when you gather the information needed from your beneficiaries, like their prescriptions, doctors, and pharmacies, then enter it into the Medicare.gov website for a quote search, you have no way of retrieving that data again for a new quote. 

That means you have to input the health information for each client every time you want a quote. Yikes!

Each year during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), you have an opportunity to save your current clients money if they’re eligible for a new lower-cost plan. If you use any of the free Medicare quoting software, you’ll get a tool to help with those quotes, but that’s about it. 

You’re on your own to:

Focusing on your current clients and thoroughly completing all of their drug reviews is the priority. That doesn’t leave you much time to pursue leads or build new client relationships. 

Finding a better way to quote Medicare plans

Moving away from free Medicare quoting software just makes sense. Turning toward an all-in-one tool designed for quoting and enrollment, as well as lead building, is the better way to go. You’ll not only save time but increase productivity and focus.

It’s technology that benefits you by:


Using a complete quoting and enrollment platform that’s actually affordable, like Trusty Select Pro, means you’ll avoid the headaches from inadequate quoting tools. 

All the information you need is quickly at your fingertips and ready to be shown to your clients. With just a few clicks, you’ll be able to: 


It’s a purchase that frees you from the issues that come at the cost of using an upline’s tool or the Medicare.gov website.

Instead, your options are wide open, saving time and making a good first impression while building trust with your clients for years to come.


Contact us to learn more about the affordable, all-in-one platform, Trusty Select Pro. It’s an online system designed to help Medicare brokers as well as beneficiaries. Ask for your Free 30 Minute AEP Workflow Consultation.

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