What Is The Scope Of Appointment Form?
January 25, 2018
Reviewed and Updated by Anastasia Iliou,
What Is The Scope Of Appointment Form?
Health care is personal, financial, and crucial. It can be difficult to hand your information over to strangers so they can start charging you fees, so you’re probably cautious about signing forms and documents. However, the Scope of Appointment form, or SOA, is an important one for you to sign.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, requires that Medicare and Medicaid sales agents fill out the SOA at or before every appointment. The form documents exactly what the parties plan on discussing. The information is confidential but required for the agent to proceed.
Why?
SOA forms are just one way that CMS tries to protect you, the consumer. It prevents agents from trying to sell you more than you need or start discussing products illegally. By law, Medicare and Medicaid sales agents are only allowed to discuss the information they agreed to on the SOA form. The form is not required for Original Medicare enrollment. However, it is required for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, Part D (Prescription Drug) plans, Hospital Indemnity, and Dental/Vision/Hearing plans.
Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
SOA forms are one of the countless rules that Medicare and Medicaid sales agents are required to follow. An agent who breaks a CMS rule is considered guilty of fraud, waste, or abuse.
If an agent attempts to sell you a product that you did not agree to discuss, you can file a fraud, waste, and abuse complaint with The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
At MedicarePlanFinder, we’ll set you up with a Medicare Health Benefits agent who knows to always file an SOA and stick to it when meeting with you. Do you have any questions at all about your Medicare plan? Are considering changing or adding a plan? Call us to set up a meeting with one of our licensed and experienced agents at no cost to you. Call us at 1-844-431-1832.
