Q3 2025 GoHealth Inc Earnings Call
Speaker #1: Good day and welcome quarter, 2025 earnings conference to the GoHealth, third After today's presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. there will be an opportunity to ask questions.
Speaker #1: Please note this event recorded. is being I would now like to turn the conference over to John Shave, Vice go President of Investor Relations.
Speaker #2: Thank you and good morning. Welcome to GoHealth's third quarter 2025 results call. Joining me today are Vijay Kotte, Chief Chief Financial Officer. forward-looking statements based on our current unknown risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ or projected in these statements.
Speaker #2: Thank you and good morning. Welcome to GoHealth's third quarter 2025 results call. Joining me today are Vijay Kotte, Chief Chief Financial Officer. forward-looking statements based on our current unknown risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ or projected in these
Speaker #2: most directly comparable GAAP financial release. You may also refer to the Investor tab. Relations presentation posted on the In the press release, we have website for reconciliations of measures in our press non-GAAP measures to the most information. earnings call.
Speaker #3: Each year, beneficiaries are challenged, as 65 million individuals are enrolled in Medicare, and nearly half plan options and annually need to.
Speaker #3: needs. The foundation of our model remains the Giving our agents a data-driven view best. Whether that means enrolling in a landscape, demand for Medicare Advantage
Speaker #3: fit. However, the shape of growth this year are prioritizing Turning to retention, stable member profiles, and has been Health plans tighten plan economics, reduce pre-funded marketing, remains strong. compensation.
Speaker #3: low-margin plans quarter to scale back our Medicare Advantage new plan or confirming eliminated or consolidated and adjusted broker health plan economics. We suppressed, and some health plans of a trusted broker is more shifted our capacity into GoHealth where unit economics did not Protect during SEP and saw health plans tightening important than ever. justify incremental profiles rather than pursuing volume unit economics rather than broad commissions eligibility and benefit now are I will now prioritized retention and stable member experience building and running irrational.
Speaker #3: Medicare Advantage health plans is As we disclosed with our Q2 In some cases, the that none of the actions that health plans are taking back made non-commissionable or were want.
Speaker #3: Medicare Advantage health plans is As we disclosed with our Q2 In some cases, the that none of the actions that health plans are taking back made non-commissionable or were very justified and pressures previously.
Speaker #3: want and what they do not We have been here lessons this year to move We learned early. Rather than chasing volume and from those cycles.
Speaker #3: priorities. One, quality over quantity. Two, retention submissions. And three, cash preservation and strategic flexibility. We retain our decisions and have been clear about what they objective guidance, including on three key adjusted compensation to reinforce confirming the consumer's existing plan when appropriate.
Speaker #3: over short-term continuing to invest in AI and declining economics, we focused automation that improve agent effectiveness, consumer experience, and member retention. We are confident that this will marketing toward retention, and And we use those today and maintain our strategic We have optionality moving keep our platform efficient forward.
Speaker #3: capabilities that matter to us: our These decisions preserve the member book, our retention and engagement model, our leadership and special needs plans, and our efficient platform.
Speaker #3: support from our lenders and have enhanced our We have continued governance structure to support this Secured Super Priority term loan obtained a new Senior facility including new capital, and covenant relief, and we refreshed our board with new directors aligned with strategy. long-term value creation.
Speaker #3: support from our lenders and have enhanced our We have continued governance structure to support this Secured Super Priority term loan obtained a new Senior facility including new capital, and covenant relief, and we refreshed our board with new directors aligned with strategy.
Speaker #3: We believe these actions provide the capacity to operate, invest, and fragmented broker landscape. Health plans have been very clear about what they want today.
Speaker #3: including consolidation in a Retention over new growth, special needs plans. We quality over quantity, and focused growth on Last quarter, we are aligning our strategy accordingly.
Speaker #3: leadership position in special needs plans most. where health plans are increasingly First, our reallocating resources. that matter to us the Total available non-special needs plan 2026 while special needs plan We are protecting the parts of the business options increased.
Speaker #3: This reflects a clear industry products decline for priority. Targeted growth where value and continuity of care are highest. Second, our quality. And third, our retention and engagement model.
Speaker #3: The broker landscape remains fragmented. And we believe the current environment supports consolidation. With a stronger balance sheet, lender support, and a refreshed board, we believe that we are positioned to lead integration where it creates value.
Speaker #3: Reducing duplicative high-quality member book that supports payment costs, improving backbook cash flow, enhancing the consumer experience. We look forward to continuing to provide you with updates as we progress down this path.
Speaker #3: Here are the messages I want to make sure are clear: our pullback is intentional. We prioritize long-term value creation rather than near-term enrollment volume. Stabilizing membership retention and Medicare is complex.
Speaker #3: And choice can be overwhelming. Our role clear. is not simply to move members into First, whether their current plan is still the new plans.
Speaker #3: between guidance and stability has always been core to how GoHealth serves consumers. Second, we preserve the capabilities that matter to us the most, including our technology platform, our retention and engagement model, our high-quality member base, and our leadership and special needs plans.
Speaker #3: with one thought. If our interpretation of the market proves It is to help them understand early or overly cautious, we believe we have preserved flexibility, through the protection of the member base, the platform, and the balance sheet.
Speaker #3: Alternatively, if we had chased projected volume in deteriorating economics and that assessment was wrong, the downside would have been significant and lasting. We chose the discipline path.
Speaker #3: We also remain optimistic. Medicare Advantage is a durable and important part of the U.S. healthcare system, and we expect the market to rationalize as benefit designs, STARS performance, and cost structures stabilize.
Speaker #3: Because we read the market and reacted early, maintained our core capabilities, strengthened our balance sheet, and aligned with health plan priorities, we believe GoHealth is positioned to return to revenue growth consistent with prior years when the market rationalizes.
Speaker #3: But with a meaningfully stronger margin and cash profile. With that, we will open the line for questions.
Speaker #2: To answer the question, please press *11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If we draw your question, please press *11 again.
Speaker #2: In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. You may then rejoin the queue. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster.
Speaker #2: Our first question comes from Robert McGuire with Granite Research. Your line is
Speaker #2: open. Good morning.
Speaker #3: And thank you for taking my question. So we've seen slowing and even contraction in parts of the Medicare Advantage market this year. Vijay, can you just give us an idea, your view of the Medicare Advantage growth trajectory over the next 12 to 24 months?
Speaker #3: And what catalysts could plans? No, Rob, good
Speaker #3: reaccelerate that growth? And what capabilities and investments best position stabilizes with retention and value-based GoHealth as the market
Speaker #1: morning. Good to hear your voice. Thanks for asking the question. This is an interesting topic. The market is one that has been dynamic for a lot of reasons, as you know.
Speaker #1: The health plans have been a driving force in that, alongside what the government has been looking at and how they can monitor and manage the program at the same time.
Speaker #1: As we think about the future, the propensity for membership to be stable and/or grow again, that's going to be dependent upon the health plan's ability to rationalize their cost structure, to really double down in their STARS scores, and to be able to get appropriate rate adjustments from the federal government to be able to invest in those products.
Speaker #1: So yes, I think the CMS numbers are a projection of a decrease of market penetration of Medicare Advantage versus prior years. That is probably, in my mind, more of a short-term item as the product gets reset and confidence is rebuilt in those products.
Speaker #1: That's why we feel it's prudent to have taken the action we did because there is uncertainty as to the stability of the new products that I think that are out there this year.
Speaker #1: As we wait, with anticipation as to how the health plans will perform under those products. This is also an interesting period where it's not just that the product is good today.
Speaker #1: business, it's about As you know, in our cash, cash flow, cash generation. We book our revenue on an LTV basis. But there's a presumption in those as you invest cash at time zero that relies upon a year-one renewal.
Speaker #1: And so understanding which products will be stable for multiple years is really critical. And so we do look forward to an opportunity where, over the next 12 to 24 months, health plans will have stabilized that cost can right-size or rationalize those structure.
Speaker #1: Products which, again, is consistent with all the verbiage they put out there. But we do believe Medicare Advantage is here to stay.
Speaker #1: We think this is a very strategic and valuable tool to consumers whom matter the most. This is important for their fixed incomes to be able to manage their total costs.
Speaker #1: So a long way to say, over 12 to 24 months, we do believe that the health plans according to their own projections will have stabilized their cost structures will be refocused in which geographies and which products make most sense to them.
Speaker #1: And then we will be able to align with those needs as we have historically. The last point I will make is that there is no doubt the majority of the health plans have doubled down on their interest in special needs plans.
Speaker #1: And we have maintained that capability while we continue to invest in our technology to support those focused needs, as we've been a leader in that space for years.
Speaker #3: OK, I appreciate that. Thanks. And just a follow-up on growth. Protect looks like it continued to grow in the third quarter. Can you give us a deeper discussion on the key drivers of that growth and how you're balancing your focus on Protect during AEP with a more retention-oriented MA posture?
Speaker #3: And then lastly, how we should think about protects 2026 revenue contributions and which quarters could grow or strongest throughout the year?
Speaker #1: No, I'm glad you brought it up. GoHealth Protect has been instrumental in the way we think about continued retention of our business. The more we can bring products that can enhance the peace of mind of our consumers, those that we have served in the past who are existing GoHealth customers, as well as new consumers who didn't even know these products were available.
Speaker #1: And we were able to test these at scale, as we talked about in our Q2 call, really moving most of our floor towards focusing on learning how to serve the population with this new product set, and to deploy it in an efficient manner.
Speaker #1: We've got great partners on the other side of the carriers who support these products. And the strategy had always been to have a portfolio of products that aligned with how we want to serve consumers both existing and new while being able to oscillate based upon the seasonality and the natural seasonality that exists in the Medicare Advantage space.
Speaker #1: And the GoHealth Protect product set actually is very complementary, meaning the peaks and valleys are offset. So when Medicare Advantage is more peaked, it's actually the lower period of time for the GoHealth Protect or guaranteed acceptance products.
Speaker #1: So, as we go through the next year, we now understand the seasonality of both products very well. We believe they're very complementary. We will go into 2026 with that same approach.
Speaker #1: And obviously, in the current AEP, focusing a little bit more on MA during the peak closing part of the AEP period where we're doing mostly MA and then coming right back into the guaranteed acceptance space.
Speaker #1: And then oscillating a little bit as we read and react to the marketplace in OEP and beyond. But you should not be surprised that as we think about the MA marketplace, it only really changes when benefit plan cycles change.
Speaker #1: So now we know the new portfolio products are available on the market for the 2026 plan year. What is unclear is what health plans want to do with those.
Speaker #1: Will they suppress more? Will they change their compensation for all the products that are out there? So we're going to be very tentative on that as we watch and learn from what we saw last year, where they were suppressions midstream.
Speaker #1: There were commission changes midstream. And there were sorry, continued changes all the way through OEP and going into SEP. So we want to be very thoughtful.
Speaker #1: And we're prepared for those changes as they might come through. But we are going to make sure that GoHealth Protect is augmented in there and can be more prime during the SEP and OEP period than you might have otherwise assumed.
Speaker #2: Thank you. Our next question comes from Pat McCann with Noble Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Speaker #2: Thank you. Our next question comes from Pat McCann with Noble Capital Markets. Your line is open. Hey, thanks for
Speaker #4: taking my questions. First, if you wouldn't mind, I know you've spoken about it already a little bit. But if you could talk a little bit about some of the more detailed reasons why you decided to pull back on the MA side of things.
Speaker #4: And then I guess if you could look at it from two different perspectives. On the one hand, what are the implications for you if you read the market correctly?
Speaker #4: But on the other hand, what were the consequences be if your assessment ultimately proves to be incorrect?
Speaker #1: Oh, good morning, Pat. Good to hear you. So look, this is. This is actually a fairly simple answer. We listen to what people were saying.
Speaker #1: We serve two primary constituents. We serve our consumers, the Medicare beneficiaries, who seek our services to help identify the best plan options for them.
Speaker #1: plans to be able to engage that population and either enroll or And we serve the health retain or service that consumer base. And both parties have communicated to us that this is a market where we need to pull back on new enrollment and focus on stability.
Speaker #1: The health plans have explicitly said they value retention. And they're going to do everything they can to drive higher retention to grow their membership as opposed to get aggregate new members.
Speaker #1: have indicated they would trade They're trying to balance that. new members for retained member But they nearly every time. So we listen to that.
Speaker #1: The second piece is we looked at the product landscape. We understand that a number of the products that are some of the best in certain geographies are ones that are not even commissionable.
Speaker #1: And many of the products that we've written are still stable. They are the best products for the consumers that we saw last year. So when we look at that fact base, and we hear what people are looking for, consumers want stability and peace of mind.
Speaker #1: Health plans want retention over new enrollment. And they're putting their money where their mouth is. And the consumer relationship to us is a long-term play.
Speaker #1: So when we assess all that, we said the best use of our capital is not to confuse the market. It is to focus on the consumers who have relied on us in the past.
Speaker #1: To drive retention when there's noise, we try to take some of those members we've served and put them in the right plan, before distracting them and confusing them with some other product that may be commissionable by another broker.
Speaker #1: And to make sure our base is stable and knows they're in the right spot. We feel confident the majority of our membership that we wrote is, and as we proved a couple of years ago when we launched the Plan Fit Save program, we built a reputation with our consumers that we were going to tell them what the right thing was for them, regardless of whether we got paid for it.
Speaker #1: And we've done that in a very concerted way on our current membership base as opposed to burning cash in the general marketing trend and having a lot of consumers come in that were ultimately going to tell them to do nothing.
Speaker #1: And we believe that should be the most consistent message delivered this year by anybody, speaking to a consumer. And so as we think about that dynamic, you could say, well, hey, there's a lot of messages out there today.
Speaker #1: How do you know you're right? We don't know for a fact that we're right, but our data says that we're directionally correct. The question is, to the extent we're correct, and where are the places that we're wrong?
Speaker #1: And I would say we as a leadership team assessed it from what are the risks here? The downside of our approach is that we might have not grown as much as we could have.
Speaker #1: We might have left an opportunity on the table. But we have retained all of our assets and our capabilities. We've maintained a cash position that gives us strength to move forward.
Speaker #1: We've retained and continued to invest in our technology. To be able to scale back when we're ready. So we might be just a little bit behind if we're wrong.
Speaker #1: But if we're right, and if we're more right than wrong, then that means if we hadn't made this decision, and we had continued to go into the market like we might have otherwise gone because of the attractiveness of the disruption in the marketplace, then that would have likely burned a lot of upfront cash that would not have been returned, let alone in the first part of next year.
Speaker #1: But even within a renewal cycle, because there's going to be a lower probability of those renewals. And as you know better than anyone, Pat, in this industry, you need that first renewal to do a cash-on-cash return on traditional agency-based business.
Speaker #1: So in history, Pat, we have always relied on looking at agency-non-agency. When we could do that, when we didn't think products were predictable. This year, we didn't have that option because of the health plans' lack of interest in new business.
Speaker #1: And thus, we think if we are would have gone down the path of trying to lead towards growth in the traditional manner, we would have had a lasting result, which would not have been good.
Speaker #1: And burning cash without an expectation to get a return on it is not the right way to survive the long game in the Medicare Advantage business.
Speaker #1: So those are the ways we looked at it. Those are the factors we assessed. And that's how we think about it. If we're wrong, we've just got to re-ramp and get going.
Speaker #1: But if we're right, the worst thing we could have done was to deploy a bunch of capital into this
Speaker #1: market. I appreciate that, Vijay.
Speaker #2: And then bit about why you think the finally, could you talk a little industry should consolidate and what specifically positions GoHealth to be a leader in that
Speaker #2: consolidation? Yeah, I
Speaker #3: think there's been a development of specialization within the broker space. But there is some unnecessary duplication of cost. We do know that we all serve consumers the same way.
Speaker #3: And have different approaches to the way we do it. But the consumers are seeking the same thing from everybody. When you think about the way to efficiently invest cash and capital to serve the most consumers you can, without causing extra noise in the business, we believe that a large volume of brokers in the industry, a lot of different constituents marketing at a significant level, introduces additional churn by their natural existence.
Speaker #3: We do believe there's duplicative expense on the fixed cost side, duplicative investments, and enhancements in technology and other types of capabilities that if you were to be able to combine, you could take the power of a strong consumer base in your backbooks deployed against leaner, more built-for-purpose administrative costs that can allow self-investment of cash.
Speaker #3: You generate enough cash to drive your growth. Less dependence on cash and compensation models with health plans. It gives you a lot of independence and capability.
Speaker #3: So the market has grown to a point, and you found natural leaders who do it the right way. And we believe that natural leaders with different expertise coming together get scale leverage.
Speaker #3: And that's why we think this is a prime time to do just that. And we're actively assessing the market for those types of endeavors.
Speaker #1: Thank you. Our next question comes from Ben Hendricks with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Speaker #4: Hey, thanks, guys, for taking the question. We've heard from carriers this quarter with Humana, kind of setting forth the most direct messaging about slowing new sales.
Speaker #4: To protect the economics of their existing members and, in some cases, suspending broker relationships, ahead of AEP, we just wanted to get an idea of how pervasive that kind of mentality is across your carrier base.
Speaker #4: The degree to which you're seeing that in other carriers. And then if Humana is kind of the more just what that weighting looks like in your book in terms of the importance to your Encompass platform and in other business.
Speaker #4: Thanks. Thanks,
Speaker #5: Ben. Appreciate the question. This is one where I think you refer to Humana specifically. But what I would tell you is most of the major health plans have learned the lesson.
Speaker #5: Right? Which is going back to '21, AEP, '22. I said in my prepared remarks that we've seen this story before. Any type of outsized growth, either intentional or unintentional, has not been a good move or outcome for the health plan that won that disproportionate growth in share.
Speaker #5: Why? Well, the health plan has been very specific about the challenges and profitability. But in addition, they've also highlighted the headwind it puts on your star scores.
Speaker #5: And each of the major health plans has been in that spot over the last three to five years, where they won more than they thought.
Speaker #5: It had significant profitability challenges for them to onboard all that membership in Q1. That onboarding challenge leads to stars challenges off the bat. And then hits you on the medical cost side, especially in the V28 world.
Speaker #5: So all that said, the health plans are trying to be very thoughtful of they'd rather grow slower or less than planned. And then be able to try to tweak it up than to be in a position where they need to pull it back.
Speaker #5: And I will tell you that is exactly what the health plans are trying to do. Nobody wants broad-based growth. Everybody wants even more than we've ever seen very specific targeted growth with very specific limits on it.
Speaker #5: But nearly every one of them has maintained that they want us to focus on stability, consistency, and retention. And that's exactly what we've done.
Speaker #5: So I think that's what's been happening in the doing. And that's how we're serving them. Because nobody wants to be that big winner that yields a big headwind for them in the first quarter of next year.
Speaker #5: year. That makes sense.
Speaker #4: And also appreciate your commentary about maintaining flexibility while also significantly reducing kind of costs related to the workforce. I wanted just to talk to you about kind of the mechanics of a reramp.
Speaker #4: When we need to get back into this, into kind of a full sales mode, what are the hurdles and the mechanics of getting re-ramped back to full capacity in the future?
Speaker #5: No, it's a great question. Obviously, we had to make sure we scrutinized that to maintain all the capabilities that enable that. We've invested, as we've talked about over the last almost three years, in enhancing our technology to do one thing.
Speaker #5: When I started here, one of the biggest cash burns was the cost of ramping agents during SEP and the advance of AEP, right? Because ramping is always generally a challenge in any dynamic and positive marketing environment.
Speaker #5: Ramp has been a challenge. And so what did we do? We focused our efforts to standardize our technology and tools to really leverage how to tie in your learning and development function to train and bring on agents faster, to deploy them with high quality and to do it in the shortest time possible.
Speaker #5: When we first started here, it took up to 16 weeks to get an agent up to ready to sell, as we would call it, and have the right training.
Speaker #5: As you saw last year, we brought on the teleco team. We did that within two weeks and got them to double their production and that is what our tool can do.
Speaker #5: So, we’re maintaining that capacity, maintaining that capability, and continuing to invest in the AI and automation tools that standardize the process. That’s the key to ramp.
Speaker #5: Standardize the experience so that a new person who's licensed can easily flow in and let the technology do their work and let the agent do what they're supposed to do on the call.
Speaker #5: Answer nuanced questions and give peace of mind. They can't. They're not there to decipher the 3,000 plants. That's what the tech does. So, when we think about identifying that market opportunity where the health plans are starting to lean back into it, they tend to give you a little bit of line of sight into that.
Speaker #5: And then we begin to ramp. And there are plenty of agents out there. When we've needed them, we can go out and get it.
Speaker #5: And right now, I think a lot of people are available if you wanted to start to ramp tomorrow. Not saying that's what we're doing.
Speaker #5: But I will tell you that when you want to, we'll be able to find those agents and we'll be able to put them through our platform or bring them on and ready to sell faster than anything we've seen in the market thus far.
Speaker #1: Thank you. Our next question comes from Jim Sadotti with Sadotti & Co. Your line is
Speaker #1: open. Hi, good morning.
Speaker #6: Thanks for taking the question. So I'm trying to figure out how you navigate the next 12 to 24 months until enrollments start to ramp again.
Speaker #6: Where is your cash balance today? And where do you think the what do you think the cash burn will be over the next few
Speaker #6: quarters? Yeah, let's just start.
Speaker #5: I mean, I think you'll see in our filings approximately $32 million of cash at the end of the third quarter. And you've also seen we do have access to the continued draws for the new money that we've brought in as part of that super priority lender deal that we entered into at the end of last quarter.
Speaker #5: But this is really about making sure that you have a plan. Like I said, this is about cash management. This is about making sure you're deploying cash in an efficient way that is going to give you the best return on cash-on-cash return on that.
Speaker #5: And so when we think about place to enable us to have our proforma, we've got our plans in sufficient liquidity to run and operate our business to maintain compliance with our flexibility to come back when we're ready.
Speaker #5: And so when we think about place to enable us to have our proforma, we've got our plans in sufficient liquidity to run and operate our business to maintain compliance with our covenants, etc.
Speaker #5: When the And we're going to be very thoughtful about how we time market's ready for us to do that. But give us the it.
Speaker #5: And as we said in the previous response to Ben's question, it's critically important to have the continued investment in technology. We're not stopping our investments in our capabilities.
Speaker #5: We're going to enhance them. We're going to do it very thoughtfully how we deploy our cash against it to ensure that we are going to be even more ready.
Speaker #5: You can have even a shorter time to be to turn it up and turn it off quickly and effectively. And that capability is what we've, I think, proven to do well.
Speaker #5: And we're going to continue to develop. And that enables us to have reramped. confidence that our current plans allow That's the key. us the It's being able liquidity and capital structure still be a leader in to be able to serving consumers in this
Speaker #5: space. And how
Speaker #6: much capital is available to you from that super priority facility?
Speaker #5: As you may recall, it was $40 million of new money that had multiple opportunities for draw throughout the third quarter here at different trigger points based upon time date triggers.
Speaker #5: So the short answer is $40 million of new capital since we have accessible since we entered into that agreement.
Speaker #6: So between the cash you have on hand, the additional cash, do you think that's enough? And why? Why do you think that's enough?
Speaker #5: I I mean, one, obviously, we think it's enough. Because we think it maintains our capabilities or stability and still allows us to make investments.
Speaker #5: allows us to continue to pursue the It also consolidation in the industry, which we think is critical. We think that is a major unlock in the space too.
Speaker #5: But more importantly, we're doing what we do now. We're reading the market. And we're not trying to hope that there's going to be a cash-on-cash how are we able to do it?
Speaker #5: risk-adjusted cash-on-cash return. And I can't stress that enough. The math isn't just LTV to CAC. I need year CAC. And so when we start to see that open up, that's when we'll do it.
Speaker #5: that discipline around how we return. deploy the cash is going to lean conservative. That lean is going to enable us optionality where we're always going to leave some business We want high confidence, We're able to do it because one cash-on-cash versus a So that rigor, maximum possible.
Speaker #5: On the table and not trying to shoot to being disciplined and thoughtful. And this team, my team, which I'm very proud of for all the hard work they've done, it's not easy to make the moves we have.
Speaker #5: It gives me the confidence that we can continue to be nimble as the market shifts.
Speaker #1: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press *11 on your telephone. Again, that is *11 to ask a question from Dave Storms with Stonegate.
Speaker #1: question. Our next question comes
Speaker #1: Your line is open.
Speaker #7: questions. I just want to Good morning and thank you for taking my
Speaker #7: start. There's been a lot of emphasis on retention as a core part of the model for this year. Can you maybe walk through some of the logistics, some of the stuff that you're seeing on the ground to support this retention?
Speaker #7: Thinking between conversation support, stuff like that. And then maybe structure, any post-enrollment engagement, any early indications of success from some of the more recent cohorts that you're applying this
Speaker #5: No, thank
Speaker #5: you, Dave. It's an excellent question. It's so important to? to not just use words. Everybody's saying retention. The question is, what are you doing to put your money where your mouth is on retention?
Speaker #5: So yes, we have not done broad-based. You can go assess doing broad-based marketing to the general population. What we're doing is we're having focused service follow-ups with our consumers that we've had in our back book and continue to serve.
Speaker #5: We want to make sure that we're focusing our agents and not distracting them. So those of you who have ever been in these types of businesses, you'll realize when an agent is on the phone and he has an option to make a follow-up phone call or he's seeing a queue of leads coming in, what does that generate?
Speaker #5: you lean towards the new sale typically when you have those leads coming in. You see the That means queue. What we've done is we've shut that queue off.
Speaker #5: The queue is only for existing consumers to make sure we're focusing on servicing them as AEP begins. And that's a really important part of our strategy.
Speaker #5: Start there. Don't distract. Well, how are you going to make sure that your agents are really going to do a quality job there? You can put quality metrics.
Speaker #5: You can put KPIs in place. But you've got to change the compensation model. And that's exactly what we did. We did this years ago.
Speaker #5: When we started the plan, fit, save model. And we've doubled down on that program now. This is not just for interactions that you have on the phone.
Speaker #5: This is with our new members with plan, fit, save was taking leads out of the marketplace. And we put them in and we push them through to plan, fit, save.
Speaker #5: When we're doing it now, we're saying we're giving you a servicing of the backbook. Most brokerages out there aren't paying their agents incremental commissions and/or variable compensation.
Speaker #5: To support individual members. And that is what we've done. So we've done a concerted marketing effort, complemented by training technology, which is enhanced to deliver service in comparison of your current plan.
Speaker #5: And then doubling down on that by putting your compensation model to reward the right behavior and discourage bad behavior. And so we've done all those things.
Speaker #5: early indications and the first few weeks by some of our carriers is And the already been that our retention rate is better than the field.
Speaker #5: And that's well were in previous years. And so I will ahead of where we tell you that we are very excited about it. We're very proud of our agents.
Speaker #5: We've retained the best agents, the highest quality who serve the most consumers of this backbook to be able to do just this. And each one of those tactics that we can always be better is performing better than we had
Speaker #7: That's very
Speaker #7: helpful. Thank you. One more follow-up for me. There's been a lot expected. of focus, and I think we've all noticed this, the focus on the shift into special needs plans.
Speaker #7: How do you feel about your strategic positioning there? Maybe what differentiates GoHealth's ability to serve these SMP members effectively? And any training positioning, anything you're doing to maybe be ready for that shift there would be very helpful.
Speaker #7: Thank
Speaker #7: you. Well, thanks, Dave.
Speaker #5: The special needs population is one that is actually very near and dear to my heart. I've been building dual special needs plans for nearly 20 years.
Speaker #5: I mean, it's been a long haul here. And that's a population that has a very unique set of needs and questions. And for the average broker, it is hard.
Speaker #5: And it's a complicated conversation. It doesn't give the average broker a confidence that they're going on that product. And so what we've that friction with agents out.
Speaker #5: done is we've taken How did we do to have a consumer enroll and stay technology. The plan, fit, tool helps guide not only a consumer through the shopping process, but an agent through the shopping process to help support integrations with data sets to verify eligibility, to pull in data to give you potential eligibility on that? chronic special needs plans as well.
Speaker #5: done is we've taken How did we do to have a consumer enroll and stay technology. The plan, fit, tool helps guide not only a consumer through the shopping process, but an agent through the shopping process to help support integrations with data sets to verify eligibility, to pull in data to give you potential eligibility on that?
Speaker #5: that when that is the highest ranked product, meaning a dual special needs plan or a chronic special needs plan is the highest ranked product according to our proprietary tools, to facilitate enrolling the consumer in that and helping the agent ask real-time questions via our plan GPT platform that helps them get very nuanced answers to the specific questions of special needs population.
Speaker #5: random. It's not first in line. It's not a FIFO type approach. What it is, is thoughtful AI a very We used our proprietary logic-driven rating and matching That system that ensures that a very special consumer is getting a trained and knowledgeable agent who can help facilitate that.
Speaker #5: Because of all this complexity, that is why health plans are compensated in a different way. This is why health plans are able to drive different margin profiles.
Speaker #5: With that population, it's an important but complicated population that requires incremental investment to be made in infrastructure to support. We have that infrastructure. We have a differentially delivered approach in this space.
Speaker #5: And that is why it's a strategic alignment with what health plans want. So hopefully that was responsive. And I know probably a little bit long-winded, but I'm really proud of this technology and what we're able to do to serve this
Speaker #5: population. Thank
Speaker #7: you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Vijay Kotte, CEO, for closing
Speaker #7: remarks. Thank
Speaker #5: you, Daniel. This is a dynamic marketplace. It has been. The key as we look at it is to ensure that we are taking all the information we're exposed to and really sticking true to one clear statement.
Speaker #5: Most people tell you what you want. What they want. What they what you need to do is hear it. And we have heard it.
Speaker #5: We've listened to it. We've seen it. We've anticipated it. And we've taken the deliberate and disciplined actions to react to it, to enable ourselves to serve everybody the way they want to be served.
Speaker #5: Consumers want peace of mind. Health plans want stability and retention. They don't want us just risking the market with a bunch of marketing. They didn't invest; they didn't pre-fund.
Speaker #5: They didn't provide MDF the same way they historically did. They want to invest in reinforced retention. That's what the health plans have actually done.
Speaker #5: They put more incentives in retentions and renewals. And we have been nimble to be able to deliver on those capabilities to support exactly those things.
Speaker #5: stability, and retention. And I'd be remiss Peace of mind, if I didn't thank our team who has been so nimble with us. Showed so much integrity versatility resilience to be able to trust what we're doing to understand our goals to serve and to pass the temptation of short-term opportunity while we think about long-term cash on cash viability and strategic opportunity.
Speaker #5: So with that, we will close. And I really do appreciate everybody's participation this morning.