Joanna Robin December 13, 2021
The TV campaign, which first aired in 2018 and stars 78-year-old Joe Namath, is for the Medicare Coverage Helpline. With a crinkled smile, Namath lists a handful of health care benefits—from no co-pays to home-delivered meals—intended to attract callers on Medicare. The kitschy campaign reaches peak saturation each year during the annual open enrollment period, with newer ads featuring Star Trek’s William Shatner and Jimmie Walker from Good Times.
The commercials pitch Medicare Advantage plans as an alternative to traditional Medicare, the popular public insurance program for seniors and certain people with disabilities. They offer extras, such as dental, vision, and hearing services, and prescription drug coverage. In the first half of 2021, around 42 percent of the Medicare population—roughly 26 million out of 62.7 million medicare beneficiaries—opted for Advantage plans, which also tend to have lower premiums.
So who is behind the aging-star-spangled hotline? TogetherHealth, a Florida-based insurance marketing firm, and its parent company, Benefytt Technologies, which is far less clean-cut than its all-American spokesman. Benefytt’s evolution offers a dizzying tour through the world of insurance brokers wading into consumer confusion to sell often subpar plans. Seniors are only one target.
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