The federal government is likely to put the kibosh on aggressive sales tactics that have been used to push privately managed Medicare plans, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said yesterday.

Cold calling would be out, as would selling at health fairs and in waiting rooms. If a potential customer agreed to a meeting to discuss one Medicare product (the Part D drug benefit, for example), the salesperson wouldn’t be allowed to also pitch a second product, (such as a Medicare Advantage plan to cover other health expenses).

And companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans would have to get rid of commission structures that reward salespeople for churning customers from one plan to another, year after year.

The proposal isn’t a big surprise. As the WSJ points out, the insurance industry itself proposed a similar set of restrictions earlier this year, amid complaints from state officials and some congressmen that complicated plans were sometimes being foisted on senior citizens who weren’t always aware of what they were getting into.

And UnitedHealth, the biggest seller of Medicare Advantage plans, says it has already moved to a commission structure that discourages churning, the WSJ says.

The industry has a particular incentive to make nice with the feds on this stuff. Democrats have questioned the cost of Medicare Advantage, which is higher than traditional Medicare. And with Congress looking for a way to avert a planned Medicare pay cut to doctors, trimming some of cost on Medicare Advantage may prove an appealing option.

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