How to Cross-Sell Life Insurance to Your Medicare and ACA Clients
In short: Your Medicare and ACA clients already trust you with their health coverage, which makes you a natural person to review their life insurance. Start the conversation at life events and annual reviews, focus on the family’s needs rather than the product, and offer a simple “life insurance checkup.” Adding life insurance protects your clients, deepens the relationship and makes your book more stable.
Many of the people you help with health coverage have no life insurance, or not enough. According to the 2026 Insurance Barometer Study from LIMRA and Life Happens, 52% of Americans own life insurance. About 38% of adults, or roughly 92 million people, say they need coverage or need more.
That gap is an opportunity to serve the clients you already have.
Why Should Health and Medicare Agents Offer Life Insurance?
You already know your clients’ families, health, income and plans. You have earned their trust. That puts you in a better position than a stranger to talk about protecting their family.
Adding life insurance also helps your business:
- Stronger retention. Clients with more than one product from you are less likely to leave.
- Steadier income. Life sales are not tied to Medicare or ACA enrollment windows.
- More referrals. Helping a family through a death claim earns lasting loyalty.
Which Clients Need a Life Insurance Conversation?
Anyone with people who depend on their income, or who would be left with their debts, likely needs life insurance. Watch for these groups in your book:
- ACA clients with young families. They often have a mortgage, childcare costs and little savings.
- Self-employed clients and business owners. They usually have no group life coverage through an employer. Business debts, loans, leases and taxes can fall on the estate.
- Clients turning 65. Many lose group life coverage when they retire.
- Medicare clients with final expense worries. A smaller whole life or final expense policy may fit. See our guide on final expense insurance for Medicare agents.
When Is the Best Time to Bring Up Life Insurance?
Life events change what a family needs. They also give you a natural reason to call. Good times to start the conversation include:
- Marriage or divorce
- A new baby or adoption
- Buying a home or refinancing
- Starting or selling a business
- A job change or retirement
- A death in the family
- Your client’s annual health or Medicare review
Add a life insurance question to every annual review: “Has anything changed with your family, home or work this year?” One question opens the door without a sales pitch.
How Do You Run a Life Insurance Checkup?
Keep it simple. A checkup is a short review of what the client has and what their family would need. Cover these points:
- Current coverage. Group life at work, individual policies and beneficiaries.
- Debts. Mortgage, car loans, credit cards and business debts.
- Income replacement. How many years the family would need support.
- Future costs. Childcare, college and daily living expenses.
- Final expenses. Funeral costs and remaining medical bills.
- Beneficiaries. Confirm they are current, especially after marriage, divorce or a death.
Health, income and family change over time. Encourage clients to review coverage after any big life event, or at least every few years.
Which Life Insurance Products Fit Different Clients?
Match the product to the need and the budget:
| Client need | Product to consider |
|---|---|
| Affordable protection while kids are young or a mortgage is open | Term life |
| Lifelong coverage and cash value | Participating whole life |
| Flexible premiums and lifelong coverage | Universal life |
| Funeral costs and final bills for older clients | Final expense |
How Does Lourie Agent Partners Help You Add Life Insurance?
You don’t have to become a life specialist overnight. Lourie Agent Partners gives you a team to lean on:
- Direct appointments with a wide range of life carriers for term, whole life, universal life and final expense.
- Commissions paid directly to you, fully vested from day one.
- Full-service training through in-person workshops, live and on-demand webinars, and bi-weekly partner calls. See our training and resources.
- Quoting tools for final expense and other products, plus help from our team when you have a case question.
- Marketing that leverages your existing book, so you can reach the clients you already serve.
Not ready to sell life yourself? Our referral program lets you refer a client and receive a referral fee if we help complete an application.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You need a life insurance license in your resident state, plus nonresident licenses where you sell. Many health agents already hold a combined life and health license.
Ask about life changes during annual reviews. Focus on the client’s family and goals, not a product. Most clients appreciate an agent who looks out for the whole picture.
It depends on debts, income, family needs and existing coverage. A simple checkup of those areas gives you a starting point for a recommendation.
Yes. Many carriers offer final expense and other policies for older adults, often with simplified underwriting and no medical exam.
You can still help. Through the Lourie referral program, you can refer clients to our team and receive a referral fee if we help complete an application.
Protect the Whole Family, Not Just Their Health
Your clients already trust you. Adding life insurance helps you protect their families and build a stronger, steadier book. Get contracted with Lourie Agent Partners or call (803) 256-2067.