Health insurance is the most seasonal business in Google Ads. Medicare Annual Enrollment (Oct 15 - Dec 7) and ACA Open Enrollment (Nov 1 - Jan 15) are your entire year compressed into 10 weeks. CPCs spike 3-4x during enrollment. Healthcare.gov and Medicare.gov let people enroll directly — cutting you out entirely. CMS marketing guidelines mean half your ad copy gets disapproved. And when the window closes, your campaigns go dark until next year. You need a system that maximizes the enrollment windows and builds pipeline in the off-season.
$0
Off-season; spikes to $40-70+ during AEP/OEP
$0
With proper tracking; untracked agencies estimate much higher
$0/year
Per enrollee, renewable annually at 70-80% retention
$0/year
Initial enrollment; renewals at reduced rate
Medicare AEP starts October 15. ACA OEP starts November 1. Every year, you scramble to set up campaigns, write ad copy, and get through Google's review process. By the time your ads are running, early enrollees have already chosen plans through Healthcare.gov or a competitor. You lose 2-3 weeks of the window every year.
The government marketplaces offer direct enrollment at no cost. Consumers don't know that a broker's service is also free — they assume you charge extra. Your Google Ads compete against the government's own website, plus aggregator sites like eHealth and GoHealth spending $50M+ on marketing.
You can't say 'Medicare' in certain ad contexts without triggering CMS compliance rules. Terms like 'free,' 'guaranteed,' and 'no cost' are heavily restricted. Your ad copy gets disapproved, you rewrite it, it gets disapproved again. Each revision cycle costs you days during a 54-day enrollment window where every day matters.
Between January and October, most agents go quiet on Google Ads. But Special Enrollment Periods (job loss, marriage, moving, turning 65) happen year-round. Medicaid redeterminations push millions into the marketplace. These off-season searches have lower CPCs and zero competition from seasonal advertisers — but you're not running campaigns to capture them.
“How do you scale Google Ads for Medicare AEP when the window is only 54 days?”Reddit r/Insurance
“Healthcare.gov lets people enroll directly for free. How do independent brokers compete on Google?”Reddit r/PPC
“CMS marketing rules for Medicare ads are a nightmare. Half my copy gets rejected.”Reddit r/InsuranceAgent
You have a 54-day window for Medicare and a 75-day window for ACA. That's your entire year. The difference between 50 enrollments and 100 enrollments isn't budget — it's whether your campaigns are live on day 1, your ad copy passes CMS review on the first try, and you're capturing off-season SEP triggers that every other agent ignores.
Enrollments during AEP/OEP
Cost per enrollment
Off-season revenue
Ad disapproval rate
Each product builds on the previous one. Start where you are, progress at your own pace.
Connect your enrollment data to Google Ads. Track which clicks become enrollments, which enrollments effectuate (actually pay premiums), and which campaigns produce clients who renew — not just window shoppers comparing plans.
Two-mode campaign system: high-intensity enrollment window campaigns (pre-built, CMS-compliant, live on day 1) and year-round SEP campaigns targeting job loss, marriage, relocation, and turning-65 triggers at 60-70% lower CPCs.
Landing pages that answer the #1 objection: 'Why use a broker when I can enroll directly for free?' Side-by-side plan comparison tools, subsidy calculators, and appointment booking that proves your value before the first conversation.
Pre-built AEP and OEP campaign templates ready to launch day 1, CMS-compliant ad copy libraries, off-season SEP playbooks, and enrollment-to-effectuation dashboards. Stop rebuilding from scratch every October.
Tactics, case studies, and strategies for health insurance agents advertisers. No spam.
Your 10-week enrollment window is a sprint. Pre-built campaign templates, CMS-compliant ad copy, and plan comparison landing pages — ready to launch on day 1, not week 3. Then capture the off-season SEP triggers that every other agent ignores, at CPCs 60-70% lower than enrollment season.