MedicareBob

Most people pay their Part D drug plan premium out of their Social Security check. Don’t be alarmed if you change your Part D drug plan this Annual Enrollment Period and you receive your Social Security statement with it showing the drug plan you had for last year. This is perfectly normal. Understand that this is just two different sides of the Government that sometimes have a lag time in communicating. All you need to worry about is that you enrolled in your new Part D drug plan for 2019 and you have your policy confirmation number. As long as you have this information, you are in good shape.

This Rate Watch Wednesday is focused on Medicare Supplement Plan G, for a male and female, ages 65 thru 75 in El Paso, Texas (zip code 79936). As I have said before, Medicare Supplement plans are all Federally regulated by the government. There is no reason for anyone to pay more for their Medicare Supplement Plan G with one carrier over another because the letter of the plan dictates the coverage, not the carrier. You are not getting any additional benefits by paying more. That’s why it is important to shop your Medicare Supplement coverage every year, and we can help you with that.

You may ask, “Why do these companies charge different prices if they are all the same?” That’s a great question. Carriers have different administrative costs and they have different profit goals. There’s tons of different reasons why these big companies charge different prices. What you need to know is, just like in your Medicare book, Medicare Supplement Plan G is the same with every carrier.

A common mistake that many people make is when they go to the Pharmacy to pick up their diabetic medications and use their Medicare Part D card, they also try to use the same card to pick up their diabetic supplies. Unfortunately, they then find out that Medicare Part D does not cover diabetic supplies. Medicare Part B covers diabetic supplies like blood sugar testing strips, lancet devices and lancets, blood sugar control solutions etc. So, when going to purchase diabetic supplies, you want to have your red, white and blue Medicare Card and your supplement card available. That is who is going to pay for those supplies.

The Medicare Supplement Plan G pays all the benefits that Medicare Part A and B would normally charge you, except for the Medicare Part B annual deductible, which for 2019 is $185. One question that we get asked quite often is, “When does this deductible reset?”

The Medicare Part B annual deductible resets every year on January 1st. Medicare considers the calendar year January 1st to December 31st. If you have a Medicare Supplement that requires you to satisfy that annual deductible, and you have not yet met your deductible for the year, it will reset January 1st and you would be required to pay the full amount of the deductible the next year.

If you are wanting to upgrade from a Medicare Advantage Plan to a Medicare Supplement or if you are switching from one Medicare Supplement Plan to another Medicare Supplement Plan, you will have to medically qualify to change.

In most states, if you have a Medicare Advantage Plan (HMO or PPO) and you would like to upgrade to a Medicare Supplement Plan, every carrier has a set of health questions that you will have to answer. This is known as underwriting. If you can not pass underwriting, you will not be able to upgrade.

The same rule applies if you are switching from one Medicare Supplement Plan to another. For example, if you have a Medicare Supplement Plan F and are wanting to switch to the Medicare Supplement Plan G in order to save money on your coverage, you will be subjected to medical underwriting.

This Rate Watch Wednesday is focused on Medicare Supplement Plan G, for a male and female, ages 65 and 70 in Gainesville, Georgia (zip code 30501). As I have said before, Medicare Supplement plans are all Federally regulated by the government. There is no reason for anyone to pay more for their Medicare Supplement Plan G with one carrier over another because the letter of the plan dictates the coverage, not the carrier. You are not getting any additional benefits by paying more. That’s why it is important to shop your Medicare Supplement coverage every year, and we can help you with that.

You may ask, “Why do these companies charge different prices if they are all the same?” That’s a great question. Carriers have different administrative costs and they have different profit goals. There’s tons of different reasons why these big companies charge different prices. What you need to know is, just like in your Medicare book, Medicare Supplement Plan G is the same with every carrier.

October is here and with that comes the Annual Election Period. In this video I will discuss what the 2019 Annual Election Period means for you and whatever coverage you have.

If you have a Medicare Supplement Plan (Medigap), you can shop now to save money on your supplement plan. Just a reminder, you can actually do that all year however, now is a good time to do it because a lot of companies have their rates published for 2019.

If you have a Medicare Part D drug plan, this is a very important time for you. The Annual Election Period is the only time in the year that you can shop your Part D drug plan. Between October 15th and December 7th, you can shop and compare your Part D drug plans with the new plans.

If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan, again, this is the only time in the year that most people can shop their Advantage Plan. You should have received your ANOC (Annual Notice of Change) in September of any changes being made to your plan. So, you can now compare your plan and the changes made to any other plans available in your area and what they are offering for 2019.

During this Annual Election Period, there is one very important thing to know before you make your final choice on whether or not to purchase a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Medicare Supplement Plan (Medigap). If you decide to choose any of the Medicare Advantage Plans, please understand that, should you want to upgrade later in life to a Medicare Supplement, you may not be able to because at that point you will have to medically qualify to upgrade your coverage. I am not against Medicare Advantage Plans, because my company offers them. They are good health plans for certain people. However, for the majority of people that are 65 years old or older, it can make a lot of sense to purchase a Medicare Supplement Plan, especially if know that you will have to medically qualify to upgrade later in life. Please shop all of your options for coverage before making your final choice.

This Rate Watch Wednesday is focused on Medicare Supplement Plan G, for a male and female, ages 65 and 70 in Santa Fe, New Mexico (zip code 87501). As I have said before, Medicare Supplement plans are all Federally regulated by the government. There is no reason for anyone to pay more for their Medicare Supplement Plan G with one carrier over another because the letter of the plan dictates the coverage, not the carrier. You are not getting any additional benefits by paying more. That’s why it is important to shop your Medicare Supplement coverage every year, and we can help you with that.

You may ask, “Why do these companies charge different prices if they are all the same?” That’s a great question. Carriers have different administrative costs and they have different profit goals. There’s tons of different reasons why these big companies charge different prices. What you need to know is, just like in your Medicare book, Medicare Supplement Plan G is the same with every carrier.

There are three main reasons why paying your Medicare Supplement premium by direct bank draft is the preferred way to pay your premium:

1. It saves money. There has to be employees to process the mail and checks that carrier receive in the mail. This means that the carriers need to pay more people and if it costs the carriers money, it costs you money. Carriers like direct bank draft because it saves them money, which in turn, keeps the premiums low.

2. It’s more secure. When sending a check in the mail, there is always the chance for error. Either it gets sent to the wrong place or gets lost completely. Much more people handle the check and have access to your information, which is always risky. By using direct bank draft, only your agent sees your information and it’s put directly into the processing system.

3. No lapse in coverage. Some people still prefer sending their checks in to pay their premium. I will use a real-life experience that happened to a client of mine. In this situation, a husband and wife still preferred to pay all their bills by mail and the husband handled all of the finances, which is very common. Unfortunately, he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized for quite some time due to complications. His wife, who was not accustomed to handling the finances, missed the bill for their policy and his coverage lapsed right when he needed it the most. Now, I was able to help them get their policy reinstated by proving that he had been ill and they were able to make the back payments but what if the carrier had said no and not allowed them to reinstate their policy? Now, when they really need the supplement, they can not use it because they failed to pay their premiums. If they had used direct bank draft, they could have avoided this issue all together.