Medicare Supplement Question

[stillmuchtolearn]

First, I'd like to say I've certainly enjoyed this forum.  Like others, I've learned a great deal from reading it.  I suppose you'd all wonder if I've learned so much, why we handle our finances as we do.  We're 60 and 63 years old and like to be as sure as possible that the money we have is not at risk.  We have $465,000 invested all in CD's.  Some earn 6 percent at PenFed, and the others average about 5.5 percent.  We draw out approximately $16,000 interest from them each year, and leave the rest there to try to offset inflation.  My husband draws a little over $19,000 a year in social security and has his health insurance paid for through a previous employer.  We do some odd jobs to add about $10,000 a year to our income.  We have no other money--that's it!  My social security will be from his account, as most of the time I've been a stay at home mom and grandma.  We are debt free.  We live in a very nice 3400 sq. ft. house on 15 acres in a beautiful country setting.  We plan to add on another 600 sq. ft. in the near future.  We have three very nice large outbuildings also, so we have quite a lot of equity here if we ever get in a bind and have to sell.  But we love our place.  We've built it all ourselves and are very attached to it.  Woodworking is our hobby.  My question is as follows.  Right now we have to pay for my health insurance.  It's $6000 a year, so it takes quite a bite out of our income.  I'm in excellent health, so there's no issues there, thank goodness.  We've tried to ask our insurance company what a medicare supplement would  cost per month if I was old enough right now.  We know things could change, but they wouldn't even give us an idea.  We only want to know so we kind of have an idea if we can expect the premium to go down only a little from what it is now, or if maybe it will go down noticeably.  Like I said, I realize we won't know for sure until the time comes.  But I'm wondering if some of you can tell me how your premiums changed from the time you had regular health insurance to when you switched to a medicare supplement.  Thank you for your help.

 

[haha]

But I'm wondering if some of you can tell me how your premiums changed from the time you had regular health insurance to when you switched to a medicare supplement.  Thank you for your help.

Your expenses will go down meaningfully.

Medicare part A is free; Part B this year costs $88/mo.

Supplements come in all different types, but if you are trying to preserve freedom to go to any doctor, you will want regular Medicare and a supplement, as opposed to a PPO or HMO type plan. They vary in price but not elements from state to state, and possibly within states. I have type F, a fairly high end plan. It costs me $131 per month; and in this state at least, although the cost will go up with inflation, it does not increase with my age.

You will want to add drug coverage to that. I took the low end coverage, which can be upgraded if necessary without penalty, I believe once a year in December.

I pay $7 per month for my drug coverage, which IMO is not bad at all. So while you now pay $6000/12, or $500 per month, I pay $88+$131+$7 =$226.

If money is tight, HMO type plans are often cheaper.

As I say, it varies from state to state. You don't need your insurance company to tell you anything. Get hold of your state insurance commissioner’s office, and ask for the schedule of plans offered and prices. They are fixed, so there is no reason for you insurance company to ask you anything.

Also, you might want to consider getting a more co-operative insurance agent. This one sounds like a dud.

Ha

 

[astromeria]

My mother is 80 years old and has what she describes as a great wrap-around plan with complete freedom of choice in doctors. She pays $280/month for it. Probably has little or no deductible.

(I was going over her auto insurance with her yesterday as she had just received the latest bill when I came over, and she has only a $500 deductible on her collision coverage. She was a bit taken aback when I suggested a $2500 deductible--or even dropping that coverage on her 7 year old car, but said she'd talk to her agent. I was trying to find a way to save on her $900 car insurance bill.)

 

[Mr._johngalt]

My mother is 80 years old and has what she describes as a great wrap-around plan with complete  freedom of choice in doctors. She pays $280/month for it. Probably has little or no deductible.

(I was going over her auto insurance with her yesterday as she had just received the latest bill when I came over, and she has only a $500 deductible on her collision coverage. She was a bit taken aback when I suggested a $2500 deductible--or even dropping that coverage on her 7 year old car, but said she'd talk to her agent. I was trying to find a way to save on her $900 car insurance bill.)

My parents (late 80s) still carry collision on both their vehicles
(17 years old). Obviously this makes no sense. So, why haven't
I changed it (I have POA)? Sure as the world as soon as I drop
the coverage one of them will have an accident and I'll be the bad guy.
Can't explain it to them either as they are both financially naive.

JG

 

[modhatter]

Your medicare suppliment policy ranges in cost between states. As an example I got a quote using AARP policy and the cost in Arizona for the F policy was around $130 a month as I remember, but the same insurance and coverage in Florida cost over double that amount.

As another poster mentioned. If you want to save even more you can get a HMO medicare policy that will cost you nothing, but you will have to go to their doctors on their list.

Also, if you want to get a quote from AARP, they have a web site for this. You will have to fudge your age a bit to get the numbers. These numbers would be for a policy now, and not nec. when you turn 65.