compare Medicare gap insurers within a Plan?

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Spock

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My wife turns 65 next month and it's time to get her signed up for Medicare.



I thought I had successfully navigated the alphabet soup of plans (I was thinking a Plan G-High Deductible) only to find 15 different insurance companies/policies to chose from... While having a choice is good, most of these are companies I've never heard of and some are like "what does that have to do with medical??" (ex: "State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company" on the medicare.gov website)), and no where do I find anything to differentiate one insurance companies Plan 'X' policy from another.

Some companies have multiple policies such as "Wellmark BlueCross Blueshield (Preferred)" and "Wellmark BlueCross Blueshield (Standard)"... with the "preferred" being cheaper than "standard". (One company's title is the questionable "Washington National Insurance Company (SUBSTANDARD)")


Google search is worthless is all the sources only compare the alphabet plans, not the policies within a given plan (ex. Plan G).

What sources have you found to compare/chose policies within a given plan letter?
 
Within a "PLAN X" supplement the coverages are all the same. The differences are the rating type, i.e., example, community or attained age basis. All will see price changes based on inflation, etc. that apply to the whole group. Some of these may also vary on whether the company "closes" a book of coverage and opens a new book and then the members in that first group may see higher rate increases.

You may want to check with an independent agent to ask which companies fall into the specific groups. A lot of people on here, including us have used Boomer Benefits based in Texas to help with the process and it costs no more than if you sign up directly with a company. Just my .02 worth of input.
 
In all of the policies - the benefits for a certain letter (G, N, etc) are exactly the same as you discovered.

In looking within an carrier if they have several flavors of the 'letter' one called standard and one called preferred they are differentiating for some specific reason. You need to compare both to figure out what the difference is. Sometimes it's an add-on perk like a discount - but they cannot change the basic benefit structure as that's dictated by CMS.

If a plan uses a label like preferred to infer it is better than the standard version of the same 'letter' - that's marketing. Compare the two. If the inferred 'better plan' is cheaper it means that product is relatively new and they are encouraging enrollment there. Next year the price might change (but most do!), just do a similar comparison when prices change.
 
Spock said:
My wife turns 65 next month and it's time to get her signed up for Medicare...
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the Medicare Supplement plans (aka Medigap) are identical in every say but premium. All plans labeled as 'G' have the same benefits. Be careful not to conflate Medicare Supplement plans with Medicare Advantage plans. Two different animals.
 
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As already pointed out, coverage is identical within a "letter" (e.g. G plan). What varies are premiums and historical/predicted premium stability. The latter often depends on how large the group is and of course, how old the average member is. That kind of info is hard to come by for individuals, so it is much easier to work with a broker. There are many out there - some good, some not, I suppose. From what I have seen so far, Medicareschool.com is a viable choice as I'm sure are many others.
 
Gotadimple said:
In looking within an carrier if they have several flavors of the 'letter' one called standard and one called preferred they are differentiating for some specific reason. You need to compare both to figure out what the difference is. Sometimes it's an add-on perk like a discount - but they cannot change the basic benefit structure as that's dictated by CMS.

If a plan uses a label like preferred to infer it is better than the standard version of the same 'letter' - that's marketing. Compare the two. If the inferred 'better plan' is cheaper it means that product is relatively new and they are encouraging enrollment there. Next year the price might change (but most do!), just do a similar comparison when prices change.
Click to expand...
Some carriers have two sets of rates, one for healthy individuals and another for the less healthy. The nomenclature is not consistent. Some companies call them Preferred/Standard and others use Standard/Substandard. The OP's wife will get the better rate since she's enrolling during the Medigap Open Enrollment Period. The less healthy rate only applies to those who pass underwriting but have some health issues. The non-medical perks like gym membership are not identified by this terminology.
 
Spock said:
My wife turns 65 next month and it's time to get her signed up for Medicare.



I thought I had successfully navigated the alphabet soup of plans (I was thinking a Plan G-High Deductible) only to find 15 different insurance companies/policies to chose from... While having a choice is good, most of these are companies I've never heard of and some are like "what does that have to do with medical??" (ex: "State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company" on the medicare.gov website)), and no where do I find anything to differentiate one insurance companies Plan 'X' policy from another.

Some companies have multiple policies such as "Wellmark BlueCross Blueshield (Preferred)" and "Wellmark BlueCross Blueshield (Standard)"... with the "preferred" being cheaper than "standard". (One company's title is the questionable "Washington National Insurance Company (SUBSTANDARD)")


Google search is worthless is all the sources only compare the alphabet plans, not the policies within a given plan (ex. Plan G).

What sources have you found to compare/chose policies within a given plan letter?
Click to expand...


The Automobile company is the parent and they have sold health insurance for 60 years, FWIW.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I've been resisting using a broker (boomerbenefits.com, etc) as I am expecting push the insurers that compensate them the most vs. what's the best available, but if the pool size, premium history, customer satisfaction type info is not publicly available I guess I'll rattle the cage of a local agency.

The main change I'll have to adapt to is this is a once-in-a-lifetime open enrollment vs. the annual choice from either ACA or employer plans.
Since Plan D is an annual choice, that's a no-brainer... cheapest available as wife is not on any meds. I not comfortable making the "chose your insurer for rest of your life" decision.
 
As long as you both are healthy you can change Medicare supplement plans fairly easily by going thru underwriting. We did this once after a couple years and the original plan g insurer had a fairly large increase. Even though DW is diabetic, controlled with medication, we were approved thru a new company.
 
wmc1000 said:
As long as you both are healthy you can change Medicare supplement plans fairly easily by going thru underwriting. We did this once after a couple years and the original plan g insurer had a fairly large increase. Even though DW is diabetic, controlled with medication, we were approved thru a new company.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Everything I've been reading/watching has claimed underwriting is next to impossible. Answer a single question "yes" and the agent will reject without even forwarding the app to underwriting.
 
wmc1000 said:
It was about 3 years ago, so things may have changed
Click to expand...
Found one source. The co-founder of Boomer Benefits about 2 minutes into the linked vid (the specific example she gave was changing plans vs. changing insurers within a plan).
 
Spock said:
Thanks for the replies.
I've been resisting using a broker (boomerbenefits.com, etc) as I am expecting push the insurers that compensate them the most vs. what's the best available, but if the pool size, premium history, customer satisfaction type info is not publicly available I guess I'll rattle the cage of a local agency.
Click to expand...
I think you're wise to be skeptical of brokers.

I went through this for my wife a couple of years ago and talked to many brokers. As I gained knowledge, I was able to plot every one of them on the spectrum. The "used car salesman" spectrum, that is, including boomer benefits. Some of them fell squarely into the "confuse 'em with lots of crap, then sell 'em what makes me the most money".

Zero of them led with the expected lifetime expense, even though I asked questions about pricing methodologies. I think I found one guy who had a video about the sick duck pool problem. But he had 50 videos, and this one could easily have been missed. My main goal for my wife was to avoid the case where she had a minor problem that would prevent switching, and be in a pool where all the healthy people left when the price went up.

You're right, being a consumer in this market isn't easy, but you certainly should be able to find out which policies are attained-age pricing, community rated pricing, and issue age pricing. To me, that is THE most important aspect of the policy. And the government has done us the favor of forcing them all to have the exact same coverage by letter. Reputation and customer service is going to be no better than using a divining rod, though.
 
I would say the most important thing to find if you can is if the insurer has a history of closing the books. . . leading to a higher premium down the road when no new healthy people are admitted.
 
I would agree about the problems with the brokers... I tried two of them and both had problems...


Both seemed to steer me to a smaller company that was 'the cheapest'... however, one did not give me a quote for AARP/UHC.. so I called and asked and they did not 'work' with that company...


The other gave me a quote that was higher than I got from a letter from AARP/UHC... I asked why I should pay $10 to $15 more just to have them as a broker... they said 'they were worth it'.... Well, not really as you did not even give me that option, I had to get it on my own...


I will say to look for what mail you get from AARP as the one letter I did get had a better rate than when I went on the UHC website..


Also, is it worth going high deductible? I thought not... the deductible on mine is the medicare amount and then it is paid 100% except for the $20 or so I have to pay... I am thinking about the future years when I might be hitting the full deductible each year... I do not want to pay $6K or so each year.... trying to save today might cost a LOT of money in the future...
 
I also went through a local broker when I signed up for Medicare almost 6 years ago. I had already spent lots of time researching so I knew what I wanted, the insurance company I wanted and the price I wanted to pay.

The broker did not offer me that option up front but when I told them what I wanted, I was told they didn't have the information for AARP/UHC Plan G but would get it for me. The next day they provided me the information at the same price I already knew was accurate so I signed up through them.

The primary reason I did the signup through them was the fact I was leaving on my annual 5 week dive trip and didn't want to deal with it while vacationing in a foreign country. The broker completed my application for me and took care of everything while I was gone sending an email to let me know the signup was done.

Worth every penny I didn't pay them. LOL

DGF is soon to start the process as she turns 65 on Jul 2 although she will probably go with Kaiser Medicare Advantage as she has been under their care for over 30 years now and is reluctant to change doctors. So in her case, no broker required, just a transition from ACA to MA all with Kaiser.
 
5Miler said:
I also went through a local broker when I signed up for Medicare almost 6 years ago.

The broker completed my application for me and took care of everything while I was gone sending an email to let me know the signup was done.

Worth every penny I didn't pay them. LOL
Click to expand...
But you did pay the broker . . . indirectly. UHC/AARP paid the broker a commission. The pricing on the products assumes a commission will be paid to a broker. It's not large, and it can't be split out. The premium is what they filed with CMS.

The agent did you a service and deserves to be paid. Lucky for you United Healthcare willingly does that.
 
Gotadimple said:
But you did pay the broker . . . indirectly. UHC/AARP paid the broker a commission. The pricing on the products assumes a commission will be paid to a broker. It's not large, and it can't be split out. The premium is what they filed with CMS.

The agent did you a service and deserves to be paid. Lucky for you United Healthcare willingly does that.
Click to expand...

My cost would be the same regardless of how I signed up, directly with UHC or via a broker. Spin it any way you want.
 
Found some new "news". The practice of "close pool of business" is apparently done by creating new subsidiaries. This guy says the clients need to do "internal replacements between different the subsidiaries in order for their rate to be stable".
Mutual of Omaha subsidiaries mentioned at about 5:20
Curious how switching pools is done, but his answer seems to be "if you're confused by this you need a broker" (paraphrased).

He also recommends Cigna as being easy to pass underwriting.

This guy comes across (to me) a little disingenuous by putting MoO in the top 5 despite acknowledging splitting pools.

P.S. Googling "sick duck pool" brings up how to care for a sick duck with no mention of insurance pools.
 
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