It’s easy to blame legislators. Medicare is the way it is because we demand changes and new features, then choices and options. Then we refuse to provide everyone with complete coverage.
Medicare Medigap and Part D provider selection - A Medicare Newby's path
- Thread starter Telly
- Start date
Chuckanut
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
This article may be helpful to some. Item #5 was particularly interesting to an acquaintance of mine who was considering switching to an Advantage plan.
http://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/7-things-you-must-know-about-medicare/
“The Annual Election Period is NOT for Medigap Plans
One of the biggest misconceptions of Medicare is that the Annual Election Period (AEP) is used for enrolling in Medigap plans without going through underwriting. This is incorrect. The AEP is only for Medicare Advantage plans and Part D drug plans.”
Note that the rules vary by state.
http://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/7-things-you-must-know-about-medicare/
“The Annual Election Period is NOT for Medigap Plans
One of the biggest misconceptions of Medicare is that the Annual Election Period (AEP) is used for enrolling in Medigap plans without going through underwriting. This is incorrect. The AEP is only for Medicare Advantage plans and Part D drug plans.”
Note that the rules vary by state.
CRLLS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Excellent writeup. I went thru this last year for DW and then later for myself. The 2nd one was easy as I already knew the choices. One thing to understand is that not all medigap providers offer all plans. I chose the plan first (F-HD) and then the provider. I would have chosen AARP, but they didn't offer F-HD in Illinois. Illinois has a great website that shows each provider, what plans they offer and their rates at 65 and every 5 years of age afterwards. So comparing the dollars was easy. In IL, AARP was the only one that offered Community Rating. With Community Rating, all participants are charged the same price. The real truth is, AARP offers Community Rating but also a discount for earlier years, thus making it an age related pricing structure in spite of it. Community Rating is a big plus in the later years.
Great post Telly and a great idea to purchase access to info on different supplemental companies and their plan rates. Of course in my opinion after corresponding with a few insurance brokers and reading many threads on a senior insurance forum linked further down in this post, most would likely disagree with this.
I have a background in health insurance and started my career processing Medicare claims, so for me I had a huge advantage over most people when it came time to learn/get back up to speed on Medicare and all the supplemental plan options and the companies that offer the plans. For me I found watching YouTube videos about Medicare much less boring than reading about it.
I live in FL and in my research I found FL supplemental rates are posted online yearly by the FL Insurance Dept, which helped me tremendously when looking at the plan rates for all the different supplemental plans before I even corresponded with an insurance broker.
https://apps.fldfs.com/mcws/CWSSearch.aspx
When researching about different companies that offer Medigap plans, I also found another website which helped me tremendously. Info such as what companies close their Medigap plan subsidiary in order to open up under a different subsidiary to keep initial rates low, how often some companies raise their rates and what brokers think about these companies, etc. No broker works with all insurance companies and some only work with the ones that offer them the greatest commission.
https://insurance-forums.com/community/forums/senior-insurance-forum.27/
Medicare Advantage was out for me from the beginning. We travel too much to have a MA plan, plus once you become ill, your out of pocket cost will likely be higher than having original Medicare with a supplemental plan.
South Fl has some of the highest supplemental insurance rates in the country and in the end I went with Plan F HD, which most brokers will not recommend, because the commission is so low and also because they think most older people will not be able to handle the $2240 maximum yearly deductible, which is a non-issue for me.
I have a background in health insurance and started my career processing Medicare claims, so for me I had a huge advantage over most people when it came time to learn/get back up to speed on Medicare and all the supplemental plan options and the companies that offer the plans. For me I found watching YouTube videos about Medicare much less boring than reading about it.
I live in FL and in my research I found FL supplemental rates are posted online yearly by the FL Insurance Dept, which helped me tremendously when looking at the plan rates for all the different supplemental plans before I even corresponded with an insurance broker.
https://apps.fldfs.com/mcws/CWSSearch.aspx
When researching about different companies that offer Medigap plans, I also found another website which helped me tremendously. Info such as what companies close their Medigap plan subsidiary in order to open up under a different subsidiary to keep initial rates low, how often some companies raise their rates and what brokers think about these companies, etc. No broker works with all insurance companies and some only work with the ones that offer them the greatest commission.
https://insurance-forums.com/community/forums/senior-insurance-forum.27/
Medicare Advantage was out for me from the beginning. We travel too much to have a MA plan, plus once you become ill, your out of pocket cost will likely be higher than having original Medicare with a supplemental plan.
South Fl has some of the highest supplemental insurance rates in the country and in the end I went with Plan F HD, which most brokers will not recommend, because the commission is so low and also because they think most older people will not be able to handle the $2240 maximum yearly deductible, which is a non-issue for me.
Crabby Mike
Recycles dryer sheets
Just ran across this thread, and found it interesting, and similar to the process I and DW have gone through over the past year. We both ended up going with AARP/UHC Plan G, and the only tidbit I can add is that we were surprised to receive a "family discount" -- mine alone was $120/month, while both of us combined totaled $223/month.
ShokWaveRider
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I was wondering what the latest I can sign up for Medicare part D before incurring a penalty when I eventually do? Is it 3 months after turning 65, or 3 months plus 63 days after turning 65?
The Initial Enrollment Period is three months after the month you turn 65. The 63 days is for the Special Enrollment Period.
https://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-11-2009/part6_enrolling_in_Medicare_partd.html
https://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-11-2009/part6_enrolling_in_Medicare_partd.html
