Plan G Annual Increases?

[audreyh1]

I remember UHC/AARP was higher than MoO in our state but not considerably higher. Certainly nowhere near $180 versus $100. It might have been more like $115 versus $101 but I don’t exactly remember.

 

[wmc1000]

	DW	ME	INC
2018​	$88.23​	$101.45​
2019​	$87.81​	$100.98​	-0.47%​
2020​	$93.31​	$105.86​	5.50%​
2021​	$97.42​	$107.26​	2.77%​
2022​	$105.16​	$116.41​	8.25%​
2023​	$116.56​	$129.43​	11.02%​
2024​	$132.76​	$147.48​	13.92%​

Here are the changes in our Plan G premiums since inception. Changed companies in 2019 when original company would have went up by over 8%. Currently with a subsidiary of Manhattan Life, (Western United Life).

 

[MBSC]

The problem with that is the plans that don’t close the books have substantially higher premiums at age 65.

Plan G age 65 male premium in NC with spousal discount:

Doesn't close book:
$119 UHC/AARP (Basic - without extra benefits like gym)(no age increase after 86)
$130 Globe Life
$131 UHC/AARP with extras (no age increases after 81)
$133 BCBS-NC with gym reimbursement (no age increases after 80)
$142 USAA
$151 State Farm

Closes Books:
$97 MedMutual (new book opened 1/1/2025)
$104 Bankers Fidelity
$114 Cigna
$116 Woodmen of World
$117 ACE Property (Chubb)
$123 Allstate ("first" book - too soon to tell if it will be their only book)

$125 Omaha Insurance Co (MOO)
$130 Aetna
$133 Humana
$141 AFLAC
$144 Medico
$150 Manhattan Life

 

[Pluperfect]

Since a lot of the comments revolve around AARP/UHC vs. Mutual of Omaha, I'll point out that you can go to senior65.com and get a list of quotes that includes both of those companies (as well as some others like Humana and Aetna). But they don't name AARP/UHC, and instead call it "Unpublished Top Insurance Provider" or "Unpublished Top Insurance Provider - May include gym membership."

You don't have to fill out any information other than date of birth, gender, and zip code. Bless you, senior65.com.

For a female turning 65 in Houston, MoO is more expensive than AARP/UHC:

AARP/UHC without gym benefits $158.44
AARP/UHC with gym benefits $163.15
Mutual of Omaha $170.40

I ran the numbers for Austin, and MoO was cheaper for the female turning 65:

AARP/UHC without gym benefits $140.39
AARP/UHC with gym benefits $150.19
Mutual of Omaha $128.15

 

[Midpack]

I remember UHC/AARP was higher than MoO in our state but not considerably higher. Certainly nowhere near $180 versus $100. It might have been more like $115 versus $101 but I don’t exactly remember.

Fair enough. I thought I looked once a few years ago and AARP was a lot higher than MoO, but evidently I’m mistaken.

 

[audreyh1]

For a female turning 65 in Houston, MoO is more expensive than AARP/UHC:

AARP/UHC without gym benefits $158.44
AARP/UHC with gym benefits $163.15
Mutual of Omaha $170.40

I ran the numbers for Austin, and MoO was cheaper for the female turning 65:

AARP/UHC without gym benefits $140.39
AARP/UHC with gym benefits $150.19
Mutual of Omaha $128.15

I think that’s because Houston is HCOL compared to other parts of the state. My (currently 65) AARP/UHC is $111.51 and this included a multi-insured discount which was substantial ($28.88 in my case). Well, without the multi-insured discount it would have been $140.39 which matches Austin pricing exactly. There are two of us on UHC/AARP so we each get the multi-insured discount.

 

[audreyh1]

MBSC looks like I'm the one who screwed up. My basic plan discount goes through age 86, age discount reduced 2% per year. And the one with extra benefits goes through 81, age discount reduced 3% a year. Sorry,

The discount for my basic plan is attached so folks can see how this age discount works.

 

[teejayevans]

Plan G age 65 male premium in NC with spousal discount:

Doesn't close book:
$119 UHC/AARP (Basic - without extra benefits like gym)(no age increase after 86)
$130 Globe Life
$131 UHC/AARP with extras (no age increases after 81)
$133 BCBS-NC with gym reimbursement (no age increases after 80)
$142 USAA
$151 State Farm

Closes Books:
$97 MedMutual (new book opened 1/1/2025)
$104 Bankers Fidelity
$114 Cigna
$116 Woodmen of World
$117 ACE Property (Chubb)
$123 Allstate ("first" book - too soon to tell if it will be their only book)

$125 Omaha Insurance Co (MOO)
$130 Aetna
$133 Humana
$141 AFLAC
$144 Medico
$150 Manhattan Life

NC uses attained age pricing, so I wouldn’t think they would need to close books?

 

[audreyh1]

NC uses attained age pricing, so I wouldn’t think they would need to close books?

Many states allow attained-age pricing, but books still get closed. Some of the plans listed above are community rated like UHC/AARP which uses an enrollment discount schedule to compete.

 

[Dtail]

Something I noticed is that the profile of the person with a $220 premium at age 65 says the location is Tampa. All Medigap plans in Florida are issue-age priced, and I wonder if that contributes to the premium for a 65-year-old being higher than for 65-year-olds in states where supplements have age-attained pricing, and the premium will go up every year just because they get older. Like the premium in issue-age states is front-loaded because it won't go up every year based on age. (It will go up based on claims and inflation, but they all do that.)

Yeah I seem to remember now that this should be the general reason for the difference.

 

[Texas Proud]

Like others have said... the rates were not that different when signing up...

In fact, AARP/UHC was cheaper than MOO.... there was a new company that was slightly cheaper than UHC but not enough for me to try it out as it did not have any history...

 

[FIREchief]

Since a lot of the comments revolve around AARP/UHC vs. Mutual of Omaha, I'll point out that you can go to senior65.com and get a list of quotes that includes both of those companies (as well as some others like Humana and Aetna). But they don't name AARP/UHC, and instead call it "Unpublished Top Insurance Provider" or "Unpublished Top Insurance Provider - May include gym membership."

You don't have to fill out any information other than date of birth, gender, and zip code. Bless you, senior65.com.

For a female turning 65 in Houston, MoO is more expensive than AARP/UHC:

AARP/UHC without gym benefits $158.44
AARP/UHC with gym benefits $163.15
Mutual of Omaha $170.40

I ran the numbers for Austin, and MoO was cheaper for the female turning 65:

AARP/UHC without gym benefits $140.39
AARP/UHC with gym benefits $150.19
Mutual of Omaha $128.15

Does senior65.com provide anything that Medicare.gov doesn't?

 

[teej1985]

Does senior65.com provide anything that Medicare.gov doesn't?

It's current information, but doesn't include all the options, only the ones that you can buy from them. It's not goin to show USAA or State Farm, for example.

 

[zaqxsw]

UHC doesn't close the book. MoO does.

There are subtle ways to start a new plan (book?). UHC in recent years started offering Medigap plans without the gym membership. That wasn't an option when I signed up in 2019. Maybe I'm wrong in what I say below...

So new people were looking at the difference in premiums between the older, "extra" plans and the new "basic" plans. If the difference was less than the gym membership allowance, why sign up for the old "extra" plan? Small change, but which plan did new enrollees sign up for?

Maybe the new enrollees chose the "basic" plans? Looking at SERFF website for Ohio, it looks like it backfired for both UHC and any new enrollees in the "basic" plans, at least for Plan G.

For 2025, Plan G, Non-Tobacco, in the "extra" plan will increase 13.9% while Plan G in the "basic" plan will increase 19.9%. The two offerings for the Plan G Base Rates in 2025 (what the UHC age discounts apply to) for a male in 2025 is the "extra" plan at $296.00 (Community is state of Ohio) vs. the "basic" plan (Community is 3 areas in Ohio - all increased 13.9%) at $320.87 (Area 1), $311.43 (Area 2), and $305.14 (Area 3).

I guess the new enrollees are using their benefits?

 

[audreyh1]

There are subtle ways to start a new plan (book?). UHC in recent years started offering Medigap plans without the gym membership. That wasn't an option when I signed up in 2019. Maybe I'm wrong in what I say below...

So new people were looking at the difference in premiums between the older, "extra" plans and the new "basic" plans. If the difference was less than the gym membership allowance, why sign up for the old "extra" plan? Small change, but which plan did new enrollees sign up for?

Maybe the new enrollees chose the "basic" plans? Looking at SERFF website for Ohio, it looks like it backfired for both UHC and any new enrollees in the "basic" plans, at least for Plan G.

This is not a new book type of deal. UHC/AARP has been offering two versions of its Plan G in many states for a long time and both are still available (open). You can still buy either plan in TX, so I don’t get your point. We each selected the basic plan because we weren’t interested in gym membership or the other extras so there was no incentive to us to pay that extra $10 per month.

 

[zaqxsw]

This is not a new book type of deal. UHC/AARP has been offering two versions of its Plan G in many states for a long time and both are still available (open). You can still buy either plan in TX, so I don’t get your point. We each selected the basic plan because we weren’t interested in gym membership or the other extras so there was no incentive to us to pay that extra $10 per month.

My point is you can create a new plan based on options and keep both open. Unfortunately, at least in Ohio, the new "basic" enrollees in Plan G for 2025 will pay more than "extra" members.

There was only one UHC Plan G in Ohio in 2019. Things change. I know there are huge differences between states and now areas.

It's good that folks can still choose between the two, maybe in all states including Ohio. So, no real "closed books", just a preference that isn't good for "basic" enrollees in Ohio.

 

[oldtrig]

I've had UHC/AARP for almost 13 years. My wife has had plan F for 11 years . Her plan will increase 6.9 % to $289.60 on June !st of this year. Mine will increase 11 % to $244.82 on same date.

 

[audreyh1]

My point is you can create a new plan based on options and keep both open. Unfortunately, at least in Ohio, the new "basic" enrollees in Plan G for 2025 will pay more than "extra" members.

There was only one UHC Plan G in Ohio in 2019. Things change. I know there are huge differences between states and now areas.

It's good that folks can still choose between the two, maybe in all states including Ohio. So, no real "closed books", just a preference that isn't good for "basic" enrollees in Ohio.

The option including gym membership has been around for quite a while. As long as an option stays open, you get new younger enrollees added.

In 2019 companies could still offer plan F. Maybe the gym membership option was available with Plan F not Plan G back then, who knows. There was a transition period when Plan F was phased out in 2020.

 

[AudiDudi]

I've had UHC/AARP for almost 13 years. My wife has had plan F for 11 years . Her plan will increase 6.9 % to $289.60 on June !st of this year. Mine will increase 11 % to $244.82 on same date.

Once Plan F was closed, it seemed to me that as people aged, (no more new young people) they would need more care, costs would rise and eventually as plan participants pass, there will be only 1 person in Plan F (hate to see the premium then )

 

[audreyh1]

Once Plan F was closed, it seemed to me that as people aged, (no more new young people) they would need more care, costs would rise and eventually as plan participants pass, there will be only 1 person in Plan F (hate to see the premium then )

Yeah, unfortunately for everyone who had selected Plan F all the Plan Fs were essentially closed.

However you could have chosen Plan G well before they closed Plan F, and many people did because the small deductible was usually way less than the annual difference in premiums.

And I think some companies made it easy to switch from Plan F to Plan G around that time.

 

[MBSC]

...Unfortunately, at least in Ohio, the new "basic" enrollees in Plan G for 2025 will pay more than "extra" members.

The basic plans have larger discounts. See the PDF in post #132 by @audreyh1. Most of the basic plan enrollees will be in their 60s-70s, so they will generally pay slightly less than the 'extra' plan's premium.

 

[zaqxsw]

The basic plans have larger discounts. See the PDF in post #132 by @audreyh1. Most of the basic plan enrollees will be in their 60s-70s, so they will generally pay slightly less than the 'extra' plan's premium.

Thanks! That helps in making sense of the base rates. So now AARP/UHC has at least three discount schedules based on standard base rates at age 77, 81, and 86 depending on when you enrolled.

 

[audreyh1]

They change those final age discount schedules occasionally. And yes it depends on when you enrolled. When DH signed up for basic in 2020 with an annual 3% discount reduction that started at age 69, I don’t remember the final age. For me on basic from 2024 I had a larger initial discount, and the final age (no discount) is 86 with an annual 2% discount reduction starting at age 68.

 

[AudiDudi]

Yeah, unfortunately for everyone who had selected Plan F all the Plan Fs were essentially closed.

However you could have chosen Plan G well before they closed Plan F, and many people did because the small deductible was usually way less than the annual difference in premiums.

And I think some companies made it easy to switch from Plan F to Plan G around that time.

That was why we chose Plan G 8 years ago.

 

[walkinwood]

MBSC looks like I'm the one who screwed up. My basic plan discount goes through age 86, age discount reduced 2% per year. And the one with extra benefits goes through 81, age discount reduced 3% a year. Sorry,

The discount for my basic plan is attached so folks can see how this age discount works.

I need some clarification about the discount schedule at AARP/UHC.

When I go to medicare.gov or AARP/UHC website, what they quote me for premiums is what I'll pay - right?
The discount schedule shows me how the "age related" component of the premium will increase each year.