Hello! I am 10 yrs away from Medicare but since we are relocating and have narrowed it down to AR or MO, I am wondering if one state is better to move to for Medicare reasons.
If I were in your shoes, I would give possible Medicare considerations very little weight in deciding where to relocate to. For example, I think it's entirely possible that in ten years, new enrollees could be limited to Advantage plans only. And it's really hard to predict what supplement premiums will be from year to year, never mind a decade from now.
And things can change dramatically, for example if a state that has no guaranteed-issue rights outside the initial enrollment period decides to enact at least a birthday rule, if not year-round guaranteed-issue rights. That would lead to much more flexibility in picking a plan, but also generally comes with higher premiums for everyone.
(FWIW, currently Missouri has a unique guaranteed-issue period around a person's Medigap policy's anniversary date, during which he can change to the same lettered plan from a different insurer (e.g., going from Plan G at Alpha Insurance Company to Plan G at Omega Insurance Company). Arkansas is like most states in offering guaranteed issue only during the intial enrollment period.)
Seems Arkansas is a Community Rated Medicare state, which if I understand, means rates are not based on age. Does this mean a 65 yo would pay what an 81 yo would in rates?
Yes. You can see for yourself in the websites where you see premiums by entering an age. The premium for a Plan G from Alpha Insurance Company is the same for a person who is 65 and a person who is 105. The premium for Plan G from Omega Insurance company will also be the same for someone who's 65 and someone who's 105, but it won't necessarily be the same as the premium from Alpha Insurance Company.
If I understand correctly, Missouri is a Guaranteed Issue Age Medicare state, and rates are determined by age. Does this mean rates will increase annually due to age and then for inflation too?
Your terminology is a little off. "Guaranteed Issue Age" isn't a thing. "Guaranteed issue" is, and "Issue Age" is.
"Guaranteed issue" refers to being able to buy a supplement without being subjected to medical underwriting.
"Issue age" is a way of determining premiums. (The other two are attained age and community rated, plus AARP/UHC's version of "community rated" which has a discount based on age, making it very similar to age-attained up to a certain age.)
- Is it the Supplemental Plans and Advantage Plan rates that are affected by the type of Medicare state you live in? The basic premiums would be the same, correct?
I'm not sure what you mean by "type of Medicare state," but if you're asking about the Medicare Part A premium (which is free if you have sufficient work history) and the Medicare Part B premium (currently $185/month), then those are the same for everybody no matter where they live. The Part B premium is paid to the government, while supplement premiums and Advantage premiums are paid to the insurance companies.
- Does anyone know if the Medicare rates really differ much by state- specifically AR and MO?
You can make general comparisons yourself by using the Medigap plan shopper function on the Medicare website, and tracking what happens to the premium when you change the age, sex, or zip code.
And yes, premiums can differ pretty dramatically, a good example being New York state, which has relatively high supplement premiums, expecially for people just turning 65. But that's because (1) they offer year-round guaranteed issue rights, and (2) all plans are community rated, so people who are 65 pay the same as people who are 95 (with attained-age or issue-age policies, the younger you are, the lower your premium is compared with older people with that same policy).
As it happens, you're choosing between two outlier states when it comes to pricing premiums. In a majority of states, the majority of plans are age-attained (plus I consider AARP/UHC's plans closer to age-attained than their stated community rated), but the two states you're looking at are different--Arkansas has only community-rated policies, and Missouri has only age-attained policies. Both choices lead to premiums that can be different from age-attained policies. Plus Missouri has the anniversary-date guaranteed-issue rule, while a majority of states (including Arkansas) offer no guaranteed-issue period outside your initial enrollment period.
But, again, all of this is what's going on now and it's impossible to know what the landscape will be in ten years. My boyfriend is still 8 years from Medicare and we're giving the possibilities for him no thought whatsoever, even though we travel fulltime and it's entirely possible we'll pick a more fixed place to be before he turns 65.
