United Healthcare Increases

L

Livefree

Recycles dryer sheets
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Dec 22, 2005
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My wife's Medicare Gap Plan which is United Healthcare keeps increasing every year. I think it's a G plan.
It started out at $180 then $205, now it's increasing to $233

We got this plan from Boomer Benefits.
Anyone else see this?
Is it worth shopping around, or is this the going rate for supplemental plans?
 
Cost will vary significantly depending on where you live so it's hard to evaluate without more info. If this is the AARP plan, like most Medigap plans, premiums will typically increase each year as you age. You might be able to switch but depending on the state where you live, you might have to submit to underwriting. I'll let others chime in on loopholes you might be able to take advantage of.
 
Be aware that some insurance companies play games with "closing the books" so the cheapest price might not be best in the long run.
 
Ian S said:
Be aware that some insurance companies play games with "closing the books" so the cheapest price might not be best in the long run.
Click to expand...
This is not a close the books scheme as AARP/UHC doesn’t do that.
 
Ian S said:
Cost will vary significantly depending on where you live so it's hard to evaluate without more info. If this is the AARP plan, like most Medigap plans, premiums will typically increase each year as you age. You might be able to switch but depending on the state where you live, you might have to submit to underwriting. I'll let others chime in on loopholes you might be able to take advantage of.
Click to expand...
This is an AARP Plan. We live in Mass, so there's no underwriting.
 
Also have plan G under AARP/United Healthcare which is going up June 1 from $185 to $192. I turn 72 on July 1 so this makes 7 years under this policy which started out at $125. I understand the price will continue to rise as age discounts are rolled back so this is not a surprise to me but the speed of the increases does bother me somewhat. I don't even use the UHC plan as I still use the VA for all of my healthcare needs but keep it as a contingency plan. Recently I have been considering changing back to Kaiser Permanente with a Medicare Advantage plan as my contingency plan as the cost is $125 less per month with other benefits added. Still on the fence for that though.
 
DH and I got our increases (UHC/AARP, plan F) and both increased 15%. We're in the SF Bay Area.
 
Massachusetts has Medicare Supplement Plan "1A" which is equivalent to 'G' in other states. Blue Cross is typically cheaper than UHC in Mass. and, as you said, there's no underwriting. Here are the 1/1/25 community rates, before any household discounts have been applied.


You can also see the Medigap rates on Medicare.gov, but they will not include upcoming increases.
 
I agree kinda high.... but remember that there is an age component to the increase.... IIRC mine is 3% a year just to get one year older...

But it is one reason I went with N as most people said the premiums would not go up as fast..
 
Texas Proud said:
I agree kinda high.... but remember that there is an age component to the increase.... IIRC mine is 3% a year just to get one year older...
Click to expand...

There is no age component in the OP's wife's supplement because the OP said they're in Massachusetts, which has community-rated plans--true community-rated, where everybody's premium is the same regardless of age, not the faux community-rated plans AARP/UHC has in other states.

Livefree said:
What exactly is closing the books? Not familiar with that.
Click to expand...

It's a scheme that results in people who can't pass underwriting being stuck in a plan that is incurring spiraling rates because it's no longer open to new (presumably younger) enrollees. Since you're in Massachusetts, with continuous open enrollment, you'll never be stuck in such a plan because you can change plans regardless of your health. And using the link provided above, it's very easy to look at the offerings in Massachusetts to compare costs. Plus there are far fewer options available (e.g., no Plan N), making comparing that much easier.
 
Could be the concept of issue age vs attained age. Not sure if I have my terms correct.
 
Our BC/BS Plan F runs $365 & $382 (my wife and myself). Both have gone up every year since 2016/2015. We love BC/BS...no issues with payments, no drama. On the rare occasion we have a question customer service is US based. (y)
 
Ian S said:
I know but the OP was thinking of switching to another company.
Click to expand...
It turns out that he’s in a state where people can switch any time without underwriting so he doesn’t have to worry about closing the books.
 
If that is the case then he should go to the lowest cost plan each and every year...
 
I do wonder how I would act if I lived in a state with continuous open enrollment. Since there's no fear of making a decision I can't undo, what would my threshold be for going through the process of changing supplements? The difference between the most and least expensive Supplement 1A in Massachusetts according to the rate sheet posted is $36/month. That's $400 a year, which actually would cover my Part B deductible. So I'd probably do it if it's just a matter of some paperwork.
 
5Miler said:
Also have plan G under AARP/United Healthcare which is going up June 1 from $185 to $192. I turn 72 on July 1 so this makes 7 years under this policy which started out at $125. I understand the price will continue to rise as age discounts are rolled back so this is not a surprise to me but the speed of the increases does bother me somewhat. I don't even use the UHC plan as I still use the VA for all of my healthcare needs but keep it as a contingency plan. Recently I have been considering changing back to Kaiser Permanente with a Medicare Advantage plan as my contingency plan as the cost is $125 less per month with other benefits added. Still on the fence for that though.
Click to expand...
Looks like I need to pay closer attention to what I'm paying since I pay my AARP/UHC on autopay. I just noticed my current cost is $173 per month (not $185) and the new charge of $192 is a $19 increase or an 11% increase. I must have confused UHC with my Medicare premium. Starting to make the Kaiser option look a little better to me. I had Kaiser for over 20 years before I retired and had no concerns with it.
 
Pan American G just increased again - from $178 to $220 beginning May 1. Before that it was $146 so a 50% increase in 2 years. 72 yrs old. I'll be shopping around.
 
I think we get our premium increases for UHC/AARP in July. Notification is shortly before that. DH is subject to losing 3% of his age discount each May. I’m not subject to that yet until I’m 68 or 69 to start losing 2% discount a year.
 
This is what inflation does to healthcare and insurance premiums. If you're healthy, you can switch. Unfortunately many older people have preexisting conditions and are "stuck" (unless they switch to an Advantage plan) with the plan that they picked when they first started Medicare. That's why it was an important pick at that time. I picked UHC at the time and knew it would increase over time. This plan has many people in it so my hope is that with that many people, the cost sharing will keep the plans premium's somewhat reasonable. I have a preexisting condition of multiple myeloma so I'm one of the "stuck" people so whatever the increases are, I will just live with them and pay whatever they are. I'm sure some of them will be shocking as I get older. There is not much I can do at this point. I'm 68, almost 69. I'm assuming I'll get another increase at 69 or 70.
 
I'm only starting to realize that as important as your age 65, 6-mo. guaranteed period decision is, it can be wrong several years later.

That includes even choosing AARP/UHC. No, they don't close the books, but they sure change the attractiveness of what plan you sign up for those arriving at a new age of 65. They aren't the worst Medigap company, but they do "change" things for new signers. So, earlier signers are in a different "group" because of preferences offered to new signers even in the same letter plans.

The complexities between when you signed-up, companies, plans, states, and even areas inside states are mind boggling. Even the licensed UHC reps. really can't keep up. I had a discussion with a licensed UHC rep. today who had no idea how to answer the question when I asked what standard age a certain new rate discount was based on! They had no idea what I was asking! They just said their plans are community rated. :facepalm:
 
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