Finding the Best Medicare Plan for You: A Guide
Medicare Health Insurance: Find the Best Medicare Plan for You
Looking for the best Medicare Plan for you? Are you confused about how Medicare enrollment works? Still wondering how you can make it work? Are you still working past age 65, just because you can’t afford a healthcare premium for your spouse? In need a guide to help you through this major decision?
It is no wonder if you answered yes. Everyone wants to buy the best. If you are new to Medicare or starting to learn or read about Medicare for all, then www.medicare.gov can be a source of information. People will naturally want to seek out the best plan for them. If you call a call center, an association, or worse yet, put your phone number on a website, no one will be able to give you an unbiased opinion on the best Medicare plan for you.
Who do I Need to Talk With?
It can become very overwhelming when one starts looking at all of the different Medicare plans and supplements that are out there and then be able to make a recommendation based on one’s needs, what one can afford and what one hope this plan will do. In this case it is natural to seek a good agent to help guide you through the process.
First of all, it is important to understand that you have to be able to talk to someone that is an independent agent and not just another one of these call centers. It is especially beneficial to talk to someone with ten years of experience, or more, in Medicare because Medicare is changing so much every year.
What Plans Should I Focus On?
Now, the three most popular Medicare supplement plans are Medicare Plan F, Plan G and Plan N. That being said, these are probably plans that I would suggest that you focus on, as 95% of all Medicare supplement plans are one of these three plans that are sold today.
Now, plan F by the way, has gone off the market, meaning no new sales beginning January 1, 2020. However, if you have a Plan F prior to January 1 2020, you will be able to keep that. You can keep that plan for the rest of your life.
Truly, there are 11 plans offered by Medicare. Medicare is a government agency, and the Medicare supplement plans are Federal Insurance Plans. And so what that really means is that whether you’re dealing with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, or Aetna or Mutual of Omaha, or any other carrier the medical benefits have to be identical from carrier to carrier.
What is the Difference Between Plans? What Should I Look for in a Plan?
The difference is in the premium, as well as in some of the bells and whistles like discounts, gym memberships, hearing aid discount things like that.
By the way, you should know what is not going to be covered by Medicare, but is picked up by your Medicare Supplement policy, your co-pays, your coinsurance. There’s about a dozen different things that you need to be aware of in terms of this, as some things are covered and some things are not. Out of the 11 there are different levels of benefits for each one.
Turns out, the way that the insurance carriers price a product is either by zip code, sometimes it’s by gender, sometimes it’s by county or sometimes it’s just a statewide rate. There is community rating, there is issue age rating and there is attained age rating. You need to understand what all three of those mean and how the rate is actually determined.
But here’s the kicker, there are some significant savings and some significant differences in the benefits as well among the three plans. Plan N does allow for the doctor to charge you co pays, or to have an ER visit copay if you’re not admitted.
What if you have a Medicare Part B deductible? Is that covered?
Furthermore, something called “excess charges” is rapidly coming onto the scene . Well what’s happening now is that some facilities and/or doctors are charging above and beyond what Medicare would pay them called excess charges and if you don’t have the right kind of plan, you could be stuck with some of those excess charges. So be aware of that!
It’s true that plan G will cover the excess charges but they won’t cover the Part B deductible. The Part B deductible changes every year. It’s a deductible that is an annual deductible, a one time deductible, and is relatively small. And you are done, once you hit the deductible. For the rest of the year. But the savings from Plan G are pretty significant when you compare it to Plan F.
In particular, Plan F covers everything including the Medicare Part B deductible, even some foreign benefits if you travel outside of the US. It is the Cadillac plan but remember that plan went away in January, 2020 for new sales.
In Conclusion
These are the three most popular plans. There are eight other plans that are out there. They’re not very common, but it just depends on your needs.
This is a lot of information to absorb and there’s even more. But, that’s just the basics in terms of finding the best Medicare plan for you.
And the good news? I’m happy to help you. I look forward to talking you through all of this. Take advantage of my 30 years in this industry!
As free consultations are hard to come by, simply because of the time and the demand, unfortunately, we have a short window.
But, give me a call today at my Medicare phone number (877-549-1212,) we’ll schedule a time. I’ll be happy to guide you through this.