Health Insurance for Old People

[Warren Allison]

Good information from Farmerjan above. I will add a little more about the Medicare supplement (also called Medigap) plans, especially Plan G. When it is time to "sign up, go to the Medicare.gov website and enter your zip code and sex and ALL plans offered in your state/county will be presented to you. In my area, there are 47 Plan G choices with varying premiums (G is just one of 8 plan choices). Lowest cost is $96/month. ALL of the Plan G choices are required to offer the same benefits. Those are set by Medicare. So, if all 47 of those choices offer the same benefits, why not just go with the lowest premium? There is a good reason. The lower premium choices are lower costs when you are younger, but the premiums increase as you age. Don't all the 47 choices have increasing premiums as you get older. Yes, they do. But the higher premium choices at signup will have premium increases due to inflation and cost of medical care. The lower premium choices will have those increases but will also increase due to your age. Those lower premiums choices at signup will end up being among the highest premiums as you get older - independent of inflation and cost of medical care. So, a person in poor health might select those low premiums at signup thinking they won't see much increase due to an expected shorter time on medicare. But a person in good health should probably choose a slightly higher premium at signup and avoid those age related premium increases.

Can't you change plans every year if you want to? Yes, you can. But I think you forfeit those "no premium increases due to age" when you change plans or carriers. There may also be issues with pre-existing conditions.

What is this Plan "G"? Plan G is the most comprehensive coverage. There are also Plans A, B, D, G, K, L, M, and N. With various levels of coverage. Lots of choices in plans, carriers and premiums. Buy the book "Medicare for dummies" and start reading 2 years before signup. The choices you make at signup are big decisions.

Medicare supplement plans, like the "plan G" are underwritten and are NOT guaranteed Issue, except during initial enrollment. 90 days before you are eligible through 90 days after you are eligible. ANY other time, including if you want to change, the applications are underwritten, and you can be rated up or turned down. There is no annual open enrollment for medicare supplements, as there is with medicare Part C plans..Medicare Advantage Plans. And some carriers use Issue Age rating, Some Use Attained age rating, and one (in Ga, anyhow) uses Community rating. Regardless of trend (the term for medical rate of inflation) all medicare supplement plans go up every year, because the Part A and Part B deductibles they cover go up every year.

 

[jshep]

I will say up front that my knowledge is limited, but it seems like the "advantage" is to the insurance company. My mother signed up for that, but when she fell and had to spend an extended time in the nursing/rehab home the insurance company was about to stop paying for it. The people there recommended switching her over to conventional Medicare.

You want original Medicare you think you get something for free really advantage wait until you need the insurance see if it will be there do your oun Home work

 

[greybeard]

You may be pregnant. Here are your missing periods:
. . . . . . . .

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

This week I got rid of my part D monthly 'penalty' by calling up Wellcare (they call themselves) and instantly canceling my part D. If I ever sign up for part D again the penalty comes back. That's about $30 back in my social security check. My prescriptions total cost is $10 a month without part D.