If you're watching this video and this is your first time on Medicare, chances
are you probably got some mail in the mailbox lately.
I would guess you probably got a stack of all that or bigger, full of items to
teach you about Medicare.
One of those items is probably choosing a Medigap policy filled out by Medicare
that they delivered to you to help you understand the differences in the
Medigap Plan letters.
Well, my name is Russell Noga, founder of Medisupps.com, and my job is to do
that easier for you.
In that book is a plans chart.
That is the Medigap plans chart that shows you 10 different Medicare
Supplement Plans and their benefits.
Well in this video that should be less than about six or seven minutes, I'm
going to make it far easier, teach you how to read that chart, cover the
differences in the plan letters and their benefits, as well as the cost of
Medigap plans.
So stick around.
Let me just start with the basics of Medicare and why you would even want a
Medigap Plan.
Well, you're going to have Medicare Part A and Part B.
That is called Original Medicare.
It's sort of the hub, as I like to call it, of all the rest of your coverage.
You can add a Part D drug plan to that, as well as a Medigap Plan.
So part A covers hospitalization, and Part B covers your doctor services.
You can see why that's the hub.
That's the core of your medical benefits.
And again, you add the Part D drug plan to it and you've got prescription
coverage as well.
Now Part A and Part B don't cover everything; there are what are called
gaps in them or expenses.
And these are deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance that you are required to
pay.
And that's where a Medigap Plan comes in. Hence the term Medigap, it helps
cover the gaps of Part A and Part B.
There are 10 different Medigap plans available.
I'm going to show you the chart here in a moment and why we don't really even
need to look at most of them.
There are just a few popular plans that most people go with that provide great
coverage for relatively low premiums.
Before I compare the Medigap plans, I will tell you a little bit more about
what is Medisupps.com.
Again, I am Russell Noga, the founder of it.
Well, we're an online insurance agency.
We've been in business 11 years now, helping seniors across the country, save
money on their Medicare Supplement Insurance.
There's never a cost for our services.
We help you get enrolled after we checked the quotes from all of the top
companies.
You can visit Medisupps.com at any time and get free online quotes.
And I actually show you the rates.
I'm probably one of the few sites out there that either doesn't sell your
information, or just say thank you at the end, when you put your information
in.
I show you the rates, I actually do what I say I'm going to do.
And I do that because I hope I earn your trust and show you.
We've been doing this now 11 years with over 10,000 people we've helped with
their Medigap insurance.
And especially when you get a rate increase, which you will every year, you
want somebody on your side who has access to all of the companies to show
you what those lowest premiums are.
So let's go ahead and dive right into that Medigap plans chart where I will
teach you how to read it and to show you what the benefits are of those most
popular plans that I mentioned.
So here we are, the Medicare Supplement Plans chart, and this includes for 2021.
These are all of the plans that will be available, as well as their coverage.
Now, again, here is Medisupps.com, that's of course us with our phone
number at the top.
At any point, if you just need to give us a call, you say I want to get
enrolled now, go ahead and give us a call.
So on the left hand side of this chart, you've got the different benefits that
are available.
And at the top of course, you've got Medigap Plans A through N going across
the top.
You might be looking at this and saying, "Seems like a couple of letters are
missing."
And that is because in 2010, they removed a couple letters and added a
couple more.
So you'll see J and Plan E are not even on here.
They removed those and added M and N, and there's also no I on here, also.
But most of these, as I mentioned before, we're not even going to look at.
The reason is they have less coverage and probably cost the same or more than,
say, a plan like Plan N or Plan G.
So we're going to focus on the most popular plans.
And that's because an unpopular plan always equals a very expensive plan, and
it usually has less coverage.
Now, I will start with what was the most popular plan for many years.
And again, some of you folks out there may have it, that's Plan F.
Plan F just covers 100% of those gaps in Part A and Part B Medicare, like I
mentioned.
So you literally show your cards at the door of the doctor and get no bills, and
that includes specialists and hospitals.
Which sounds tremendous.
And believe me, for years, it was great, but that plan is priced out of the
market.
Now again, you're probably paying at least 3 or 4 or 500 extra dollars in
monthly premiums above what Plan G cost, just to get this year $198 benefit.
This is 2020.
So let me explain. Plan F covers 100%.
As you go down the column, it's a bunch of checkmarks. Part B Excess, 100%.
Next to that is Plan G.
So let's check our checkmarks. Looks good, looks good. Oh, there's a empty
white square.
What does that mean? That means you pay that square.
So let's go over to the left and look at our benefits.
Well, that is the Part B deductible.
So that means Plan G, as we go down the rest of the column, all has green
checkmarks. It's 100%, except for that one item.
Well, a Part B deductible is an amount you pay prior to Medicare beginning to
pay.
In fact, the basic definition of a deductible is an amount of money you pay
before insurance starts paying.
The Part B deductible for 2020 is $198.
So you pay the first $198. After that, Medicare will begin paying, they'll be
satisfied, they'll say okay, we'll come in and pay 80% of your medical bills.
And Plan G as you can see, will pay the difference.
So you see this Part B coinsurance is that additional 20%, because you've
already paid that white square, that Part B deductible, it's 100% coverage.
Now, what's the difference between that and Plan F?
Well, as you can see, Plan F pays the $198 for you.
But I guarantee you, if I checked the quotes on Plan F versus Plan G, you're
paying that 3, 4, or 500 extra dollars in yearly premium to get a $198 benefit.
So you're giving them all that extra money just to write a check with your
money and pay the Part B deductible.
Plan G, just do it yourself.
You pay the Part B deductible yourself, which is going to be in 2020, the first
$198 of your medical bills.
Once you pay that, it pretty much turns into a Plan F, you get 100% coverage,
but that 3, 4 or 500 extra dollars in premium, you stick in your pocket on
Plan G, just to write the check.
So a much better option.
Of course, if you're turning 65 or just coming on to Medicare now, you can't
even get a Plan F, but this for you folks who kept your Plan F, thinking it
was a good idea.
Now it might be. If you don't care what it costs. And you just never want to see
a medical bill, Plan F all the way.
You're going to get higher rate increases, because the plan is closed.
It's what's called a closed risk pool.
But again, if you've got the money and you don't care, then go with it.
Because for some people, the luxury of no medical bills is priceless.
And I get that up to a certain point. But most of the people I talk with,
every dollar counts.
If that's you, and you kept your Plan F, give us a call today, 1-888-891-0229.
We'll at least just tell you how much Plan G costs, then we'll go into which
companies we can possibly switch you to.
So, onward we go, down the list of plan letters.
Here's a couple other plan letters that again, we don't typically even write for
anybody.
If you want one, you're not going to have one, I will find you one.
However, you're going to get half the benefits or three quarters of the
benefits for probably what it's going to cost you for a Plan N if you went with K
or an L.
Plan N is probably the same price or maybe even lower, and you get more
benefits.
So again, an unpopular plan always equals higher premiums.
But let's talk about Plan N versus Plan G ,because they're very close.
As we go down our column, you still have the Part B deductible, which is blank
here.
So you need to pay that on Plan N as well.
Remember, it's $198 for 2020.
Well, also under that is another white square in the column of Plan N, and
that's Part B excess charges.
Most of the doctors in this country accept what's called the assigned rates
for Medicare.
Even in Medicare's own publication, it will tell you that, it will say most
doctors accept the assigned rates.
In the event you go to a doctor that does, which is most doctors, you'll
never see a Part B Excess Charge, because they don't charge them.
There's nine states that aren't even allowed to charge either way.
But if your doctor takes the assigned rates for Medicare, you'll never see a
Part B Excess Charge.
In the event that you go to, let's say a clinic or something where they don't
take the assigned rates, they could charge up to 15% higher.
You would be required to pay for percentage of that.
Again, very rare, could come up but extremely rare on Plan N.
Just ask your doctor if they take the assigned rates for Medicare.
One of the thing on Plan N that could come up--two other things actually, is
Plan N has what's called a co-pay after you meet your deductible.
So in other words, you pay the Part B deductible. Each doctor's visit
thereafter for the rest of the year, you could get a co-pay for the doctor's
visit.
However, it will never be more than $20.
It could be less than 20. It could be zero dollars, depending on how they code
your visit, but it will never be more than 20.
And one of the thing on Plan N, it's not on this chart. If you visit the
emergency room and you're not admitted, it's a $50 copay.
Now you might be saying, "Well, gee, Plan G sounds like a winner. I don't
have to deal with all that."
And that's true, you don't, and you'll get higher premiums on Plan G, but you
have no other out of pocket expenses except the Part B deductible.
But for Plan N, I get a lot of clients who never go to the doctor.
They tell me, "Russell, I just want to save money on my monthly premium.
If something big happens, I want great coverage. But I don't want to pay the
higher premium all year long. And I can handle the co-pay here are there."
Plan N's a way to go in that case.
I have hundred...We probably have more than a few thousand on Plan N, a few
thousand clients that is, and that's because it's awesome coverage.
But if you don't want to fiddle with any kind of co-pays or deductibles or
miscellaneous expenses, then well, Plan G you'll have one deductible, Plan G is
the way to go.
So it's going to be between those two.
And again, we could talk about your current situation when we talk on the
phone and match up whether Plan G or Plan N is going to be a better match for
you.
Now, Plan N has one other thing, one other benefit, and that is lower rate
increases each year than Plan G.
Because you've got some additional out of pocket expenses that could happen,
people tend to use those plans more responsibly.
For example, the co-pay when you go to the emergency room, people have a Plan
N, if they know they have to pay for 50 bucks, they'll probably not go if it's a
non-emergency.
However, if you know you can go for anything, which is what happened on Plan
F, you could get a Plan F on June 1, and June 2, go get major heart surgery, it's
100% covered.
Or get your Plan F and that day, go to the emergency room and just say, "I'm
not feeling well."
Can you imagine, you could go into your regular doctor. And people do that all
the time.
That drives up costs like crazy. So the government stepped in and said no more.
Well, on Plan N with those additional out of pocket expenses, people use it
more responsibly, which results in not just those lower premiums than Plan G,
but also lower rate increases each year.
So that breaks down the plans chart.
Let's talk a little bit more about the various benefits of each plan and then
we'll get on to the cost.
So as you can see, those are your best options and the benefits that each plan
covers.
Now you're probably asking, "Sounds great, Russell, how much do Medigap
Plans cost?"
Well, the cost of each plan varies on a couple of different factors.
I don't even like to ballpark it on these videos because it's going to be
way off.
And the reason is these factors include things like your zip code.
Zip code matters a lot, rates are a lot higher and say, Houston, Texas than they
are in even Austin, Texas, believe it or not, or some other part, North Carolina
or Virginia.
So it really depends on where you live.
It also depends on your gender, it depends on whether you're getting a
household discount or not, and tobacco use, as well as your age.
This will determine the actual rate for your Medigap Plan.
So again, like I mentioned, on Medisupps.com, you can go ahead, punch
in your information and actually see rates from the top carriers, and they
are accurate, for your area.
Another way though, and the easiest way is just to give us a call now at
1-888-891-0229.
One of us can give you the rates right over the phone, show you exactly what
those plan letters are, maybe ask a few questions and match up what we think
between that Plan G and Plan N is going to be the best option.
And again, if you're coming off a Plan F, boy, you are going to save a ton of
money.
And I hope you do call because I want to be the one who tells you about it and
tells you just how much we can save you.
So again, thank you so much for watching.
My name is Russell Noga with Medisupps.com.
Give us a call now, start saving money on your Medicare Supplement Insurance
today, and for years to come.