Welcome to Medicare School Daily, where we help you understand Medicare, save money,
avoid mistakes, and above all else, get the most out of your Medicare benefits. Now, today's
topic is switching supplemental plans during the annual enrollment period. Many of you
decided when you went on Medicare that you were going to be covered by original Medicare
A and B with a supplemental plan to fill the gap. You have some kind of a letter plan and
probably an F plan or g plan or N plan or something like that. And so the annual enrollment
period rolls around every year and people have the question, “well do I have to do
anything with my supplemental plan?” Well, the answer to that is no. So let me walk through
the process of the annual enrollment period as it relates to supplemental plans. Number
one, if you are satisfied with your plan, nothing at all is required. And folks, the
reason for that is because when you bought that supplemental plan, that average year
N plan or whatever you have, it actually was written for life. You never have to do anything
as long as you pay your premium, that plan renews and renews every year. As a matter
of fact, if you happen to move from one area to another, you get to take that plan with
you, because supplemental companies can never cancel your supplemental plan other than nonpayment
of premium.
So if you're satisfied with the plan, happy with everything, the premium and everything,
then nothing at all is required. Keep it and keep it for life. All right? But let's suppose
that you do want to switch your supplemental plan for whatever reason. Maybe you would
like to switch from an F to a G or maybe a G to an N, or maybe you're on a plan that
has really, really increased greatly. So you want to switch the plan. You can actually
switch a supplemental plan anytime. In other words, the annual enrollment period of October
15th to December 7th really has nothing at all to do with switching supplemental plans.
You can switch it anytime you want. So any month of the year. But notice, one of the
big differences is this: on supplemental plans is anytime you're going to switch, underwriting
will be required. Because when you first started your Medicare, you actually have what we call
an open enrollment period for a Medigap policy. And that that open enrollment period is actually
for six months of when you started your Medicare Part B. And so during those six months, there
was no underwriting required, but after six months of your B date, any time you're going
to get off of one supplemental plan to another one, the underwriting is going to be required.
[That means we're gonna have to ask you 25 health questions, check your medications and
see what you're being treated for, and maybe get a statement from your doctor. So any time
we switch after that six month of starting our Medicare B date, then we're going to have
to go through underwriting. Okay? An underwriter is going to have to approve you. Now, there
is a couple of exceptions in about seven states in the country. And so we do business all
over the country. So I want to clarify. There are some states that have what is called the
anniversary rule. Some states call this the birthday rule. And what that means is this:
at the anniversary of your policy or at your birth month, let's just say it's July to keep
it simple. Let's say my policy anniversary's July. 30 days before, 30 days after, during
this particular period of time, if your state allows this and again, just a few states do
it, you can actually switch your supplemental plan with no underwriting if it's the birthday
rules tied to your birthday. So let's say my birthday's in July. Same thing: 30 days
before, 30 days after I can switch my supplemental plan. No underwriting required. Again, a handful
of states do that. But all the rest, everything is tied to six months of your original Medicare
B date.
So if you're in a state that requires underwriting, then the underwriter is going to have to approve
you to be able to make that particular switch. Then the other option would be switching to
an advantage plan. So you've been on a supplemental plan, and you would like to try an advantage
plan. And you can do so on October 15th through December 7th, though, would be the only dates
that you can actually move from supplemental to advantage. You can't do it at any other
time of the year. Now, if you do it during this picture period of time, that policy is
actually going to go into effect January 1. So you would keep your supplemental plan all
the way to the end of the year. It's just that we have to make that decision during
this seven week period for an effective date of January 1. And the only reason you couldn't
make that switch from supplemental to advantage would be if you have end-stage renal disease,
which is permanent kidney failure, because no one can switch or go to an advantage plan
that has permanent kidney failure. And frankly, folks, if you had permanent kidney failure,
you would not want to be on an advantage plan because they all have max out of pockets.
And if you have kidney failure because of dialysis or other things going on, you will
max out every single year. You would want to stay on your supplemental plan anyways.
But as long as we don’t have end-stage renal, we can always make that switch. These are
the dates, and that's when we go effective. And let's suppose you make that switch and
then down the road you decided you would like to switch back. Well, sometimes you actually
can switch back with no underwriting required. That is only the first year of being on an
advantage plan. The first year is typically a trial period. I said typically. Not always,
but typically we have a trial period. You can try the advantage plan for one year, and
if I want to switch back during that year, no underwriting required. But if I want to
switch back after that year, folks, notice underwriting is going to be required. Many
people think that when open enrollment rolls around, they can just switch and do whatever
they want. And that's just not true. There are always rules for switching plans. And
so if I want to switch from advantage back to supplemental plan, then underwriting will
be required; again gonna ask your 25 health questions, check your medications, and maybe
get a statement from your doctor. All right? So those are the processes that you would
have to follow if you would need to switch a supplemental during the open enrollment period.