Many people are concerned
that once they go on Medicare, is there a possibility
of ever losing that coverage
or having to change their plans?
And so that's what I'm going to address in this very brief video.
Welcome to Medicare School Daily,
where we help you understand Medicare, save money,
avoid making mistakes
and above all else, get the most
out of your Medicare benefits.
Now today's topic is actually a question.
Can Medicare plans drop you?
So we're going to talk about
the different types of Medicare plans.
first off, there is Medicare A and B.
We refer to this as original Medicare.
Now, folks, once you're enrolled into A and B
A is the hospital side, B is the medical side or what
we call the outpatient side of Medicare.
Once you've enrolled in Medicare A and B, your only
obligation to stay in A and B is to pay your B premium.
Now it's 2022 this year and the B premium
is $170.10 a month for most people.
That one $170.10 is comes out of your security check.
Or they bill you on a quarterly basis
If you're not yet on Social Security?
So A for most people is free and B carries a premium.
So the only way you'd ever lose B is
if you didn't pay the premium.
And again, they're very gracious about that.
They normally give someone a good 60 or 90 days before
they'll actually drop the B.
But you can lose B if you don't pay the premium.
A is free.
So that's pretty much going to be free
for the rest of your life.
Now, most people that stay
in original Medicare will also buy
a supplemental plan to fill in the gaps.
Medicare A and B pays pretty well,
but they still leave you
with some fairly serious financial responsibilities.
The A of Medicare has three gaps,
and the B of Medicare has three gaps.
These are gaps or liabilities
that you're responsible for Medicare pays first,
but they leave you with the gaps.
And so people will get
a supplemental plan also called a Medigap policy
to fill in those gaps.
So the way
supplemental plans work is, they're written for life.
In other words, that insurance company
writes a policy
and it's yours for life as long as you pay the premium.
Now what happens
if you fail to pay the premium,
they give you 30 days of grace.
So that's why most people on supplemental plans
will pay through some type of a bank draft
to make sure that's drafted every month
to make sure they don't miss a payment.
And so supplemental plans are for life
as long as you pay the premium to them
each and every month.
And then next, we have Advantage
Plan's. Advantage plan started in 2003
under the second George Bush administration.
And really, what an Advantage plan is.
It's a replacement of A and B,
so the Advantage plan takes
the A and B benefits and re-packages them
and re-prices them
and puts together a network of doctors
and hospitals and other providers.
And so this is called a replacement plan.
And so whenever someone has a supplemental plan,
A and B pays first a supplemental plan pays
second, when you're on an advantage, plan
A and B doesn't pay anything and B actually pays a flat
fee to the Advantage company every month on your behalf.
And from those funds,
they're responsible for your medical bills
and you would be responsible for co-pays.
And so Advantage plans.
The unique thing about them is
they're only written for one year at a time.
Remember, these are written for life.
These are not advantage.
Plans are written for only one year,
and the companies come and go.
Sometimes the doctors, the networks will change.
And so they're really very fluid plans.
Also,
if you're on a supplemental plan
and you move, you leave
one state and move to another state,
you actually can take the supplemental plan with you.
It's portable.
In other words that cannot be canceled
for anything other than nonpayment.
These plans are not portable.
They cover typically a metro service area.
So if you leave one area and you move to another city,
then that advantage plan is not going with you.
You'll have to set up another plan
that's available in that new market that you moved to.
All right.
So these are just one year at a time.
They come up for renewal every year.
Things can change, and if you move,
you have to change plans as well.
So that's how you lose advantage plans.
And then lastly, we have prescription drug plans now.
Whenever someone gets a supplemental plan,
they get a separate drug plan because the drug plan
these are the meds that
you're taking that you self-administer
cholesterol meds, high blood pressure meds,
maybe heart pills or insulin or something.
But these drug plans are separate plans.
So if someone has original Medicare
A and B with a supplemental plan
to fill in the gaps, they also then have
a separate drug plan to choose from.
These plans can be changed every year.
Every year we have this open enrollment
period between October 15th and December 7th.
So if someone's medications
they're going to take more next year
or less than they can always change their drug plan.
So again, this is written for one year
at a time, very much like the Advantage plans.
They're also tied to a service area.
And so if you leave one area and you move to another,
then you'll have to get
a different drug plan that's in that area.
All right. So again, just one year at a time.
So you have to pay a premium for a drug plan.
They vary anywhere from $7 $8 up to maybe $70 or $80,
but you pay the premium
and you keep the plan for that year
and then those plans come up for renewal every year.
You've got to review to make sure you're on the right plan.
You can switch if you need to.
If you don't do anything,
the plan will automatically renew.
All right.
So these plans, you just pay the premium,
but they're only one year at a time.
All right.
So those are the four types of Medicare coverage we have
and depending on which.
Of these,
you're going to use, the combination
you're going to use
will determine whether or not that coverage can be lost.
Hey, thanks so much for watching the video,
and I do hope that it was helpful.
Now if you feel like
you need to learn more about Medicare
to make sure you're making the right Medicare decision,
really the best way and the easiest way to do
that is to go to MedicareSchool.com.
That's MedicareSchool.com,
and you'll be given the opportunity to be able
to click on Get the Free Workshop.
We call that the essentials workshop
and I do all the teaching.
And there you'll learn all the ins and outs of Medicare
to make sure that you have an accurate
and thorough understanding of how Medicare works.
The second thing you can do
is click where it says, talk to a Medicare guide,
and there
you can actually set up a time
where you can discuss your situation
with a Medicare guide.
They'll explain all your options
and actually even walk you
through the enrollment process as well,
if that's what you need to do.
And so go to MedicareSchool.com,
watch the workshop or talk to a Medicare guide.
It would be our privilege to assist you further.