Hello, have you heard about changes coming to the Medicare supplement plans in the year 2020? Are you concerned about how this might affect your coverage?
In this blog, I want to give a little bit of explanation of what is happening in the industry in regards to some changes to Medicare supplement plans next year (2020). You may have heard some things that are happening. It has to do with the law that was passed a number of years ago. It is called MACRA. MACRA stands for Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act.
Sounds like a mouthful and it sounds like it might be kind of important and ominous but it’s really not. So, the basic thing that is happening with the Medicare supplement plans is that starting next year for any individuals as of January 1 2020 who are newly Medicare eligible, that means if they turn 65 on January 1 2020 or after, these individuals would no longer be able to get certain plant that are available to the public at this time.
These are Plan C, Plan F and high deductible Plan F
The idea here is one of a number of steps that have been taken to keep the entire Medicare system financially stable. A few of the things that have happened are:
There have been some increases to the premium that you pay for Medicare Part B There have some been some increases in the deductibles
For example, your Part A deductible, your Part B deductible and so forth. Another step that has been decided is that it’s not a good idea moving forward for individuals to have plant that have no deductible.
Now, if you have a Medicare Advantage plan currently, that will not affect you. If you have a Part D prescription drug plan, this will not affect you either. Also, if you currently have a Medicare supplement plan – any plan letter with any company – there’s nothing that you need to do.
Anyone who is already 65 before January 1 2020 – you are not required to make any changes. However it’s certainly important to know what’s going on and know what your options might be in the future.
For many years now, we have been recommending that our individuals move away from the plan F to either a plan G or a plan N, so there are very few of my customers that currently have a plan F.
However, if you have a plan F now, you can keep it. If you have a plan G, you can stay wright where you are. If you have a plan N, you do not need to make any changes.
If you are reading this and you currently do have a plan F, it might be a good opportunity for you to stop and at least see what other options are available to you. The Plan F has been a very popular plan for many years. The reason why is because plan F was very easy to understand.
All you had to do was pay your monthly premium and all of your doctor and hospital bills would be covered 100%. The bad news about this situation is that the premiums on the plan F coverage have begun to increase a lot more than we would like to see.
Therefore, the plan G has been a good option and then also the plant N is becoming more popular. Here is a link to video talking about the plan F going away that explains more about the reasons for this Change.
However, the main purpose of this post is simply to let you know that although you have most likely been hearing about this and you may continue to hear more things about it, please don’t be concerned. It’s really not a bad thing and it’s not really going to affect you in any big way.
To review – if you already have a Medicare supplement plan or if you already have a Medicare Advantage plan – if you have a Part D prescription drug plan that you like and it’s working well for you there is nothing that you need to do. Nothing will change for you.
If you have any questions, please give my office a call. If you would like us to take look at your current coverage and give you our opinion if your coverage and the price you are paying is the best value currently available in your area, we would be very happy yo do so.
If it is, we’ll say that it is and recommend that you should stay where you’re at. If we feel like we may be able to get you a better value by moving your plan to a different plan letter or to a different plan with a different company, we will give a recommendation.
This is a complete no obligation service. My services to you are always free. I am an independent agent. I work with individuals all across the United States. I look forward to speaking with you if we can help you in any way.
My name is Billy Williams with MedicareHealthInsuranceOptions.com
My phone number is – 800-499-942 I hope that this information has been helpful.
