Rethink Healthcare Together - Medicare what you need to know

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, It's Brian Thomas with John Rouman from Cover. Sincey
you final one line of coversincy dot com. Five one
three eight hundred call is the number, and you're gonna
want to call it five one three eight hundred two
two five five. It's another edition of Rethink Healthcare Together.
John Ruhlman. Always good to see man. How you been.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm doing pretty well, enjoying this up and down weather
that we're having.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Well, I know, the last time we talked, and we're
going to focus a little bit on Medicare, your phone
was ringing off the hook with folks on about Medicare
because you do understand it and you do help folks
with Medicare as they transition into the Medicare years.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing for us, Brian is,
you know, we talk so much in the show for
everyone that needs health insurance, and I feel like when
it's under sixty five, just there's so much misinformation out there.
People don't know what they're doing. They just take a
plan like we talk about all the time on the show,
and they they pray it works the way they think
it does, and then typically it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So you know, my my agency. My business was built
on mostly working with those individuals, right, and we've always
helped for Medicare, but it's never something that we really
marketed a lot. And what was really eye opening and
working with you and you know, promoting on the shows
and stuff like that, we like we have, uh, we
really brought to light a lot the fact that we

(01:26):
help with Medicare, and I it was just shocking to
see how many people called in, how many people schedule
the appointment, especially through open enrollment last year, and we're
just like clueless, like even what they had, yeah, and
or really in bad situations and and and didn't realize

(01:46):
it can make changes. And what I found was there's
there just as much problems on the Medicare side as
I was dealing with the under six other sixty five sides.
So you know, it was something that you know, and
all a lot of your listeners, especially early in the
morning like this or you know, on their way to
church or something like that. And you know, we do
get a lot more seniors that are listening, and you know,

(02:09):
just as ones that are kind of getting to that
point where they're needing to get a better understanding, and
a lot of times you know, social media and googling stuff.
I feel like gives you decent information, but there's a
lot of misinformation as well, and you know, kind of
the purpose of today's show is helping people with that
process that they're going to be going through so that
they can kind of understand, you know, what are some

(02:31):
of the things they need to do and be prepared
when turning sixty five. And then some of the things
that are out there for you know, if you're already
on medicare some of the things that are out there
that really help you navigate that and you know, get
better coverage just to make sure that your later years
are preventable from the major expenses that you might be
incurring later in life.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah. Well, for those folks that are not at medicare age,
you are talking about medical insurance generally speaking, John and
the team that covers since you are absolutely who you
need to reach out to. They act as your broker.
They're in your corner when looking for medical insurance, and
they have this amazing, amazing process they go through to
get your medical coverage for less money with better coverage,

(03:12):
and that really is boiled down what they do every day,
and so you don't have to pay for what they do.
You call them and they will ask you about your circumstance,
what you've got by way of medical insurance, and then
find out if there is a better path for you
where you can save money and get better medical coverage
and simple phone call again five point three eight hundred call.
And I strongly encourage those out there who aren't dealing

(03:34):
with medicaid, which is what we're talking about this morning,
to our medicare rather to do that, especially small group employers.
You'd be amazed what they can do for you and
help with your employee retention and put smiling faces on
all of your employees. So that's a brief summary of
what they do every day. But moving back over to medicare,
what are We've talked about this before to see if

(03:55):
I can remember this. There are four parts of medicare.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, so you have that. They're letters A, B, C
and D. But just kind of one little little piece
here too. Even if you're listening, you're like, well, this
doesn't pertain to me right now, but I guarantee your
parents are there, you know, and you know, I think
you'll get some really good information today, because again this
is This is about education right at the end of
the day, and it's you know, I'm not saying your

(04:19):
parents are going to be a burden on you, but
there could be a point where if they're not in
the rights position, that could be a burden on you.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
I mean, you know it's going to come back to
you at some level. It could be Oh, I didn't
realize the plan that they're on and it's not covering
everything that they're going through, or God forbid, I had
to put them, you know, something happened to them and
I can't take care of them. Might got to put
them in a facility. So there's'll be a lot of
really good information today that I think you should listen
to just to kind of make sure that your parents

(04:47):
are in that right situation so that they're And again,
if you're a parent and you have kids and you're
relying on them taking care of you, make sure you're
set up properly. I don't want to be a burden
to my kids. Yeah later in life either. So I
think you know, again, what we're gonna get into today
is a lot of really good education that I think
that everybody needs to hear because we're all regardless if
I'm on Medicare or not, I'm still planning it for

(05:08):
my parents and my grandparents and stuff like that. So
but kind of getting back to the four parts of Medicare, So, yeah, A, B, C,
and D so A and B. Well A, of course
is your hospitalization coverage, right, so you're gonna get that
for free. They talk about the forty credit quarters. Basically,
if you worked and paid into Medicare, if you're taking

(05:28):
them money out of here and checking paid into Medicare
for ten years, then you get Medicare Part A for free.
So that's that. Again, is your hospitalization coverage, which again,
that's gonna be your biggest bills that you're ever gonna see.
Oh yeah, especially God forbid you're laid up in the
hospital for a while. So yeah, the Medicare, we get

(05:49):
that for free. But what most people don't realize is
that there's a Part B, right, and the Part B
is your outpatient coverage, and that's really what you're gonna
be using for the majority of what you do. I mean,
I'm not going to be in the hospital every day,
but I'm not too but I will be seeing a doctor,
I will be having outpatient procedures. I might have testing

(06:11):
or an image or something like that. So that's your
Part B coverage. But you have to enroll in this, right,
you actually have to contact Medicare and the enroll and
you know, you guys should start planning this out at
least six months in advance, making sure I'm out a
three months ahead of time you can apply, So three
months before your birth month. So if your birthday is,

(06:33):
let's say June fifteenth, medica of your when you turn
sixty five, so June first is when Medicare will start
for you. It's the first of the month of your birthday.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Okay, okay, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
So three months before that you can start enrolling in
everything that you need to do, but again, getting the
right information, start that process like six months before that.
That way, you know, hey, I have everything in line,
don't make this. I get so many listeners that call
in andally like, okay, I go on Medicare in three days.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, all right.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
I was like, do you have your A and B double?

Speaker 1 (07:05):
No?

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, I was like, I can't do anything until your
b's in place and you're paying for it. So that's
a big process that we have to go through. And
then This just kind of kicks the ball down the
road for us to be able to get you guys
set up the right way, so you can put.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Her on your calendar as a reminder, you know, like, Okay,
I'm three months out. Now is when I can start
to even think about or at least enroll, so I'm
ahead of the game when I kick in.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, and making sure you're applying. And then so the
part B that we just spoke about your outpatient coverage,
you're gonna have to pay for that. The cost this
year is one hundred and eighty five dollars a month. Now,
typically that's going to be taken out of your SOCIS
Security check. Now, if you're not going to take Social
Security when you turn sixty five, let's say you're waiting now,
I think what's the age seventy or something like that,

(07:52):
if you just turn sixty five this year. Yeah, but
for like the full Social Security benefits, you might be
pushing that off. So what's gonna happen is they're going
to sends you a bill quarterly. So every quarter you're
going to get a three month bill for one eighty
five times three that you're gonna have to pay in
and that's your original Medicare A and B. Like I said,
very important. But again, think about Medicare. It's a you know,

(08:16):
government program, right, I mean it's it's riddled with holes.
It's got all kinds of out of pocket expenses. You know,
you have hospitalization deductibles, you have outpatient deductibles. The best
way they really think about Medicare is that you're pretty
much on the hook for twenty percent of whatever your
bill is. So yes, if you run up a million
dollar bill, that's two hundred thousand dollars, you can be
out of pocket. Right, So that's what original Medicare gives you.

(08:38):
So this is where the C and D parts come
in next. So Medicare Parts C is where you'll go
through a private insurance company, right, and that part C
is what's going to help alleviate those out of pocket expenses.
But kind of taking a step back here before we
really get into parts C. The other thing you have
to understand it because again this is something we see

(09:00):
a lot coming through our office, is something called IRMA.
IRMA is actually stands for income related monthly Adjustment amounts.
So what happens basically there's a two year look back
on Medicare, and what the government basically says is that
if you make a lot of money, we want to
charge you more for Medicare. Okay, So again this is

(09:22):
also a good planning strategy to make sure. I mean again,
we're trying to maximize our social security benefits. We want
all this. But again, if I'm making a lot of
money two years before I go onto Medicare, my Medicare
Part B can be extremely expensive.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Well what's a lot of money?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
I mean, this could be I mean I've seen these
five a month is the going rate, right for everybody,
But then I've seen people pay five to six hundred
dollars more a month for Medicare Part B.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Holy cow. Yeah, those last couple of years of your
employment could be the most lucrative years for some I mean.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Exactly, Wow, exactly, And making sure you're planning for that now.
Which is funny. We've had We've had people literally call
into the office and they're like, yeah, you know, I
sold a bunch of property before, and my income was
extremely high, like a year ago, right before. I was
like I wanted to cash out and put all this
money away, and like great, so now you're paying like
eight hundred bucks, an I think you did it a
year before that. So again planning ahead of time, making

(10:21):
sure your income.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
So can I answer real quick, is that higher premium
rate than just last all the way through your time
on Medicare? No, so it's a two year look back. Okay,
So it's two year look back. You'll be paying the
higher premium for a couple of years, and as long
as you don't have generated what you characterize as a
lot of income, then it's going to ultimately drop down.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
It will eventually drop down too. But again it's you know,
it's a big shocker to a lot of people, especially
because if you're filing married, right and that you and
your wife or whatever vice versa, and in your spouse
and you guys are getting on medicare together, I mean
you're both paying that higher part B so it could
be extremely extremely expensive. So it's again just that forward
plan kind of getting into that.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Well, one more question on this, because people start drawing
off their four to one k's often in retirement, does
that count as income for the purpose of calculating the premium? Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
So anything you're paying taxbile income on is would do that.
Oh wow, so I then talk to your financial planner.
That's why sometimes it's very important to be looking at
things that are non taxable income you know later in life,
you know, because again, you know, that's something that I
don't hear a lot of financial planners talk about. You know,
Oh you're irma, it's gonna hit you and you're gonna

(11:31):
pay a lot more money because you're drawing out of
you know, retirement accounts and stuff like that, or taking
a lump sum or something along that line. So again,
it's it's definitely a good thing to think about because
it's it's a hard conversation when I'm telling someone like, hey,
you know your Medicare, your Medicare supplement's only one hundred
and thirty bucks a month. They're like, well, yeah, Medicare
is charged me eight hundred bucks a month. And I'm like,

(11:51):
that's that's a tough bill to swallow sometimes, Yeah, especially
at that point, like well, I just I sold the
property two years ago, and you know why am I paying?
I mean, I don't have that money now. You know
Apple Games applicates, Yes, so you're gonna get you one
way or another. But again, it's so it's not even
the part B that's that's elevated that point too. There's
the part D. Your prescription drug cards goes up to

(12:13):
basically based upon income. So there's a lot of the
costs that can come to you if you're not planning
the right way. And you guys could I mean the
quick Google search if you look up IRMA, you can
look up at different income brackets and just kind of
make sure you're under that threshold. I mean, this year,
you won't get hit with the IRMA unless you're combined
making over two hundred and five thousand dollars for that

(12:35):
two year look back. So as long as you're staying
under two hundred and five thousand dollars, you're not gonna
be hit with IRMA. But again, like I said, I mean,
you make two hundred and six thousand, now you're paying
another I think it's like thirty or forty bucks a
month per person you know at that level. So again
to just kind of making sure you're planning for that
and in aware because that's a that's a tough conversation.
I have to have clients when they start seeing those
type of things.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
I get that, I get that. So there is the
medagap and medadvantage least in terms of Part CE. And
there's different a couple of different types of parts C
out there.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, so parts C so you have this is like
I said, where you're gonna go with a private insurance company.
So again, original Medicare A and B.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
So the biggest thing with original Medicare, and I really
strongly want people to hear this, Original Medicare gives you
access to every doctor in every hospital in the United
States that takes Medicare. Right. So now, right now, let's
think about it like it's access to care.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Right.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
If I'm in Cincinnati, I want to go to Cleveland Clinic,
It's not a question with original Medicare, right, So I
can go down to MD Anderson in Houston, one of
the best cancer hospitals in the world. Not a question, right,
because they take Medicare. I can go anywhere I want,
no questions asked, no referrals. So the MEDA gap, the
other term firm is Medicare Supplements is a supplement to

(13:56):
original Medicare. So what that's going to do is alleviate
those out of that twenty percent those out of pocket
expenses depending on the plan that you choose, well, it's
going to keep you on original Medicare. So one of
the best plans that we sell. Of course, if you're
turning sixty five right now, you're gonna be looking at
the best plan cover just called Plan G. So there's plans,

(14:19):
so you have four parts of Anicare and then yougure
got it, and then plans A through N. But the
best plan, we call it, like the Cadillac policy, is
Plan G. Right, it's the best one that you can have.
So it covers all of the out of pocket expenses
medical expenses that you'll incur, except the part be deductible.
The part be deductible this year is two hundred and

(14:40):
fifty seven dollars. Oh that's not too bad, no, I
mean I tell people all the time when they get
when they have the Medicare conversation, congratulations you made it
to Medicare. Yeah, like, oh, I didn't want to do this,
I said, you know you did, because this is the
best medical insurance you'll ever have in your life. I mean,
I've been doing insurance for twenty years. I've never walked

(15:00):
around and sold two hundred and fifty dollars reductible major
medical plan oh, that's a.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Valid point right there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, So again, extremely important to kind of understand that.
But that's the reason why the Medicare supplements and medic
gap plans are so imperative is because it still keeps
you on original Medicare. When you go to the Medicare
advantage plan, right, you're actually giving up original Medicare. So
the federal governments basically turn around and going, okay, well,

(15:27):
we're going to give the money that we would normally
pay to cover expenses, and we're gonna turn that money
over and give it to an insurance company and they're
going to manage your health care. And when I say
manage your healthcare, it's exactly what they do, right, because
now instead of having a supplement to original Medicare, which
gives you all that access and no referrals and no questions,

(15:47):
now you have an insurance company involved in every single
step that you do. So that's gonna be pre authorizations,
that's going to be referrals. They're going to be like, hey,
we don't want you to go to this facility, you
get to go to this one.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
And that sucks.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
But that's that's the Medicare advantage side. And which which
again is very appealing for a lot of people because
sometimes these plans can be as low as zero dollars
a month. So people are like, well, I can get
on Part C for zero dollars, Why am I going
to go spend one hundred two, one hundred and fifty
bucks a month, which is kind of the going right

(16:20):
for a Medicare supplement right now? Why would I go
spend that when I can get something for zero?

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Why?

Speaker 2 (16:25):
I always tell people there's no free lunch. So when
you give up that original Medicare and you're handing it
to an insurance company, well, now you're kind of subjicated
to networks, right, So you're gonna have networks of doctors
and hospitals that that insurance company is contracted with. And
we talked about this, you know, a few months ago
during the open enrollment, right, those things change. Yeah, I

(16:46):
mean I've seen hospitals and doctor networks drop in the
middle of a year, you know, especially God forbid you're
on an HMO, which I would strongly suggest against. But
if you're on an HMO Medicare advantage plan, your doctor drops,
it's because it's an HMO. You're restricted to only stay
in that network. You can't go out a network. So
what happens now Your doctor is no longer in there

(17:07):
because there's a contract dispute between the doctor and the
insurance company. So where are you gonna go? You just
lost your primary care and you can't change a plan. Right,
you could be if you're not in the right time frame,
you can stuck with that for the rest of the year.
So again, it just opens a lot of potential problems
in that realm. Not saying the Medicare advantage plans don't

(17:30):
work for some people. I do Medicare advantage, I do
meta gap plans. There's a place for these products for
each individual. But again, just kind of understanding what you're
going through and you know what those can entail. The
other thing we talked about Brian, Right, it's two hundred
and fifty seven dollars ADUD double this year if you
do a plan G for the meta gap. Well, the

(17:50):
Medicare advantage plans have out of pockets of somewhere on
average five to six thousand dollars a year. Oh wow, yeah, yeah,
So I mean you can still be I mean, it's
just because it's a you're a premium doesn't mean you
don't have.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Somewhere or another you have insurance company control, finite limited networks,
less flexibility, and a sizeable out of pocket responsibility exactly.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
But they're going to throw in all kinds of benefits
of these Medicare advantage plans. They're going to give you
dental envision, right, A lot of these plans have dental
envision tied into it. Typically your prescription drug coverage is
already inside of it, so it does keep cost down.
So I definitely understand why these exist. But again, for
a lot of the clients that we talk to, i'd
probably say seventy five percent of them end up going

(18:35):
on the Medicare supplement side. They want the better coverage,
they want the access to care. They want to be
able to travel, you know, when they retire. They're like,
I'm not going to be stuck here in Cincinnati, right,
I want to go to Florida.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
A lot of people do try to travel in retirement,
and yeah, we're going to be out of network. I
guess if you just go more than thirty miles, you're
probably going to be.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, some of these plans are very regionally based, so
on the Medicare advantage side. So yeah, I mean just
really kind of understanding those those things out there. And
you know, the more and more I talk to seniors
turning sixty five, you know, they get inundated, so the
phone start calling. There's I know, there's phone rooms out
of the country that just call people turning sixty five.

(19:14):
You're talking to a foreigner that is trying to try
to get you to talk to an agent. And you know,
and there's mailings. I mean, you've probably they probably cut
down small forests to mail brochures and different products out there.
So there's just an overload of information. And what I
found is that about eighty percent of what people get
are Medicare advantage plans. You know, the information that's coming

(19:37):
to them is Medicare advantage plans. Right, there's a huge
push for that. And again I've talked to people all
the time to go I don't even I didn't even
knowdic Medicare supplements existed. I just thought it was this
Medicare advantage and I had to find my doctor in
a network. So again, that's why we're doing the show today,
is just so people understand that there's different options out there.
And again sometimes you have to go not just surface

(19:58):
deep when you look at these things, really kind of
understanding does this plan fit from my situation. And that's
where we really sit down with you and kind of
go over those options and make sure you're fully aware
of what those type of exposures are.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
All right, Well, if you're on something that's not Medicare Advantage,
you're talking about the other program, the you'll need to
get D Part D then.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
For prescription coverage. So par D is your prescription side.
So I said, some of them. A lot of the
Medicare advantage plans have the prescriptions tied into it. So yeah,
so it's it's a pretty simple process. I mean for me,
it's it's it's very simple. I just get a list
of the drugs that you're on and what pharmacy you
want to go to. I literally plug it into a
program I have every insurance company. It tells me what's

(20:40):
your actual out of pocket expenses for the whole year
are you know, and then which plan to sell you.
I mean, and some of these plans are you know,
as low as ten to fifteen bucks a month, I
mean some of them are over one hundred bucks a month.
It just kind of depends upon the drugs that you're on.
But you know a lot of people that call in,
you know, typically aren't on four or five thousand dollars
with medication costs, so a lot of them are on

(21:02):
you know, a couple hundred bucks, so it tends to
be the cheaper plan. So really, you know, the best
thing right now for if you're turning sixty five is
to think like, hey, you know, I can get on
a Medicare supplement or Medicap plan and the prescription drug plan.
I'm probably not even gonna be paying more than one
hundred and fifty bucks a month for that? Is that
really justified to go on a Medicare advantage plan where
you can have five six thousand dollars out of pocket

(21:25):
a year? So how long would it take you to
pay in premium to out of pocket expensive costs? So
that's why I try to make it about the numbers
to the clients. You know, really you know, and you know,
just really kind of understand that. And like I said,
if you have you know, and this is when we
sit down and we really have those conversations and we
run those numbers and let you know what it looks

(21:45):
like the other thing too, is when you're turning sixty five,
you're guaranteed issue, like there's no questions. I mean outside
of usually tobacco use, like I can't. You could be
going through cancer, you could have had a major illness,
you could be Type one diabetic with neuropathy. I mean
the Medicare supplement plans have to take you is with
no questions asked. They can't even rate you up for
those things. But after that initial enrollment time, so you

(22:09):
have basically three months before and three months after your
birthday to enroll in a Medicare supplement guaranteed issue. After
that time you have to go through underwriting. So you
might be able to get into a Medicare supplement right now,
or maybe you're just say, you know what, I'm kind
of healthy. Maybe I'll roll the dice on the Medicare
advantage side, and you know, I just want the zero premum.

(22:31):
I'm not really go to the doctor that often, but
in a year or two, when things start creeping up
and now you're having issues, you come back to me
and go John, I don't really like this. I'm paying
a lot of money out of pocket, but I have
X y Z condition, you may not qualify for a
Medicare supplement, then, oh yes, so it's not so just
because I can get you to Cadillac today doesn't mean

(22:52):
may it's going to be available to you, you know,
two or three or five years down the road. And
that as it's been. It was the probably the biggest
and toughest conversation that I had to have a lot
of your listeners this last open enrollment. I bet was
because a lot of them are like, John, I listen
to your show. I know what I have. I really
don't like it, but I love the sound of those
Medicare supplements. I didn't even know they were existed, And

(23:13):
I'm like, I can't do that for you with what
you have going on, there's no insurance.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Once again, the window is the three months in advance
of your six month or sixty fifth birthday and the
three months after that's it take advantage of the Medicare supplement.
At that point then you may not be able to.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Get to be able to go back in again.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Now, if you are completely healthy after that window and
you don't have any presis and condition, you could pass
the medical underwriting. You can still get one.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Though you can still get that one. Yeah, so it's
still a dice roll. It's still a dice roll. Yeah,
It's just like anything else, you know, it's you know,
I want to make sure I have a better coverage
when I can get it. Oh yeah, you know. And
again it's like I said, it's each person, the situation
is a little different, you know. You know the other
thing too, I look at with the Medicare advantage plans
and I'm not here to completely push everybody away from

(23:59):
because there are times that the financials makes sense. You know,
if you get later in life. Remember these Medicare supplements,
they keep going up in price every year, right, they
will go up, and you know, we reshop them for you.
So if you in five years your plan starts creeping
up over two hundred bucks a month, we can reshop
and if you're really healthy, I can rewrite you. It
can get you a better price, different pool of people, right,

(24:22):
get you a different rating. The biggest issue that kind
of runs into is, you know, as we get really old,
to start seeing people like in their late seventies, early eighties, well,
the problem is they might have some medical conditions and
now these meta gap or medicare suppleing plans are three
hundred dollars three hundred and fifty dollars a month. Well
at those points, and they're on one hundred dollars a

(24:43):
month prescription plan to cover their fourth thousand dollars drug,
I start looking at four hundred and fifty to five
hundred bucks a month and what they're paying. So I'm like, well,
if you're paying six grand a year for these the
other plans, well if I can move you to a
zero premium advantage plan and save you six grand and
push on a planet, maybe as a four thousand dollars
out of pocket. Even in your worst case scenario, you're

(25:04):
still saving two grand a year, So there is a
flip side at a certain point. Plus with those people too, Brian,
they're not probably traveling very much anymore. Most people of
that age are usually staying in a more confined radius
of their home. So again a lot of different things
that we look at in those realms. But again that's
why it's so imperative to have that open conversation and

(25:26):
really get kind of an analysis of your where you're
at in life, what your goals and plans are for
the future, and making sure that you're on the right
plan that will help you succeed in that area.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Well, can someone change an advantage plan at any time
or can they change now if they feel like they're
in the wrong place?

Speaker 2 (25:44):
I mean yes, I mean so, typically the open enrollment
is October fifteenth through December seventh, But there is a
time right now, because people get on plans and somebody
sold them something and they're like, oh my god, my
doctor's not a network, or you just drop my plan,
or I don't really like this plan, there is a
one time change that you can do up until March

(26:05):
thirty first, So I can change your Medicare advantage plan
right now to something Yeah, right now, you have like
a couple of weeks that we can change that plan.
So if you're not stuck, and if you're just like, hey,
maybe I'm on an HMO, I would not recommend that
move to a PPO plan. We can do that by
the end of the month.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Fair enough, briefly, in the remaining couple of minutes we've
got here, anything else the senior should be thinking about
planning for.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Yeah, I think it's really important at this stage. You know,
if you're in that setup spot, start looking at long
term care sharks talking about things like short term care coverage.
One of the biggest things that we don't realize is that,
like you know, the average age for men to have
a heart attack is sixty five right right there at Medicare.
Like as soon as you go on Medicare, it's like

(26:51):
you see it, like the average age I mean, and
then the strokes and the cancers that come through it.
And the best thing, Brian, is the medicine that we
have today. It will save your life. But it's the
effects of that illness that could be putting us into
a major hardship for our families. And don't let that
be a hardship for you and your family. There are
plans that you can get into that will do like

(27:13):
home health care, have an aid come out to your house.
You know my wife, you know, I want to be
able to take care of her if something happened. I
want her to stay at home. But there's a huge
problem when you're taking care of a family member for
a long period of.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
Time in your home. There's only so much you can
really have on your plate, and then it becomes physically exhausting, Brian.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Some of these plans start like a dollar a day.
For a dollar a day, you can literally have a
plan that will pay for someone to be in your
home to help take care of your spouse.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
A dollar a day. Let me repeat that, because my
mind's blown that this can be that inexpensive.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, I mean, and it's about yes, getting it now
and then and the qualification level and these some of
these plans are easy. I mean, as long as you're
not already in that situation, they'll write you. So there
are some really good plans out there right now. There's
so many different ways that we can do it. And
I just don't be that burden. So if you're if
you're even if you're a child of some a senior,

(28:13):
you know, like talk to your parents about that.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
I bought it for my parents. I can buy it
for them, like I I mean, I my mom always
calls me something never happened to your dad, and something
happened to me, Like you're gonna let me move in
with you? I'm like, yeah, but I don't want to
clean up after you, you know what I mean? I mean,
but I have the insurance for a dollar a day.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Well, people are gonna be itching to call you learning
what you taught them today, So that number again five
one three eight hundred call five one three eight hundred
two two five five if you get much touch with
them online and coversinsey dot com. John, it's always a
pleasure talking with you. Very enlightening on this Medicare topic.
H This has been another edition of Rethink Healthcare together

(28:58):
with John Roman from cover since two