October 1, 2025 • 34 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Time, Luck and load. The Michael Verie Show is on
the air. He was supposed to be interviewing Vanesh de
(00:39):
Suza about his new movie. And I'm assuming there's a
book that goes with that, because that guy can churn
out books like you know most of us write a
to do list. It's incredible how prolific his his writing
output has been over all these and he continues to
(01:01):
do so. I have asked that we postponed that because
the number of emails I am receiving and messages from
friends about this. The lack of information about Medicare and
not knowing where to go to find out more turns
out to be a bigger issue than I realized. Of course, hell,
I didn't realize how many women were struggling with menopause
(01:23):
till we did a couple of hours of radio on menopause.
And I'll tell you what, if you were to plan
segments based on thank you as you get from people
desperate from for information, I would do menopause on Monday,
Medicare on Tuesday. Yeah. How to hire good people? Where
(01:44):
the good people are to hire?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
On? When?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I mean, these are things that people are oh Wiener
drugs and testosterone on Thursday, and then what would we
do on Friday? Ramon weight loss? We do weight loss
on Friday. Yeah, and that'd be it. There'd be our show.
I mean in terms of number of people reaching out
thanking us for information. Right now, if you saw my screen,
(02:09):
longer than the screen is number of emails that came
in in just the last couple of minutes. So I
have to scroll down to even see all the emails.
Justin White is our guest of Senior Health Services dot Com.
The question going into the break, Justin Catherine asks ask
about meta gap versus Medicare advantage. I've heard Medicare plus
(02:32):
metagap is far better and cuts out the barriers that
medic that med are rarely refused a treatment.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
True, Oh my gosh, that's such a great question. This
is probably this is probably one of the biggest questions
that we have. Is this exactly this because if you ask,
if you ask five people this, you're going to get
eight opinions and they're all going to be different. Is
going to confuse the you know, the crap out of you.
So we've so, first off, meda gap is what they
(03:02):
pay a premium for so you'll pay a premium, and
it does give you more freedom generally to go when
and where you want to go. There's no referrals and
you know, and it is good. Now. The problem with
metagap is that premium is going up, and it's going
up disproportionately right now, and a lot of people are
running into problems affording it. But those that have money
(03:24):
and they know what they're buying, they're buying access and
convenience and you know, they travel a lot and things
like that. So it does work really well. But it
only does hospital and doctor stuff. It's not going to
do any extra things, no ancillary things, so people have
to keep that in mind. But the first thing is
just affordability. The Medicare Advantage plans are big federally sponsored
(03:46):
group insurance plans. That's where your HMOs and your PPOs are.
Still most of them still don't have any premium, believe
it or there's a premium, but the government's paying it.
So we find very definitively and this is one thing
you can know from Senior Hill Services. We are not
going to shoehorn you into one or the other. Because
one thing we've learned is we've got to ask questions
(04:09):
and determine who we're talking to. And there are very
definitely Medicare advantage people, and they are very definitely Medicare
supplement people. And I have learned long time ago, thankfully,
that if I take a supplement person and put them
in advantage or take advantage person put them in a supplement,
I'm going to hear from I'm going to hear about it,
and it's not going to be good people. Generally, once
(04:30):
they get in the plan that fits their personality and
the style of care that they want, regardless of which one,
they're generally very happy because the satisfaction rates in both
of them for long term members are very high. It's
just a matter of having somebody that can you can
ask questions of to determine which one suits the type
of coverage that you want.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
If that makes Senior Health Services dot Com, as our
guest Tom writes, good Mornings are am. I primary care
physician has been requiring two visits a year with blood work.
He said, because I'm on regular prescription of ten milligrams
of lissineprol, lowest amount that can be prescribed. I went
to the Medicare website Q and A and found that
(05:11):
there was no requirement for two physicals a year. That
was very disappointing. There's not a question, but do you
have a thought on that.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah, there are a couple of meds that require, you know,
frequent follow ups. But I agree with him. I've not
heard that like centerpril is one of them. So yeah,
they're just again just a lot of confusion and chaos
and things, and sometimes the plans to require a couple
of a couple of extra visits and I don't want to.
I don't want to wander off too much in the weeds.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That's entirely but let me just say this. I'm not
the expert here, but I don't see a problem with
two physicals a year other than the cost and the time,
and nobody wants it. I get my blood drawn more
than any human being you'll meet, because I believe there
is a lot to be learned from blood, and especially
I have a baseline from my hearing, from my testosterone,
(06:03):
from my BP. And once you establish a baseline, which
is what I think everybody should do, you create the
norm based on testing long before you need it. Then
the minute you notice something is off. You can catch
things early. If you don't have a baseline, you don't
know if your numbers are higher than they were last year,
which is a problem. It's the delta that matters. So
(06:24):
I think, go get your physicals and go get your
blood tests if it doesn't cost a lot and you
have the time. Sendy from Beaumont says, how do they
determine your premium for Part B and Part D? I
believe I read they use your tax return from two
years ago. Unfortunately, I will not be making anything close
to that amount once I start drawing retirement and I'm
no longer working. How is that fair?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, well there's good news for her, so I will
tell you so, yeah, they do. She's absolutely right. Once
once you go into Medicare, they're going to means test
Part D. Part B and D as a matter of fact,
be the standard monthly premium this year is one hundred
and eighty five. It's going to go somewhere just over
two hundred for next year, is what we're looking. Looks
of the estimates look like. And if you make more
(07:09):
than a certain amount, they're going to make you pay more.
And they do. They go back two years to your
tax return, and they look at what's called the modified
adjusted gross income, and so Medicare coordinates with the IRS
to figure out what that is, and then they send
a letter saying what it's going to be. The good
news for her is that when you retire and your
(07:32):
income collapses like it often does, I mean, it doesn't
collapse necessarily, but it's less than what you're making when
you're working, there's an appeal form that she can turn
in because work stoppage or a great decrease in income
is a life changing event, and they can appeal whatever
that thing. It's called the IRMA, the income related monthly
(07:52):
adjustment amounts what they call it, and she can appeal
that IRMA and get them to send in the documentation
that they want. And we've had a lot of people
have success turning that thing in and getting that thing lowered, eliminated, entirely,
hanging tight.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Justin White Senior Health Services dot com. Either you or
your parents are on Medicare or will be soon enough
to get your questions answered coming up? Man's the term
anal intercourse on your program, Michael ri if it's relevant
to this story for journalistic purposes, Justin white Sendor Health
(08:33):
Services dot Com. They help people dealing with Medicaid, and
either you or your parents are very likely going through
that process.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The number of questions is fast that I can get
on the air, but I'm gonna make them quick, and
I'll shorten Justin's answers. Try to get as many answers
as we can. Arlene Hayes or many medical many medications
are new and don't have generics, and they're super expensive.
Medicare RX coverage pays for more of these. Please ask
Justin if he has any suggestions for how to deal
(09:03):
with this.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, great, great question. And that's that is the epicenter
of what's going on right now is centered around those drugs.
So I will tell everybody get your plan reviewed. For sure,
Medicare does a really good job on generics, but as
she's implying, in my opinion, Medicare does kind of a
crappy job on the brand names. But the good news
(09:27):
is one good thing that the Inflation Reduction Act did
was it brought in an annual cap. This coming year
it's going to be twenty one hundred dollars. And it's
weird how they figure that out. And I can't do.
We don't none of us have time to go into
that now. But that twenty one hundred dollars maximum, you know,
out of pockets. So that once your cost, whatever they
credit to you is twenty one hundred and above all,
(09:49):
your medags dropped down to zero. So that may make
her feel better, may may not make her feel better,
but everybody's going through it, and I would say, call in,
let us review it for you, and if there's some
something that we can shift her over to that'll give
her some relief, will certainly do that.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Dell writes, I am a disabled veteran one hundred percent,
so I have VA. I intend to retire next year.
Do I shift to Medicare when I start Social Security?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Thank you for your service, Bill, appreciate that so much.
That is such a great question. One of the dumbest
things in our country right now is that VA coverage.
Believe it or not, please everybody hear me say this
VA coverage as it stands right now is not considered
creditable to Wavepart B. So if we have a veteran
(10:37):
that is using that benefit that they earned and they say,
you know, I don't need Medicare right now, because I've
got the VA coverage and then you try to enroll later,
they're going to find people for not signing up for
b when they had the chance to at sixty five.
So what I would tell Bill is Bill, give us
a buzz There are some ways to get you into
(10:59):
that with with not much additional costs. We could discuss
that when you give a buzz in. But you can
stay on the VA and if you think that's where
you're going to go for the rest of your life
and you don't want to use any outside doctors, than
by all means you can do that. But if you
want some leeway down the road and you think you
ever will need Medicare, I would highly recommend getting it
(11:21):
in place and talk to us about some ways that
we can offset that cost so it doesn't so it
doesn't kill you. Because right now you're getting it for nothing,
and you add Medicare and you're like, I don't want
to add that cost. Sure, just call us, we'll talk
about what we can do.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Justin White Senior health Services dot Com, Scott writes, how
about asking him about United Healthcare plans to drop some
Medicare advantage plans that cover over six hundred thousand people.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Well, they are all you remember what I said earlier.
Those big carriers are the ones that are just kind
of they're kind of settling and they're hibernating a little
bit this year. Not all of them, but a lot
of them are, and a lot of them are dropping
different plans in different areas. So depending on where Scott is,
he may be in an area where they're trimming some
(12:05):
they're not trimming everywhere. So to find out how much
something's going to change for you or whether it's a
better option, the best thing I could the best advice
I can give is to get your plan reviewed because
we'll be able to tell you whether it's staying going,
you know, and just what the changes are, because at
the end of the day, you need to know how
it's changing, so you can decide do I want to
stay here or do I want to look for something
(12:26):
that's going to be that's going to possibly sit me better.
And the only way that you can do that is
with the review. But that's that's a good question. United
health Care and Humanity they're going nowhere, they're around and
if you like that plan and want to stay there,
you certainly have that prerogative, but you do want to
make sure you're not in an area where they're canceling
some of them, because that will happen. And it's not
(12:47):
just them, it's across the board. All the plans are
doing making adjustments like that.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Melanie writes, my father in law is eighty five and
his current plan does not cover hearing aids? Are there
any plans that do? I'll expand that to a number
of medical accessories justin what do you say?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Absolutely, it depends on what her father in law is
on if he if he is on a meta gap
on a Medicare supplement, then the hearing aids, he'd have
to actually add a plan, uh, in order to get
coverage on that thing if he decided to. And that's
and and at eighty five, that may be hard to find.
And most of the advantage plans do have some benefits
(13:25):
in that direction, And it just depends on which one
he's in. But yeah, I would, I would definitely. You know,
if that's something they're looking for, there's there should be
coverage possibilities. It's just a matter of whether that possibility
is what they want to when they enroll in.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
All right, I'm going to go more rapid fire, so
if you keep them a little shorter.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I'll assume this is a joke, but it's funny. I't
want to read it. You don't have to answer for
our aging liberals. It may be confused. After all these years,
do any of these plans cover gender transitioning care? You
don't need to answer that, Jenet right, No, Zara, please
ask mister White. Uh, with a Medicare supplement if I
can file an insurance claim myself. I'm returning to Houston
(14:03):
and found the doctor that I used to use does
not file insurance. His prices are so reasonable, But I
was wondering if I could file them myself like in.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
The old days, and it's not a Medicare supplement.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, yes, I'd be sure. I wouldn't ready for that.
That's awesome, Okay, Laura Rights. Is it true that if
you retire at sixty five and elect to not have Medicare,
you will lose your Social Security benefits?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That is not true.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Man, he takes orders, didn't he pd rights are? I
was wondering if Justin can help me because I don't
live in Texas. Do all states have different rules and
plans for Medicare. I live in upstate New York. People
that are anyway that you get the question.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Yeah. The beautiful thing is Medicare is a federal program,
and there might be some state some little state things,
but for the most part, Medicare is impact as a
federal program, and I would say call in. We've got
people up there that can help with that if they
need it.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I'm going to consolidate this next question into a broader
question because there are a lot of them coming in
currently have Medicare and trycare for life. Ninety percent disabled
through the VA. Should I keep Medicare or drop it?
I'm sixty six US Army retired combat veteran from Desert Storm.
A lot of emails coming in on VA related issues,
(15:28):
your thoughts generally on that.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I would those guys the trackcare for life. My understanding
is that, And if there's exceptions to it, I'm not
aware of them. But my understanding is they need to
have A and B in place for trackcare. So anything
that he's wanting to make adjustments to his and I
just take a little longer to answer, since he's a veteran,
I want to make sure we get that right. I
would have him call the administrator of that plan and
(15:52):
ask that question to them. Generally speaking, when somebody's on
track here. My in laws were on track here, and
I left that thing alone because I didn't want to
screw anything up with it, and that would be the
thing I would say for them, So call them and
ask them that verify the things, and you know, we're
happy to talk with you as well, but I would
have him go right back there and just make sure
that you're not doing anything that that would jeopardize those
(16:14):
well deserved I'm.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Up against a break, but I can tell people have
a lot of questions and don't know where to go
to get answers Senior Health Services dot com. Justin White
as our guest, We're going to hang tight with him
for a bit more. Keep your emails coming in through
the website at Michael Berryshow dot com. Get right to
the point so I can ask them easily get on
because there is nothing here to.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Michael Berry shown contacted a doctor in England who's kind
of like a Mary Tally Boden in Houston, who has
been out there like Don Quixote Jousey at Windmills, trying
to say to the medical establishment, big pharma hospital systems.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Ivermactin works, hydroxychloroquin works. The COVID show is killing people.
The masks don't work. Stop shutting things down. And he
had quoted a story by a doctor who told the
story that he had gone in to see a patient
and he told the patient what to do, and he
was in and out of the room in twenty seconds.
And he turned and as he was walking out the door,
(17:16):
he turned and looked back and he said, how's your
day going? And the guy broke down into tears. And
the guy was going through a living hell. And he said,
that day, when I got off from work, having seen
seventy patients, I went and got me a Moleskin journal.
Great great Romona loves that sort of stuff, great journaling book.
(17:40):
And he said, I started every day with every person
I see, after I treat them, or before I treat them,
I asked them one thing about them. Where are you from,
what do you do for a living? Give any children?
And he said, I realized I wasn't treating these people
like human beings. And I think we all get so
caught up up in being busy, in handling paperwork and
(18:06):
checking boxes that we forget there's a human element. I
have appreciated that I'm able to send folks to Justin
and he most of them, a lot of them. He's
not able, maybe not able to ever make a penny
off of the way the system pays. But I get
emails that he took care of them, he helped them.
I got what made me think of about this. I
(18:27):
got an email from sal who says, just had my
mother's husband die. He took care of everything. Now that
he's gone, it falls to us to help. We're definitely
contacting your guy. Do they do social Security as well?
It's at the point where the Social Security Office has
her in tears. We can't figure out the death penal
benefits and the withdrawal. Can they help or can you
(18:48):
see if you work at the Social Security Office, it's
like working at the at the mortuary, it's like being
an officer on homicide. You've got to realize you're catching
people at their lowest. You got to do better. They're
human beings and they're in a bad position. But anyway,
do y'all do any help? Do y'all help with anything
on Social Security?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Just we I'll tell you we can. It's going to
be more limited. So I don't want to over promise
what we can do, but we can certainly. We'll certainly
listen to them, and we'll help to try to find
somebody that can help them for sure. So, yeah, they
have an issue like that, I mean, please reach out
to us and we'll do the best we can. If
it's a simple thing, we'll do a good job. Otherwise
(19:26):
we'll just work together and see what we can do.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
All right, I'm going back to rapid fire. You can
reach them at Senior Health Services dot com. If you
can't remember that, you know where to reach me Michael
Berryshow dot com and I direct you directly connect you.
Judah says, I feel this is a big scam. I
was scared into enrolling because of the penalties for not
enrolling in Part D about fifteen years ago. My current
premium is one hundred and fifteen dollars and seventy cents
(19:49):
per month. To date, Medicare Part D has paid a
total of zero. I feel I'm just paying for Medicaid patients.
Is there an alternative? My husband ran into the problem
of any new medication quote was not in Medicare's formulary
and Medicare Part D paid nothing. Also, what I pay
at the pharmacy is a lot more than the Medicare
Part deeob says, as a widow of a doctor, I
(20:12):
just don't trust Medicare advantages plans as they tend to
have very limited diagnoses to justify payment, some of which
do not make sense. It's a lot packed in there.
Can you take that?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Justin's yeah, there's there was a lot there. And as
far as like what she said at the beginning about
being signing up for Medicare because she was scared of
being penalized, we get that all the time. And if
she's on a group insurance and not retired yet, then
she was I don't want to say scammed, but she
was misled to think that you have to sign up.
(20:42):
We get people all the time to do that. As
to the rest of it, it sounds like she just
needs somebody to look at those meds and figure out
which plan is going to fit and have them on formulary.
I will tell those listening Medicare generally does not cover
compounded medicine. So if it's compounded and there's like foremones
and things, it's not going to be covered. But if
(21:02):
it's other stuff, we just need to run it and
see which one's going to be, which one's going to
fit and has the more expanded formulas.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Joe Ann writes Zara, I'm eligible to sign up today
for Medicare, perfect timing for your show. I understand parts
A and B. I will be eligible for an advantage
or advantage plan provided by UHC through my former company.
I don't understand if prescriptions are part of the advantage
plans or do I need a Part D supplement for prescriptions.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
That's a fantastic question. Generally, Joe n drug coverage is
included in those plans, and if you're working with a
working with something that they'll tell you that. Now, there
is some differences on stuff that comes through an employer.
Sometimes they will have a separate plan that's that is
does not happen in the individual area. So I would
call the planned administrator and ask them how you get
(21:55):
your drug coverage. Is it actually through that group advantage
plan or do they have a group prescription drug plan?
And just make sure they'll tell you what you need
to do and you should be golden.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
UH double printed that one. Kenny writes, I turned sixty five.
This is Kenny Wittenberg and I know him, so I'm
not sure if my if my advice was correct, but
you can check my work. Kenny Wittenberg writes, I turned
sixty five subject Medicare. I turned sixty five on November twenty. First,
what happens if I don't sign up? And I said, well,
(22:30):
you'll be sixty five and you'll die soon enough. Don't
worry about it. Because he's a friend, I can say that.
But is that is that the right answer?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Is that the right Yeah? I guess in an existential way,
it certainly is. But no, if he doesn't sign up,
I mean I would just make sure if Kenny doesn't
have anything in place, like if he's got an ACA plan,
or if he doesn't have insurance and doesn't have any
insurance and does not sign up at sixty five, that's
where penalties could possibly come in. If he's got employed
(23:00):
coverage and there's more than twenty employees with the company
where he works, then whether he signs up for A
or B is completely up to him. And so if
he if he has that, he has creditible coverage and
he can go down the road decide when he wants
to retire and then will help him sign up when
it's time. If it's less than twenty employees, he probably
needs to look into going ahead and getting into medicare.
So that's that's kind of a convoluted answer, but that's
(23:22):
that's the one.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Just in the Senior Health Services dot com, you don't
they don't name girls Valerie anymore. Like there were a
bunch of Valeries and then one day the last Valerie
was named and they said that's it. No more valeries,
limit Valerie rights. I'm seventy six on straight Medicare with
Etna Continental Life. I take infusions for ra, have had
(23:44):
an aorta valve replaced, had breast cancer, and now have
an aortic aneurysm. I've been told in years past it
because of my issues, I cannot change my supplement insurance
without risking much higher costs. Is that still true? And
let me lump into that a number of pre existing
condition questions justin and whether someone can change midstream if
(24:06):
they have these pre existing questions. I know that's a
big one for folks, especially as they get older. So
can you tackle all of that?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Sure? I was going to say, Valerie is in the
plan she needs to stay in. If Valerie came and
saw me, Valerie would leave in that plan because there's
no way given what she disclosed there, And thank you,
ma'am for your transparency. There's no way that we would
be able to move her into another Medicare supplement with
those because she wouldn't pass the health questions and they
can't take away her current plan as long as he
(24:35):
continues paying the premium. So Valerie is in absolutely the
right spot. Hon your your premium's party client probably climbing
up there. But I would advise staying in that thing
for as long as you can. If we can help
you with your drug plan, let us know. But yeah,
that's very, very definitely an issue. So it's not you're
not risking higher costs. You would be risking being able
(24:56):
to get back into a plan similar to what you
have at all. You would not get in. So you
hang on to that thing and hold type for as
long as you can.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Justin White just went Walter White with if we can
help you with your drug plan, we will. Justin White
with Senior Health Services dot Com will be our guest.
I still have more questions than I can get to
about medicare. If you're not own it or your parents aren't,
you will be soon enough.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
The Michael Barry.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Listen, I'm ready to fight. I came for violence. Anybody
that wants to argue that John Denver is gay or stupid,
or you can say whatever you want. If you have
never had a moment where you went and sat outside
in the grass and the temperature was cool enough that
you weren't mad at the sun, but were enjoying the sun.
(25:49):
You like a dog goes out in the sun during
the day, and you were enjoying the sun on your face.
And John Denver came on and it didn't put you
in a better mood. You're dead inside or or communist Russian.
Something's wrong with you. There's there's check your pulse. That's
that's wonderful stuff right there. You probably watched Jimmy Kimmel.
(26:12):
That's you know what, not liking John or criticizing me
over John Denver. You know what I'm gonna do. One day,
I'm gonna get Holmes Williams and like five other people
like him in a circle. And I remember that legend
of Billy Ode. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna say Holmes,
I'm gonna I'm gonna put my right foot right here
on the right side of your nose right there, and
(26:35):
that's how I'm matter. That's how it goes down in
my head. Don't tell Holmes though, don't tell him. He
probably don't need to know that. Justin White, as our
guests Senior Health Services dot com, what is the best
method of signing up for medicare? These are gonna be
rapid fire because we spent so much time on John Denver.
Find a recommendation from a friend or a broker, or
the boomer Benefits or chapter type larger entities. I'm guessing
(26:57):
the questions and the answers to go to you.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
If you're yeah, if you're getting well, you know, obviously
we would love that. But if you're turning sixty five,
the best way to sign up for medicare, if you
can figure it out, is to go to SSA dot
gov and sign up online. That's the easiest way, and
then you try to keep you from having to go
down to the Social Security Office and whatnot. So we
will walk you through it, just like any of the
services that they mentioned. We do it for free, obviously,
(27:22):
but that's the best way online and hopefully don't have
to go down there and see anybody. That's my answer.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Craig writes zar what regarding Medicare, I just turned sixty five,
and what I did not realize is the cost of
Medicare is tied to your income. Then add in the
Part B and suddenly the cost is approaching what I
pay for my small business health insurance still working, so
I kept the private insurance. I think a lot of
people think Medicare is just free when you reach sixty five.
That's not the case, particularly if you want good insurance
(27:50):
with Part B.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, I would say to that gentleman, that happens a
lot where people don't let people know about that irma
thing where means test your stuff there. Yeah, where he's
If it makes him feel any better, I would have
him go look at his the group insurance plan and
look at what that deductible was. Sometimes when the cost
of the same between Medicare and that group insurance. Where
(28:14):
you will see savings is most Medicare plans have little
and sometimes no deductible, and so they may he may
save some money there, but yeah, that's that's stinks that
that happens but it happens a lot. We hear that
a lot.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
W Keith that's an initial and then a first name.
Just so you know VA and Medicare. I'm sixty percent disabled,
receiving SSDI and long term disability. How will Medicare affect me?
I'm sorry, I thought i'd put this in my veteran stack.
Is there anything different? There's a lot of veterans questions.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, no, that's that's awesome. Well that's good. They deserve
to get help. So you know, the Medicare is going
to give him more choices on doctors because he'll have
access outside the VA. And again, there are plans they're
called Medicare advantage only that just acknowledge the fact that
people get their he from the VA sometimes, but they
may want access to doctors outside the VA, and so
(29:05):
there are plans they're specifically put together to them. So
I would say, call in, let's get you together with
somebody who can show you some options and see if
something would work for you.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Czar out of ignorance, I switched from Medicare with Texas
BCBS supplements. Some benefits I use are no longer covered.
How do I get those benefits back? Short of a
going all play a baby, come back.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Any catasendent. No, they didn't say which plan they were on.
There are some plans that are literally not offered anymore.
So if that was one of them, like Planet J
from years and years ago, once you're off that you
can't get it back. But so I guess I don't
know quite enough information to be able to fully answer
that question. Send us a note or give us a call.
(29:50):
We'll see if we can't answer you a little more
detail and get the intel we need to do it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Let's see a lot of questions about out after the
enrollment plan. I'm trying to amalgamize these about pre existing conditions.
And I know you spoke to this a little, but
this must be a huge deal for folks. And as
I said, when you and I've talked about this, I'm
going through this first time with my dad, well, with
(30:18):
my parents, when my mom is still alive, So this
is all very new to me. But I'm noticing the
questions that keep popping up again and again, wanting to
change midstream, change horses midstream, but with pre existing conditions,
can you speak to that?
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Generally? Absolutely? A lot of people ask that so yes,
if you are changing from a plan. Let's say you're
in an advantage plan and you want to change to
a different one because you're in an advantage plan going
to another one that is creditable coverage, and you will
have zero pre existing condition waiting periods. It just the
only thing it changes is he's paying the bill. When
(30:52):
you're sixty five and you're coming off group insurance and
going into Medicare for the first time, forget pre existing conditions.
Don't worry about it. And I've literally written people with
a power of attorney where the person was in ICU
and they needed to get them into Medicare. We got
it done and the only thing it changed was who
was paying the bill. Great questions. I understand why people
(31:13):
are worried about it, but in most cases pre X
In most cases, pre X is not an issue. So
if you think that might you want some further clarification,
just call us and we'll listen to whatever situation you
hapen to be in.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I'm going to tell you this before I ask the question,
because I don't want you to be suckered in. And
this comes from a moone, not me. He said, every
question can't be a great question, So you need to
choose one for it not to be a great question.
Just about credibility wain wrtes. Regarding the Medicare, my employer
informed me this is coming up a lot. This some
version of this. My employer informed me that I will
(31:46):
have to go on Medicare when I turned fifty five
and that they will no longer provide insurance as my employer.
Is this common.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
For groups that are smaller than for companies that are
smaller than twenty employees, Yes, that's very possible. So I'm
assuming that's probably a small company. If it's more than
twenty employees, they can't they you know, they can't do that.
But if it's less than twenty employees the small groups,
then they have the option whether or not to offer
the group insurance to somebody once they become eligible for
(32:17):
Medicare or not. So that would be that. Now, Now
Ramon's not me thinking I'm gonna tell nobody they have
a great question.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
So yeah, Ramone, he's you know, people think he's nice,
but he says a lot of really kind of hurtful things.
To be honest with you, I run interference and soften
off the edges Sammy writes, I've been on insurance for
disability through Medicare advantage Shumana. I recently had a transplant.
I'm seeing why aren't you didn't tell me what you
got transplanting? Now I'm obsessed. I am now sixty six.
(32:44):
Do I need to change insurance out of disability?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Trans insurance out of disability? And she's on has got
disability insurance through humans. I'm assuming that's a Medicare advantage.
Is that what she said? Yes, she didn't have to.
I mean if she if she likes that, If she
likes that plann she can change. If the plan's no
longer fitting her needs, she just needs to get a review.
If there's something that'll do a better job based on
whatever's going on with her, she can certainly change. But
(33:10):
she does not have to. She does not have to
move if she doesn't want to. She's on Medicare and
on that plan, likes it, she can stay there if
she wants to.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I got to this too late, folks, so my apologies
before we say by to Justin. I did have somebody
track down what happened to Uncle Jerry's pinky toe, and
I do have an update on that. It's going to
have to wait till tomorrow, or I'll put it up
on our Facebook page, or we'll put it on our
blast today, all three of those which you can sign
up for. It's free. At Michael Berryshow dot com you
can find Justin who is a resource for me and
(33:41):
can be for you. You don't pay for it, The
carriers pay for it if it comes to that. At
Senior Health Services dot com. If you can't remember that,
that's okay. You can always email me about anything. And
in fact, if I don't have a show sponsor, my
wife laughs because I'll say, hey, do we know anybody
who does this? And she'll say, yeah, why are you asking?
I got to listen, She said, what are you the
(34:02):
all knowing? Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, yes,
what it means, yeah,
It's that time, time, time.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Time, Luck and load. The Michael Verie Show is on
the air. He was supposed to be interviewing Vanesh de
(00:39):
Suza about his new movie. And I'm assuming there's a
book that goes with that, because that guy can churn
out books like you know most of us write a
to do list. It's incredible how prolific his his writing
output has been over all these and he continues to
(01:01):
do so. I have asked that we postponed that because
the number of emails I am receiving and messages from
friends about this. The lack of information about Medicare and
not knowing where to go to find out more turns
out to be a bigger issue than I realized. Of course, hell,
I didn't realize how many women were struggling with menopause
(01:23):
till we did a couple of hours of radio on menopause.
And I'll tell you what, if you were to plan
segments based on thank you as you get from people
desperate from for information, I would do menopause on Monday,
Medicare on Tuesday. Yeah. How to hire good people? Where
(01:44):
the good people are to hire?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
On? When?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I mean, these are things that people are oh Wiener
drugs and testosterone on Thursday, and then what would we
do on Friday? Ramon weight loss? We do weight loss
on Friday. Yeah, and that'd be it. There'd be our show.
I mean in terms of number of people reaching out
thanking us for information. Right now, if you saw my screen,
(02:09):
longer than the screen is number of emails that came
in in just the last couple of minutes. So I
have to scroll down to even see all the emails.
Justin White is our guest of Senior Health Services dot Com.
The question going into the break, Justin Catherine asks ask
about meta gap versus Medicare advantage. I've heard Medicare plus
(02:32):
metagap is far better and cuts out the barriers that
medic that med are rarely refused a treatment.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
True, Oh my gosh, that's such a great question. This
is probably this is probably one of the biggest questions
that we have. Is this exactly this because if you ask,
if you ask five people this, you're going to get
eight opinions and they're all going to be different. Is
going to confuse the you know, the crap out of you.
So we've so, first off, meda gap is what they
(03:02):
pay a premium for so you'll pay a premium, and
it does give you more freedom generally to go when
and where you want to go. There's no referrals and
you know, and it is good. Now. The problem with
metagap is that premium is going up, and it's going
up disproportionately right now, and a lot of people are
running into problems affording it. But those that have money
(03:24):
and they know what they're buying, they're buying access and
convenience and you know, they travel a lot and things
like that. So it does work really well. But it
only does hospital and doctor stuff. It's not going to
do any extra things, no ancillary things, so people have
to keep that in mind. But the first thing is
just affordability. The Medicare Advantage plans are big federally sponsored
(03:46):
group insurance plans. That's where your HMOs and your PPOs are.
Still most of them still don't have any premium, believe
it or there's a premium, but the government's paying it.
So we find very definitively and this is one thing
you can know from Senior Hill Services. We are not
going to shoehorn you into one or the other. Because
one thing we've learned is we've got to ask questions
(04:09):
and determine who we're talking to. And there are very
definitely Medicare advantage people, and they are very definitely Medicare
supplement people. And I have learned long time ago, thankfully,
that if I take a supplement person and put them
in advantage or take advantage person put them in a supplement,
I'm going to hear from I'm going to hear about it,
and it's not going to be good people. Generally, once
(04:30):
they get in the plan that fits their personality and
the style of care that they want, regardless of which one,
they're generally very happy because the satisfaction rates in both
of them for long term members are very high. It's
just a matter of having somebody that can you can
ask questions of to determine which one suits the type
of coverage that you want.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
If that makes Senior Health Services dot Com, as our
guest Tom writes, good Mornings are am. I primary care
physician has been requiring two visits a year with blood work.
He said, because I'm on regular prescription of ten milligrams
of lissineprol, lowest amount that can be prescribed. I went
to the Medicare website Q and A and found that
(05:11):
there was no requirement for two physicals a year. That
was very disappointing. There's not a question, but do you
have a thought on that.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah, there are a couple of meds that require, you know,
frequent follow ups. But I agree with him. I've not
heard that like centerpril is one of them. So yeah,
they're just again just a lot of confusion and chaos
and things, and sometimes the plans to require a couple
of a couple of extra visits and I don't want to.
I don't want to wander off too much in the weeds.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That's entirely but let me just say this. I'm not
the expert here, but I don't see a problem with
two physicals a year other than the cost and the time,
and nobody wants it. I get my blood drawn more
than any human being you'll meet, because I believe there
is a lot to be learned from blood, and especially
I have a baseline from my hearing, from my testosterone,
(06:03):
from my BP. And once you establish a baseline, which
is what I think everybody should do, you create the
norm based on testing long before you need it. Then
the minute you notice something is off. You can catch
things early. If you don't have a baseline, you don't
know if your numbers are higher than they were last year,
which is a problem. It's the delta that matters. So
(06:24):
I think, go get your physicals and go get your
blood tests if it doesn't cost a lot and you
have the time. Sendy from Beaumont says, how do they
determine your premium for Part B and Part D? I
believe I read they use your tax return from two
years ago. Unfortunately, I will not be making anything close
to that amount once I start drawing retirement and I'm
no longer working. How is that fair?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, well there's good news for her, so I will
tell you so, yeah, they do. She's absolutely right. Once
once you go into Medicare, they're going to means test
Part D. Part B and D as a matter of fact,
be the standard monthly premium this year is one hundred
and eighty five. It's going to go somewhere just over
two hundred for next year, is what we're looking. Looks
of the estimates look like. And if you make more
(07:09):
than a certain amount, they're going to make you pay more.
And they do. They go back two years to your
tax return, and they look at what's called the modified
adjusted gross income, and so Medicare coordinates with the IRS
to figure out what that is, and then they send
a letter saying what it's going to be. The good
news for her is that when you retire and your
(07:32):
income collapses like it often does, I mean, it doesn't
collapse necessarily, but it's less than what you're making when
you're working, there's an appeal form that she can turn
in because work stoppage or a great decrease in income
is a life changing event, and they can appeal whatever
that thing. It's called the IRMA, the income related monthly
(07:52):
adjustment amounts what they call it, and she can appeal
that IRMA and get them to send in the documentation
that they want. And we've had a lot of people
have success turning that thing in and getting that thing lowered, eliminated, entirely,
hanging tight.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Justin White Senior Health Services dot com. Either you or
your parents are on Medicare or will be soon enough
to get your questions answered coming up? Man's the term
anal intercourse on your program, Michael ri if it's relevant
to this story for journalistic purposes, Justin white Sendor Health
(08:33):
Services dot Com. They help people dealing with Medicaid, and
either you or your parents are very likely going through
that process.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The number of questions is fast that I can get
on the air, but I'm gonna make them quick, and
I'll shorten Justin's answers. Try to get as many answers
as we can. Arlene Hayes or many medical many medications
are new and don't have generics, and they're super expensive.
Medicare RX coverage pays for more of these. Please ask
Justin if he has any suggestions for how to deal
(09:03):
with this.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, great, great question. And that's that is the epicenter
of what's going on right now is centered around those drugs.
So I will tell everybody get your plan reviewed. For sure,
Medicare does a really good job on generics, but as
she's implying, in my opinion, Medicare does kind of a
crappy job on the brand names. But the good news
(09:27):
is one good thing that the Inflation Reduction Act did
was it brought in an annual cap. This coming year
it's going to be twenty one hundred dollars. And it's
weird how they figure that out. And I can't do.
We don't none of us have time to go into
that now. But that twenty one hundred dollars maximum, you know,
out of pockets. So that once your cost, whatever they
credit to you is twenty one hundred and above all,
(09:49):
your medags dropped down to zero. So that may make
her feel better, may may not make her feel better,
but everybody's going through it, and I would say, call in,
let us review it for you, and if there's some
something that we can shift her over to that'll give
her some relief, will certainly do that.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Dell writes, I am a disabled veteran one hundred percent,
so I have VA. I intend to retire next year.
Do I shift to Medicare when I start Social Security?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Thank you for your service, Bill, appreciate that so much.
That is such a great question. One of the dumbest
things in our country right now is that VA coverage.
Believe it or not, please everybody hear me say this
VA coverage as it stands right now is not considered
creditable to Wavepart B. So if we have a veteran
(10:37):
that is using that benefit that they earned and they say,
you know, I don't need Medicare right now, because I've
got the VA coverage and then you try to enroll later,
they're going to find people for not signing up for
b when they had the chance to at sixty five.
So what I would tell Bill is Bill, give us
a buzz There are some ways to get you into
(10:59):
that with with not much additional costs. We could discuss
that when you give a buzz in. But you can
stay on the VA and if you think that's where
you're going to go for the rest of your life
and you don't want to use any outside doctors, than
by all means you can do that. But if you
want some leeway down the road and you think you
ever will need Medicare, I would highly recommend getting it
(11:21):
in place and talk to us about some ways that
we can offset that cost so it doesn't so it
doesn't kill you. Because right now you're getting it for nothing,
and you add Medicare and you're like, I don't want
to add that cost. Sure, just call us, we'll talk
about what we can do.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Justin White Senior health Services dot Com, Scott writes, how
about asking him about United Healthcare plans to drop some
Medicare advantage plans that cover over six hundred thousand people.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Well, they are all you remember what I said earlier.
Those big carriers are the ones that are just kind
of they're kind of settling and they're hibernating a little
bit this year. Not all of them, but a lot
of them are, and a lot of them are dropping
different plans in different areas. So depending on where Scott is,
he may be in an area where they're trimming some
(12:05):
they're not trimming everywhere. So to find out how much
something's going to change for you or whether it's a
better option, the best thing I could the best advice
I can give is to get your plan reviewed because
we'll be able to tell you whether it's staying going,
you know, and just what the changes are, because at
the end of the day, you need to know how
it's changing, so you can decide do I want to
stay here or do I want to look for something
(12:26):
that's going to be that's going to possibly sit me better.
And the only way that you can do that is
with the review. But that's that's a good question. United
health Care and Humanity they're going nowhere, they're around and
if you like that plan and want to stay there,
you certainly have that prerogative, but you do want to
make sure you're not in an area where they're canceling
some of them, because that will happen. And it's not
(12:47):
just them, it's across the board. All the plans are
doing making adjustments like that.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Melanie writes, my father in law is eighty five and
his current plan does not cover hearing aids? Are there
any plans that do? I'll expand that to a number
of medical accessories justin what do you say?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Absolutely, it depends on what her father in law is
on if he if he is on a meta gap
on a Medicare supplement, then the hearing aids, he'd have
to actually add a plan, uh, in order to get
coverage on that thing if he decided to. And that's
and and at eighty five, that may be hard to find.
And most of the advantage plans do have some benefits
(13:25):
in that direction, And it just depends on which one
he's in. But yeah, I would, I would definitely. You know,
if that's something they're looking for, there's there should be
coverage possibilities. It's just a matter of whether that possibility
is what they want to when they enroll in.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
All right, I'm going to go more rapid fire, so
if you keep them a little shorter.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I'll assume this is a joke, but it's funny. I't
want to read it. You don't have to answer for
our aging liberals. It may be confused. After all these years,
do any of these plans cover gender transitioning care? You
don't need to answer that, Jenet right, No, Zara, please
ask mister White. Uh, with a Medicare supplement if I
can file an insurance claim myself. I'm returning to Houston
(14:03):
and found the doctor that I used to use does
not file insurance. His prices are so reasonable, But I
was wondering if I could file them myself like in.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
The old days, and it's not a Medicare supplement.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, yes, I'd be sure. I wouldn't ready for that.
That's awesome, Okay, Laura Rights. Is it true that if
you retire at sixty five and elect to not have Medicare,
you will lose your Social Security benefits?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That is not true.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Man, he takes orders, didn't he pd rights are? I
was wondering if Justin can help me because I don't
live in Texas. Do all states have different rules and
plans for Medicare. I live in upstate New York. People
that are anyway that you get the question.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Yeah. The beautiful thing is Medicare is a federal program,
and there might be some state some little state things,
but for the most part, Medicare is impact as a
federal program, and I would say call in. We've got
people up there that can help with that if they
need it.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I'm going to consolidate this next question into a broader
question because there are a lot of them coming in
currently have Medicare and trycare for life. Ninety percent disabled
through the VA. Should I keep Medicare or drop it?
I'm sixty six US Army retired combat veteran from Desert Storm.
A lot of emails coming in on VA related issues,
(15:28):
your thoughts generally on that.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I would those guys the trackcare for life. My understanding
is that, And if there's exceptions to it, I'm not
aware of them. But my understanding is they need to
have A and B in place for trackcare. So anything
that he's wanting to make adjustments to his and I
just take a little longer to answer, since he's a veteran,
I want to make sure we get that right. I
would have him call the administrator of that plan and
(15:52):
ask that question to them. Generally speaking, when somebody's on
track here. My in laws were on track here, and
I left that thing alone because I didn't want to
screw anything up with it, and that would be the
thing I would say for them, So call them and
ask them that verify the things, and you know, we're
happy to talk with you as well, but I would
have him go right back there and just make sure
that you're not doing anything that that would jeopardize those
(16:14):
well deserved I'm.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Up against a break, but I can tell people have
a lot of questions and don't know where to go
to get answers Senior Health Services dot com. Justin White
as our guest, We're going to hang tight with him
for a bit more. Keep your emails coming in through
the website at Michael Berryshow dot com. Get right to
the point so I can ask them easily get on
because there is nothing here to.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Michael Berry shown contacted a doctor in England who's kind
of like a Mary Tally Boden in Houston, who has
been out there like Don Quixote Jousey at Windmills, trying
to say to the medical establishment, big pharma hospital systems.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Ivermactin works, hydroxychloroquin works. The COVID show is killing people.
The masks don't work. Stop shutting things down. And he
had quoted a story by a doctor who told the
story that he had gone in to see a patient
and he told the patient what to do, and he
was in and out of the room in twenty seconds.
And he turned and as he was walking out the door,
(17:16):
he turned and looked back and he said, how's your
day going? And the guy broke down into tears. And
the guy was going through a living hell. And he said,
that day, when I got off from work, having seen
seventy patients, I went and got me a Moleskin journal.
Great great Romona loves that sort of stuff, great journaling book.
(17:40):
And he said, I started every day with every person
I see, after I treat them, or before I treat them,
I asked them one thing about them. Where are you from,
what do you do for a living? Give any children?
And he said, I realized I wasn't treating these people
like human beings. And I think we all get so
caught up up in being busy, in handling paperwork and
(18:06):
checking boxes that we forget there's a human element. I
have appreciated that I'm able to send folks to Justin
and he most of them, a lot of them. He's
not able, maybe not able to ever make a penny
off of the way the system pays. But I get
emails that he took care of them, he helped them.
I got what made me think of about this. I
(18:27):
got an email from sal who says, just had my
mother's husband die. He took care of everything. Now that
he's gone, it falls to us to help. We're definitely
contacting your guy. Do they do social Security as well?
It's at the point where the Social Security Office has
her in tears. We can't figure out the death penal
benefits and the withdrawal. Can they help or can you
(18:48):
see if you work at the Social Security Office, it's
like working at the at the mortuary, it's like being
an officer on homicide. You've got to realize you're catching
people at their lowest. You got to do better. They're
human beings and they're in a bad position. But anyway,
do y'all do any help? Do y'all help with anything
on Social Security?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Just we I'll tell you we can. It's going to
be more limited. So I don't want to over promise
what we can do, but we can certainly. We'll certainly
listen to them, and we'll help to try to find
somebody that can help them for sure. So, yeah, they
have an issue like that, I mean, please reach out
to us and we'll do the best we can. If
it's a simple thing, we'll do a good job. Otherwise
(19:26):
we'll just work together and see what we can do.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
All right, I'm going back to rapid fire. You can
reach them at Senior Health Services dot com. If you
can't remember that, you know where to reach me Michael
Berryshow dot com and I direct you directly connect you.
Judah says, I feel this is a big scam. I
was scared into enrolling because of the penalties for not
enrolling in Part D about fifteen years ago. My current
premium is one hundred and fifteen dollars and seventy cents
(19:49):
per month. To date, Medicare Part D has paid a
total of zero. I feel I'm just paying for Medicaid patients.
Is there an alternative? My husband ran into the problem
of any new medication quote was not in Medicare's formulary
and Medicare Part D paid nothing. Also, what I pay
at the pharmacy is a lot more than the Medicare
Part deeob says, as a widow of a doctor, I
(20:12):
just don't trust Medicare advantages plans as they tend to
have very limited diagnoses to justify payment, some of which
do not make sense. It's a lot packed in there.
Can you take that?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Justin's yeah, there's there was a lot there. And as
far as like what she said at the beginning about
being signing up for Medicare because she was scared of
being penalized, we get that all the time. And if
she's on a group insurance and not retired yet, then
she was I don't want to say scammed, but she
was misled to think that you have to sign up.
(20:42):
We get people all the time to do that. As
to the rest of it, it sounds like she just
needs somebody to look at those meds and figure out
which plan is going to fit and have them on formulary.
I will tell those listening Medicare generally does not cover
compounded medicine. So if it's compounded and there's like foremones
and things, it's not going to be covered. But if
(21:02):
it's other stuff, we just need to run it and
see which one's going to be, which one's going to
fit and has the more expanded formulas.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Joe Ann writes Zara, I'm eligible to sign up today
for Medicare, perfect timing for your show. I understand parts
A and B. I will be eligible for an advantage
or advantage plan provided by UHC through my former company.
I don't understand if prescriptions are part of the advantage
plans or do I need a Part D supplement for prescriptions.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
That's a fantastic question. Generally, Joe n drug coverage is
included in those plans, and if you're working with a
working with something that they'll tell you that. Now, there
is some differences on stuff that comes through an employer.
Sometimes they will have a separate plan that's that is
does not happen in the individual area. So I would
call the planned administrator and ask them how you get
(21:55):
your drug coverage. Is it actually through that group advantage
plan or do they have a group prescription drug plan?
And just make sure they'll tell you what you need
to do and you should be golden.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
UH double printed that one. Kenny writes, I turned sixty five.
This is Kenny Wittenberg and I know him, so I'm
not sure if my if my advice was correct, but
you can check my work. Kenny Wittenberg writes, I turned
sixty five subject Medicare. I turned sixty five on November twenty. First,
what happens if I don't sign up? And I said, well,
(22:30):
you'll be sixty five and you'll die soon enough. Don't
worry about it. Because he's a friend, I can say that.
But is that is that the right answer?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Is that the right Yeah? I guess in an existential way,
it certainly is. But no, if he doesn't sign up,
I mean I would just make sure if Kenny doesn't
have anything in place, like if he's got an ACA plan,
or if he doesn't have insurance and doesn't have any
insurance and does not sign up at sixty five, that's
where penalties could possibly come in. If he's got employed
(23:00):
coverage and there's more than twenty employees with the company
where he works, then whether he signs up for A
or B is completely up to him. And so if
he if he has that, he has creditible coverage and
he can go down the road decide when he wants
to retire and then will help him sign up when
it's time. If it's less than twenty employees, he probably
needs to look into going ahead and getting into medicare.
So that's that's kind of a convoluted answer, but that's
(23:22):
that's the one.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Just in the Senior Health Services dot com, you don't
they don't name girls Valerie anymore. Like there were a
bunch of Valeries and then one day the last Valerie
was named and they said that's it. No more valeries,
limit Valerie rights. I'm seventy six on straight Medicare with
Etna Continental Life. I take infusions for ra, have had
(23:44):
an aorta valve replaced, had breast cancer, and now have
an aortic aneurysm. I've been told in years past it
because of my issues, I cannot change my supplement insurance
without risking much higher costs. Is that still true? And
let me lump into that a number of pre existing
condition questions justin and whether someone can change midstream if
(24:06):
they have these pre existing questions. I know that's a
big one for folks, especially as they get older. So
can you tackle all of that?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Sure? I was going to say, Valerie is in the
plan she needs to stay in. If Valerie came and
saw me, Valerie would leave in that plan because there's
no way given what she disclosed there, And thank you,
ma'am for your transparency. There's no way that we would
be able to move her into another Medicare supplement with
those because she wouldn't pass the health questions and they
can't take away her current plan as long as he
(24:35):
continues paying the premium. So Valerie is in absolutely the
right spot. Hon your your premium's party client probably climbing
up there. But I would advise staying in that thing
for as long as you can. If we can help
you with your drug plan, let us know. But yeah,
that's very, very definitely an issue. So it's not you're
not risking higher costs. You would be risking being able
(24:56):
to get back into a plan similar to what you
have at all. You would not get in. So you
hang on to that thing and hold type for as
long as you can.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Justin White just went Walter White with if we can
help you with your drug plan, we will. Justin White
with Senior Health Services dot Com will be our guest.
I still have more questions than I can get to
about medicare. If you're not own it or your parents aren't,
you will be soon enough.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
The Michael Barry.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Listen, I'm ready to fight. I came for violence. Anybody
that wants to argue that John Denver is gay or stupid,
or you can say whatever you want. If you have
never had a moment where you went and sat outside
in the grass and the temperature was cool enough that
you weren't mad at the sun, but were enjoying the sun.
(25:49):
You like a dog goes out in the sun during
the day, and you were enjoying the sun on your face.
And John Denver came on and it didn't put you
in a better mood. You're dead inside or or communist Russian.
Something's wrong with you. There's there's check your pulse. That's
that's wonderful stuff right there. You probably watched Jimmy Kimmel.
(26:12):
That's you know what, not liking John or criticizing me
over John Denver. You know what I'm gonna do. One day,
I'm gonna get Holmes Williams and like five other people
like him in a circle. And I remember that legend
of Billy Ode. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna say Holmes,
I'm gonna I'm gonna put my right foot right here
on the right side of your nose right there, and
(26:35):
that's how I'm matter. That's how it goes down in
my head. Don't tell Holmes though, don't tell him. He
probably don't need to know that. Justin White, as our
guests Senior Health Services dot com, what is the best
method of signing up for medicare? These are gonna be
rapid fire because we spent so much time on John Denver.
Find a recommendation from a friend or a broker, or
the boomer Benefits or chapter type larger entities. I'm guessing
(26:57):
the questions and the answers to go to you.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
If you're yeah, if you're getting well, you know, obviously
we would love that. But if you're turning sixty five,
the best way to sign up for medicare, if you
can figure it out, is to go to SSA dot
gov and sign up online. That's the easiest way, and
then you try to keep you from having to go
down to the Social Security Office and whatnot. So we
will walk you through it, just like any of the
services that they mentioned. We do it for free, obviously,
(27:22):
but that's the best way online and hopefully don't have
to go down there and see anybody. That's my answer.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Craig writes zar what regarding Medicare, I just turned sixty five,
and what I did not realize is the cost of
Medicare is tied to your income. Then add in the
Part B and suddenly the cost is approaching what I
pay for my small business health insurance still working, so
I kept the private insurance. I think a lot of
people think Medicare is just free when you reach sixty five.
That's not the case, particularly if you want good insurance
(27:50):
with Part B.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, I would say to that gentleman, that happens a
lot where people don't let people know about that irma
thing where means test your stuff there. Yeah, where he's
If it makes him feel any better, I would have
him go look at his the group insurance plan and
look at what that deductible was. Sometimes when the cost
of the same between Medicare and that group insurance. Where
(28:14):
you will see savings is most Medicare plans have little
and sometimes no deductible, and so they may he may
save some money there, but yeah, that's that's stinks that
that happens but it happens a lot. We hear that
a lot.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
W Keith that's an initial and then a first name.
Just so you know VA and Medicare. I'm sixty percent disabled,
receiving SSDI and long term disability. How will Medicare affect me?
I'm sorry, I thought i'd put this in my veteran stack.
Is there anything different? There's a lot of veterans questions.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, no, that's that's awesome. Well that's good. They deserve
to get help. So you know, the Medicare is going
to give him more choices on doctors because he'll have
access outside the VA. And again, there are plans they're
called Medicare advantage only that just acknowledge the fact that
people get their he from the VA sometimes, but they
may want access to doctors outside the VA, and so
(29:05):
there are plans they're specifically put together to them. So
I would say, call in, let's get you together with
somebody who can show you some options and see if
something would work for you.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Czar out of ignorance, I switched from Medicare with Texas
BCBS supplements. Some benefits I use are no longer covered.
How do I get those benefits back? Short of a
going all play a baby, come back.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Any catasendent. No, they didn't say which plan they were on.
There are some plans that are literally not offered anymore.
So if that was one of them, like Planet J
from years and years ago, once you're off that you
can't get it back. But so I guess I don't
know quite enough information to be able to fully answer
that question. Send us a note or give us a call.
(29:50):
We'll see if we can't answer you a little more
detail and get the intel we need to do it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Let's see a lot of questions about out after the
enrollment plan. I'm trying to amalgamize these about pre existing conditions.
And I know you spoke to this a little, but
this must be a huge deal for folks. And as
I said, when you and I've talked about this, I'm
going through this first time with my dad, well, with
(30:18):
my parents, when my mom is still alive, So this
is all very new to me. But I'm noticing the
questions that keep popping up again and again, wanting to
change midstream, change horses midstream, but with pre existing conditions,
can you speak to that?
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Generally? Absolutely? A lot of people ask that so yes,
if you are changing from a plan. Let's say you're
in an advantage plan and you want to change to
a different one because you're in an advantage plan going
to another one that is creditable coverage, and you will
have zero pre existing condition waiting periods. It just the
only thing it changes is he's paying the bill. When
(30:52):
you're sixty five and you're coming off group insurance and
going into Medicare for the first time, forget pre existing conditions.
Don't worry about it. And I've literally written people with
a power of attorney where the person was in ICU
and they needed to get them into Medicare. We got
it done and the only thing it changed was who
was paying the bill. Great questions. I understand why people
(31:13):
are worried about it, but in most cases pre X
In most cases, pre X is not an issue. So
if you think that might you want some further clarification,
just call us and we'll listen to whatever situation you
hapen to be in.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I'm going to tell you this before I ask the question,
because I don't want you to be suckered in. And
this comes from a moone, not me. He said, every
question can't be a great question, So you need to
choose one for it not to be a great question.
Just about credibility wain wrtes. Regarding the Medicare, my employer
informed me this is coming up a lot. This some
version of this. My employer informed me that I will
(31:46):
have to go on Medicare when I turned fifty five
and that they will no longer provide insurance as my employer.
Is this common.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
For groups that are smaller than for companies that are
smaller than twenty employees, Yes, that's very possible. So I'm
assuming that's probably a small company. If it's more than
twenty employees, they can't they you know, they can't do that.
But if it's less than twenty employees the small groups,
then they have the option whether or not to offer
the group insurance to somebody once they become eligible for
(32:17):
Medicare or not. So that would be that. Now, Now
Ramon's not me thinking I'm gonna tell nobody they have
a great question.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
So yeah, Ramone, he's you know, people think he's nice,
but he says a lot of really kind of hurtful things.
To be honest with you, I run interference and soften
off the edges Sammy writes, I've been on insurance for
disability through Medicare advantage Shumana. I recently had a transplant.
I'm seeing why aren't you didn't tell me what you
got transplanting? Now I'm obsessed. I am now sixty six.
(32:44):
Do I need to change insurance out of disability?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Trans insurance out of disability? And she's on has got
disability insurance through humans. I'm assuming that's a Medicare advantage.
Is that what she said? Yes, she didn't have to.
I mean if she if she likes that, If she
likes that plann she can change. If the plan's no
longer fitting her needs, she just needs to get a review.
If there's something that'll do a better job based on
whatever's going on with her, she can certainly change. But
(33:10):
she does not have to. She does not have to
move if she doesn't want to. She's on Medicare and
on that plan, likes it, she can stay there if
she wants to.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I got to this too late, folks, so my apologies
before we say by to Justin. I did have somebody
track down what happened to Uncle Jerry's pinky toe, and
I do have an update on that. It's going to
have to wait till tomorrow, or I'll put it up
on our Facebook page, or we'll put it on our
blast today, all three of those which you can sign
up for. It's free. At Michael Berryshow dot com you
can find Justin who is a resource for me and
(33:41):
can be for you. You don't pay for it, The
carriers pay for it if it comes to that. At
Senior Health Services dot com. If you can't remember that,
that's okay. You can always email me about anything. And
in fact, if I don't have a show sponsor, my
wife laughs because I'll say, hey, do we know anybody
who does this? And she'll say, yeah, why are you asking?
I got to listen, She said, what are you the
(34:02):
all knowing? Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, yes,
what it means, yeah,
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