September 10, 2025 • 24 mins
Learning about Medicare Open Enrollment Nashville
Ask The Experts Atlanta is broadcast live Wednesdays at 10AM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask The Experts Atlanta is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Ask The Experts Atlanta Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ask-the-experts-atlanta--5773655/support.
Ask The Experts Atlanta is broadcast live Wednesdays at 10AM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask The Experts Atlanta is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Ask The Experts Atlanta Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ask-the-experts-atlanta--5773655/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicit or implies shall be extended to W FOURCY
Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments
should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for
(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talk for TV, where we bring you
educational information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, hearing laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Spivo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, good morning, Tennessee. Welcome to another As the Expert
show we bring you for the last sixteen years the
top experts in the field of legal, health, financial, and
home improvement. Hey, this is our Tennessee show this morning.
We have got This is amazing because I was just
(01:15):
talking to my great producer, Rebel. The name of this
I guess agent is mister nice guy Medicare Advisor, and
I got to tell you it's so apropos. It could
be a nicer person. Let me introduce you to our
independent medicare broker, Randy Hall. Good morning, Randy, Hey.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Top of the morning, Indie. Is Steve O. Great to
be with you this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, don't be buttering me up, bro Okay, we watch
over here. We've been talking for the last fifteen minutes.
I really enjoy doing your show. And this show is
so important to me, Randy, because I was one of
those people who was uneducated about Medicare and it costs
(02:05):
me dearly. I missed the whole year. I had to
pay penalties ten percent or some right, Yeah, just because
I was uneducated. So this show is so important and
you're going to learn about Medicare and we'll talk even
about the difference in Medicare and Medicaid. But first, Randy,
(02:26):
tell us about your company.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Well, so we are based out of Franklin, Tennessee, but
we can sell all throughout the state of Tennessee. I'm
an independent broker, so I represent all the different medicare companies.
I think I'm licensed to sell every Medicare advantaged company
and somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty medicare supplement companies.
(02:50):
Our whole thing is we do not pressure people. So
I hate high pressure salespeople always have. I refused to
work that way. I come from an educational base, so
when I meet with a person or talk with a
person on the phone, I come at it from Okay,
so what do you have now, and what do you
(03:11):
what would be ideal for you? And I try to
kind of talk talk it through with them, and you know,
find out if it was me, what would I do
if I was them? Based on what they tell me.
And we get paid by the insurance companies. People don't
pay us. The insurance company has. So we try to
be as unbiased as we can other than we know basically,
(03:34):
you know what companies are the easiest to work with
and which ones are more squirrely. Let's just say yeah,
but I've been doing it for going back to two
thousand and eight is when I started, So it's been
what's seventeen years now.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You've seen a lot of changes, haven't.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
You, oh Man, And the last two years have been
the most I would say unstable's that's a good word.
The last two years have been the most unstable that
I've seen. So there will be a lot of changes
for this upcoming You know election period which runs from
October fifteenth to December seventh.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's open enrollment, right, Well.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
They call it AEP for annual election period.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
There's a time now that what's confusing Stevo is there
is a different period called open enrollment and that is
from January first to April first, where if you have
an advantage plan, a Medicare advantage plan, they will allow
you to change one time during that period of time.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
So that's I just wanted to be clear.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So what is October? So that's the actual beginning.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Right, So that's the annual election period.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
So if you have an advantage plan or just a
standalone Part D plan, those you can make changes to
as many times as you desire between October fifteenth and
December seventh. Whatever you whatever you signed up for last
after I'm December seventh is what you get on January first.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Randy? Yes, So I need to not me person, but
somebody I put listening or watching right now, So it
starts in October. Can they call you now, we'll see information.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
A person can always call me and I can tell
them what I know.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
I just can't speak to next year's benefits until October first,
So there's actually a two week period prior to October
fifteenth where I can discuss benefits for the next year.
So what I typically do is I'll call all my
current clients and I'll bring them up the data on
changes in those two weeks and feel out who probably
(05:53):
wants to look at their options or just tell most
people this year, fortunately I don't have to do any
thing if they don't want to. But I do have
some As we were discussing before the show, there are
some plan exits that are going to affect me.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
And my clients in Tennessee this year.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
And when a plan exits, you either you have to
get a new plan or you get put back on
original medicare.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Okay, I know I just said a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
No, No, that makes sense. So I told you when
we were talking before that they're so you've got to
be so careful with these national commercials. Oh yeah, And
I was sharing with Randy just some of the commercials
I've seen lately that are so bogus. But if you're
(06:41):
not educated, you go, wow, I should be reading that.
And I just wanted to tell everybody one of the things,
is it every zip code is different?
Speaker 4 (06:55):
And on the county living add.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
If every zip code is different, and so let's talk
about some of the horrible information that people are getting
on some of these national ads.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Maybe this is a subject that's near and dear to
my heart because these shysters, usually they're shysters that call
you on the phone, if I may say so, Typically
it's a bait and switch scheme or scenario.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Not always, but most of the time it is. With
those ads.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
I want to trust JJ I want to trust Joe Namath.
I want to trust Tom Selik. I want to trust
those guys.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
But they're not the.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Ones who are on the other end of the phone.
They don't know what they're representing. I may say, so,
So you call into one of those numbers, or somebody
calls you and you start talking to him from a
robo call or something like that. What Steve said is
one hundred percent true. What's available to you is based
on the zip code, And because zip code tells them
(07:53):
what county you're in, Right, so what's available in your county?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
You may be seeing an ad in.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Florida there where you are, Well, Florida, I'm here to
tell you has excellent medicare advantage plans. So say you're
living in Kansas, you know, somewhere in Kansas or Iowa
or something like that, Well, they don't have nearly as
good medicare advantage plans as Florida or Arizona or California.
Their their advantage plans are a lot weaker in terms
(08:20):
of benefits and networks and everything like that. Well, so
when you call in and you're from even from Nashville, Tennessee,
you're from Nashville, you're thinking, oh, yeah, I'm gonna sign
up for the thing they're talking about. Well, what happens
is they're like, oh, we don't have that, but what
we do have is this, and then they'll start talking
to you about other benefits. Well, you the reason we
(08:43):
put people on a plan. I can't speak for other agents,
but I could speak for me. The reason I put
people on a plan is because I make sure their
doctors take it. I make sure their drugs are covered great.
I make sure that it has it doesn't have any
gotchas in it. Say, you sign up for something with
a food card, but hey, you actually go into the hospital,
(09:05):
you're paying like five hundred dollars a day versus your
old plan which was like two hundred and fifty dollars
a day.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
So in the long run, you get screwed. You see
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yea.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
And the last thing I'll say is most of these
food cards that you're that they're talking about on there,
they most of those are for people to have Medicare
A and B and Medicaid, which is you have to
have both. So if you have both, you qualify for
these things that are called dual plans Medicare and Medicaid.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
That's why they call it dual.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Right too, Well, if you just have Medicare or you
just have Medicaid, you can't get it. You got to
have both. But they don't care when you call it,
we lose them. Oh wait, you guys still there?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Right?
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Yes, I got to pop up at on my screen,
so it's like, oh no, but at at any rate,
So the people are calling it, they don't care whether
they have.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Medicare or Medicaid.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
They just want to trick them and talk them into
something and that so then they can be their agent
and get commission on it.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
They don't care about you.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I don't know if it's same in Tennessee as it
is here in Florida. But when I first signed up,
so I went the HMO route, and I like, for you,
we'll explain HMO and PPO. But so this is stranger Randy.
I had a doctor that I really liked, a specialist orthopedic,
(10:28):
and I wanted to make sure he was on my plan.
Yeah he was, But the only thing is when I
had to use him, he was not part of the
group that my my I guess my provider was in
and I couldn't use him. Oh yeah, so I so,
(10:50):
in other words, even though he was on my plan,
the doctor that I used, what is it called when
your your main doctor care physician my primary care, he
was not part of my primary care group. Oh really,
you had? Yes, So I was not able to use him.
(11:12):
Now I had to use one of the ones they recommend,
and he turned out to be very good. But I
was that really bothered me. Now I'm on Youvannah. Yeah,
so you.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Don't you're not going to take away your license, Steve,
So you're good.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, and so you don't have that problem in Tennessee.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Well so, yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
So when I began, uh, they there was a company
that was called hell Spring.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
They're actually coming.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Back to year, but hel Spring had these things within
their HMOs called iPods, I pod or independent Physician whatever.
I can't remember. It's been a while.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
So it was very similar to what you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Most companies don't do that, uh here in Tennessee, none
of them do it anymore. They did away with it
around here. I want to say ten years ago maybe,
but I've heard of this, but it's been a long
time since I heard, generally speaking, So HMOs, that's a
health maintenance organization PPOs preferred provider organization. So they both
(12:15):
have networks, right. A PPO is an more of an
open network. An HMO is a strict network. You following
me so far?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Yes, So you have to use the doctors they recommend
on the HMO.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
Right, So, in an emergency situation, you could go anywhere
with anything. But if it's not an emergency, if you're
on an HMO, if you were to go out of network,
it's similar to having no insurance at all. Right, Right,
with a PPO, you can go out of their network generally,
but you pay in most of the PPOs in my state,
(12:49):
you pay half, they pay half. Now it could be
a different percentage than that, but that's kind of you
would pay more than you would obviously staying in network.
But you can so say you've got you know, five doctors,
and all your doctors take this this one plan except one,
and it's a doctor you see once a year. Well,
(13:10):
if you don't mind paying a little bit more the
one time you see this person, then you know that
that's where a PPO can come in handy.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Is that you follow me there?
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Yes, so HMO, I mean, all things being equal, I
have favored h or PPOs over HMOs most of my career.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
However, HMOs aren't. Aren't the end of the world.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
But in a case like yours, I would have tried
as an agent if I knew that they were that
strict about that HMO. If I was looking that kind
of thing up, I would have tried to make sure
your PCP and your specialists were in the same what
they call iPod.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Brandy, you just brought up a point about how professional
you are, because I'm gonna tell you, Uh, your agent
is so important. You might not think they are, but
I'm telling you because my first agent I had just
basically was an order taker. That's it. He didn't what
(14:10):
you just said just now. He should have told me
because I shared this information. And it is so important
you get a good agent, because my agent I had
to get rid of because he was just like, I'll
actually just renewing my policy every year, and there were
(14:31):
changes every year, and he just did at the easy route.
Where see what you're saying, Randy, is you really service
your clients?
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
So I'm actually sending out my letters that we spoke
about on the last show. I'm sending out my client
letters today, and then usually within the first two weeks
of October, I'll reach out to him with the phone
call and just try to touch base with everybody. Not
everybody answers anymore, but at least if I leave a mess,
if they want to call me back, they can, you
(15:02):
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So, uh, we're a lazy society.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
But to me, it's a it's a renewal based business.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
So like what happens and a lot of people don't
know this is say I signed Steve O up right, Well,
as long as Steve O's my client, they're going to
pay me on him. So for me, it's always been
it's made a lot of sense for me. It's a
lot easier to keep happy customers and go square new ones.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Up all the time. So we get and you know,
most of.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
My clients, I would say ninety five percent of them.
I genuinely like.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We just got our first text. This is from Martin
in Nashville said thank god for this show. I am
also one of those people who are uneducated about BATIC care.
I will be calling Randy thank you so much for
bringing a show like this. It is important because you
(15:59):
don't know what you don't.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
Know correct, and you want somebody who's looking out for you,
not looking out for them. That's why you don't answer
those phone calls when they call you. That's why you
don't call those numbers on the screen. Use those people
don't they're not they don't care about you. I'm not
trying to paint too broadly with the brush, but odds
are if you here's and.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I think I said this last time.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
If you go on on the Google and you google
a person and you see they have reviews. That's when
you can get a good sense of whether they're looking
out for you or not exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So, Randy, the biggest question that we have is everybody
wants to know the difference in Medicare and Medicaid.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So just think of it this way. How do they end?
Speaker 5 (16:46):
What's the end of the word medic care that covers
your healthcare and you got to be sixty five or
older or be on disability for two or more years
to be on Medicare and then Medicaid EID. So basically
you don't have to be on Medicare to get Medicaid.
You have to meet certain criteria in terms of your
(17:06):
income and assets to get Medicaid. So that is the
main difference. So you don't have to be a senior
to get Medicaid. Now you can have both. So you know,
if you meet the criteria for Medicaid and you age
in the Medicare or you're on disability, that's where those
dual plans that we spoke about earlier. The person has
(17:28):
both of those, then they can get these dual plans
that have these really exorbitant food cards and.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
More Rainy talk about supplement plans.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Okay, so Medicare supplement that is where original Medicare is
your primary insurance, and then you get what's called the
Medicare or medic Gap plan. That's they're synonymous. So you
pay a premium on the front end to a company
and then they fill in the gaps of original Medicare.
The Plan G is the most popular plan that covers
(18:02):
everything Medicare doesn't except for the Part B deductible, and
the Part B deductible this year is two fifty seven.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Generally it goes up five to ten dollars annually.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
But if you've got a Plan G anything medically necessary
that Medicare doesn't cover, once you meet that deductible for
the year, you have one hundred percent coverage. And now
a Plan G Plan N and does it. Those are
the two I sell the most, Plan G and PLANT.
They're all the same in terms of what benefits they cover.
(18:34):
I mean, there's a few exceptions, but I'll talk by
and large. So if you have a Plan G, Steve say,
you're going to have a Plan G with Mutual Levoma,
you have a Plan G with Humana, you have a
Plan G.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
With any company that sells them.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Right, they're going to cover the exact same thing, and
they So Medicare has an automatic claims payment system. So
if the Medicare pays the claim right the supplement electronically,
he follows right after it and pays what.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
It's supposed to. Does that make sense so far?
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Yes, So as long as Medicare pays, the supplement pays
and it's automatic, all these companies have to use the
automatic claims payment system.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
They don't have a choice, they have to use it.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
So I call that no must no fuss insurance because
you basically you just pay your premium and you go
on with.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Your life with that. But there's always pros.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
And cons, right, I mean the pro of that is
you know what you're going to pay for your healthcare
for the most part, you know. The con is, you
know it goes up in price every year. So like
I don't can I ask how old you are?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Me? Yeah, I'm sixty seven. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
I didn't want to. I didn't want to put you
on the spot. But okay, so you're sixty seven, right.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Randy and I are twins if you can't tell earlier.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
He's ahead of me by about seventeen years here. But
all that to say so you say you lived where
I am, like a sixty seven year old pay about
one hundred and forty five hundred and fifty bucks for
a plan g Right, in Florida, it's way more.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
But here in Tennessee that's about what you would.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Pay, right, Yeah, we're one ninety five here.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Well, by the time you're say seventy five, that one
forty five fifty, it could be like close to three
hundred bucks a month. So I mean when you need
it the most. The older you get, the more you
tend to use your insurance. So it's like the older
you get, the more expensive it is. Think about an
(20:34):
advantage plan is you don't have a guaranteed cost like that,
but you may not pay anything or pay very little
if you have a good year with your health and
you get extra benefits with them. So like these this dental, vision,
hearing and all this extra stuff. It does not come
when you have a supplement because Medicare original Medicare doesn't
cover any of that unless it's medically necessary.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
This here's a call from Norman, also in Nashville. Dorman, Norman,
kudos to having a show like this. There are so
many people who are uneducated. Your expert. Guest is explaining,
it's so good. What happens if you're on Medicare and
you travel out of the country, Are you covered?
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yes, Yes, on either one.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So if you have a supplement, it's called foreign travel emergency,
So you meet, you pay a little deductible. I don't
know off the top of my head what it is
because it's such a rare benefit. But you pay your
little deductible if you use it overseas in an emergency,
and it reimburses you up to generally fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Advantage plans are the same, but.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
They don't have a deductible generally for foreign travel emergency.
Most of the plans I sell, they'll cover you up
to fifty thousand dollars. You fifty thousand US dollars after
the exchange rate, So you would be covered in either
Medicare with a supplement or Medicare advantage in a foreign
travel emergency situation.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Storm and Norman, I got we have a few more
minutes left. Wat should somebody use you as their agent?
Speaker 5 (22:15):
I'm the best. No, I'm not allowed to say it. Well,
number one, I'm friendly, I'm number two, I'm professional. You
don't like friendly and professional and no pressure, then I'm
probably not the.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Agent for you.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You're not their guy.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, I mean I don't. I'm not trying to be
conceited or anything. But if you don't like friendly, no,
I want you to be. You know, if you.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Don't like friendly, professional and no pressure, then I'm probably not.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
The agent for you.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
But that's why you should use me, because I'm friendly,
professional and no pressure. That's why we'll put it in
the post.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
It's pretty obvious. You know what you're doing too, Randy.
It's how do people reach you?
Speaker 5 (22:51):
The best way is to call me at six one
five five seventy eight five one seven four.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I also have a website.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Uww Mr Nice Guy MA medicare advisor dot com. You
can find me there and if you want to email me.
I know it's an old email, but it's Randy Whall
at Yahoo dot com. I have a professional email, but
it's surprisingly less reliable than my Yahoo one. So that's
(23:22):
why I just tell people to use Yahoo instead of
my mister Nice Guy one.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
I don't always get them, which is very disappointing.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Randy is with us every month. He'll be back again
next month. Then Steve Hey, yeah, really listen. If you
missed part of the show, or you want to turn
on a friend or a family member, they can go
to iHeart, or they can go to Spotify or Preacher
under st Experts Nashville. Randy, I love doing the show
(23:54):
with you. If you're the best bro. Likewise, I put
it together, put us together. Hey, we'll see you next month.
God bless you guys.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Be good, are the best bad you can be? Talk
to you later.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
That's Randy Hogg, Folks, I'm telling you, if you're getting
ready to turn sixty five, don't be like me telling you.
We're giving you a great agent no matter where you
are in Tennessee. That's going to do it for us today,
and we'll be back again with you next week with
more sc experts.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Thanks for tuning in today to the Ask the Expert
Show on the W four CY Radio and Talk for TV.
Tune in next week and every week to hear more
from our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs,
estate planning, medicare, and many other topics in the areas
of legal, health, financial and home improofment.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
See you next week.
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicit or implies shall be extended to W FOURCY
Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments
should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for
(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talk for TV, where we bring you
educational information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, hearing laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Spivo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, good morning, Tennessee. Welcome to another As the Expert
show we bring you for the last sixteen years the
top experts in the field of legal, health, financial, and
home improvement. Hey, this is our Tennessee show this morning.
We have got This is amazing because I was just
(01:15):
talking to my great producer, Rebel. The name of this
I guess agent is mister nice guy Medicare Advisor, and
I got to tell you it's so apropos. It could
be a nicer person. Let me introduce you to our
independent medicare broker, Randy Hall. Good morning, Randy, Hey.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Top of the morning, Indie. Is Steve O. Great to
be with you this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, don't be buttering me up, bro Okay, we watch
over here. We've been talking for the last fifteen minutes.
I really enjoy doing your show. And this show is
so important to me, Randy, because I was one of
those people who was uneducated about Medicare and it costs
(02:05):
me dearly. I missed the whole year. I had to
pay penalties ten percent or some right, Yeah, just because
I was uneducated. So this show is so important and
you're going to learn about Medicare and we'll talk even
about the difference in Medicare and Medicaid. But first, Randy,
(02:26):
tell us about your company.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Well, so we are based out of Franklin, Tennessee, but
we can sell all throughout the state of Tennessee. I'm
an independent broker, so I represent all the different medicare companies.
I think I'm licensed to sell every Medicare advantaged company
and somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty medicare supplement companies.
(02:50):
Our whole thing is we do not pressure people. So
I hate high pressure salespeople always have. I refused to
work that way. I come from an educational base, so
when I meet with a person or talk with a
person on the phone, I come at it from Okay,
so what do you have now, and what do you
(03:11):
what would be ideal for you? And I try to
kind of talk talk it through with them, and you know,
find out if it was me, what would I do
if I was them? Based on what they tell me.
And we get paid by the insurance companies. People don't
pay us. The insurance company has. So we try to
be as unbiased as we can other than we know basically,
(03:34):
you know what companies are the easiest to work with
and which ones are more squirrely. Let's just say yeah,
but I've been doing it for going back to two
thousand and eight is when I started, So it's been
what's seventeen years now.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You've seen a lot of changes, haven't.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
You, oh Man, And the last two years have been
the most I would say unstable's that's a good word.
The last two years have been the most unstable that
I've seen. So there will be a lot of changes
for this upcoming You know election period which runs from
October fifteenth to December seventh.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's open enrollment, right, Well.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
They call it AEP for annual election period.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
There's a time now that what's confusing Stevo is there
is a different period called open enrollment and that is
from January first to April first, where if you have
an advantage plan, a Medicare advantage plan, they will allow
you to change one time during that period of time.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
So that's I just wanted to be clear.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So what is October? So that's the actual beginning.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Right, So that's the annual election period.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
So if you have an advantage plan or just a
standalone Part D plan, those you can make changes to
as many times as you desire between October fifteenth and
December seventh. Whatever you whatever you signed up for last
after I'm December seventh is what you get on January first.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Randy? Yes, So I need to not me person, but
somebody I put listening or watching right now, So it
starts in October. Can they call you now, we'll see information.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
A person can always call me and I can tell
them what I know.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
I just can't speak to next year's benefits until October first,
So there's actually a two week period prior to October
fifteenth where I can discuss benefits for the next year.
So what I typically do is I'll call all my
current clients and I'll bring them up the data on
changes in those two weeks and feel out who probably
(05:53):
wants to look at their options or just tell most
people this year, fortunately I don't have to do any
thing if they don't want to. But I do have
some As we were discussing before the show, there are
some plan exits that are going to affect me.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
And my clients in Tennessee this year.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
And when a plan exits, you either you have to
get a new plan or you get put back on
original medicare.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Okay, I know I just said a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
No, No, that makes sense. So I told you when
we were talking before that they're so you've got to
be so careful with these national commercials. Oh yeah, And
I was sharing with Randy just some of the commercials
I've seen lately that are so bogus. But if you're
(06:41):
not educated, you go, wow, I should be reading that.
And I just wanted to tell everybody one of the things,
is it every zip code is different?
Speaker 4 (06:55):
And on the county living add.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
If every zip code is different, and so let's talk
about some of the horrible information that people are getting
on some of these national ads.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Maybe this is a subject that's near and dear to
my heart because these shysters, usually they're shysters that call
you on the phone, if I may say so, Typically
it's a bait and switch scheme or scenario.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Not always, but most of the time it is. With
those ads.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
I want to trust JJ I want to trust Joe Namath.
I want to trust Tom Selik. I want to trust
those guys.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
But they're not the.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Ones who are on the other end of the phone.
They don't know what they're representing. I may say, so,
So you call into one of those numbers, or somebody
calls you and you start talking to him from a
robo call or something like that. What Steve said is
one hundred percent true. What's available to you is based
on the zip code, And because zip code tells them
(07:53):
what county you're in, Right, so what's available in your county?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
You may be seeing an ad in.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Florida there where you are, Well, Florida, I'm here to
tell you has excellent medicare advantage plans. So say you're
living in Kansas, you know, somewhere in Kansas or Iowa
or something like that, Well, they don't have nearly as
good medicare advantage plans as Florida or Arizona or California.
Their their advantage plans are a lot weaker in terms
(08:20):
of benefits and networks and everything like that. Well, so
when you call in and you're from even from Nashville, Tennessee,
you're from Nashville, you're thinking, oh, yeah, I'm gonna sign
up for the thing they're talking about. Well, what happens
is they're like, oh, we don't have that, but what
we do have is this, and then they'll start talking
to you about other benefits. Well, you the reason we
(08:43):
put people on a plan. I can't speak for other agents,
but I could speak for me. The reason I put
people on a plan is because I make sure their
doctors take it. I make sure their drugs are covered great.
I make sure that it has it doesn't have any
gotchas in it. Say, you sign up for something with
a food card, but hey, you actually go into the hospital,
(09:05):
you're paying like five hundred dollars a day versus your
old plan which was like two hundred and fifty dollars
a day.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
So in the long run, you get screwed. You see
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yea.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
And the last thing I'll say is most of these
food cards that you're that they're talking about on there,
they most of those are for people to have Medicare
A and B and Medicaid, which is you have to
have both. So if you have both, you qualify for
these things that are called dual plans Medicare and Medicaid.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
That's why they call it dual.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Right too, Well, if you just have Medicare or you
just have Medicaid, you can't get it. You got to
have both. But they don't care when you call it,
we lose them. Oh wait, you guys still there?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Right?
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Yes, I got to pop up at on my screen,
so it's like, oh no, but at at any rate,
So the people are calling it, they don't care whether
they have.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Medicare or Medicaid.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
They just want to trick them and talk them into
something and that so then they can be their agent
and get commission on it.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
They don't care about you.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I don't know if it's same in Tennessee as it
is here in Florida. But when I first signed up,
so I went the HMO route, and I like, for you,
we'll explain HMO and PPO. But so this is stranger Randy.
I had a doctor that I really liked, a specialist orthopedic,
(10:28):
and I wanted to make sure he was on my plan.
Yeah he was, But the only thing is when I
had to use him, he was not part of the
group that my my I guess my provider was in
and I couldn't use him. Oh yeah, so I so,
(10:50):
in other words, even though he was on my plan,
the doctor that I used, what is it called when
your your main doctor care physician my primary care, he
was not part of my primary care group. Oh really,
you had? Yes, So I was not able to use him.
(11:12):
Now I had to use one of the ones they recommend,
and he turned out to be very good. But I
was that really bothered me. Now I'm on Youvannah. Yeah,
so you.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Don't you're not going to take away your license, Steve,
So you're good.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, and so you don't have that problem in Tennessee.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Well so, yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
So when I began, uh, they there was a company
that was called hell Spring.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
They're actually coming.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Back to year, but hel Spring had these things within
their HMOs called iPods, I pod or independent Physician whatever.
I can't remember. It's been a while.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
So it was very similar to what you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Most companies don't do that, uh here in Tennessee, none
of them do it anymore. They did away with it
around here. I want to say ten years ago maybe,
but I've heard of this, but it's been a long
time since I heard, generally speaking, So HMOs, that's a
health maintenance organization PPOs preferred provider organization. So they both
(12:15):
have networks, right. A PPO is an more of an
open network. An HMO is a strict network. You following
me so far?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Yes, So you have to use the doctors they recommend
on the HMO.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
Right, So, in an emergency situation, you could go anywhere
with anything. But if it's not an emergency, if you're
on an HMO, if you were to go out of network,
it's similar to having no insurance at all. Right, Right,
with a PPO, you can go out of their network generally,
but you pay in most of the PPOs in my state,
(12:49):
you pay half, they pay half. Now it could be
a different percentage than that, but that's kind of you
would pay more than you would obviously staying in network.
But you can so say you've got you know, five doctors,
and all your doctors take this this one plan except one,
and it's a doctor you see once a year. Well,
(13:10):
if you don't mind paying a little bit more the
one time you see this person, then you know that
that's where a PPO can come in handy.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Is that you follow me there?
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Yes, so HMO, I mean, all things being equal, I
have favored h or PPOs over HMOs most of my career.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
However, HMOs aren't. Aren't the end of the world.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
But in a case like yours, I would have tried
as an agent if I knew that they were that
strict about that HMO. If I was looking that kind
of thing up, I would have tried to make sure
your PCP and your specialists were in the same what
they call iPod.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Brandy, you just brought up a point about how professional
you are, because I'm gonna tell you, Uh, your agent
is so important. You might not think they are, but
I'm telling you because my first agent I had just
basically was an order taker. That's it. He didn't what
(14:10):
you just said just now. He should have told me
because I shared this information. And it is so important
you get a good agent, because my agent I had
to get rid of because he was just like, I'll
actually just renewing my policy every year, and there were
(14:31):
changes every year, and he just did at the easy route.
Where see what you're saying, Randy, is you really service
your clients?
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
So I'm actually sending out my letters that we spoke
about on the last show. I'm sending out my client
letters today, and then usually within the first two weeks
of October, I'll reach out to him with the phone
call and just try to touch base with everybody. Not
everybody answers anymore, but at least if I leave a mess,
if they want to call me back, they can, you
(15:02):
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So, uh, we're a lazy society.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
But to me, it's a it's a renewal based business.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
So like what happens and a lot of people don't
know this is say I signed Steve O up right, Well,
as long as Steve O's my client, they're going to
pay me on him. So for me, it's always been
it's made a lot of sense for me. It's a
lot easier to keep happy customers and go square new ones.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Up all the time. So we get and you know,
most of.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
My clients, I would say ninety five percent of them.
I genuinely like.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We just got our first text. This is from Martin
in Nashville said thank god for this show. I am
also one of those people who are uneducated about BATIC care.
I will be calling Randy thank you so much for
bringing a show like this. It is important because you
(15:59):
don't know what you don't.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
Know correct, and you want somebody who's looking out for you,
not looking out for them. That's why you don't answer
those phone calls when they call you. That's why you
don't call those numbers on the screen. Use those people
don't they're not they don't care about you. I'm not
trying to paint too broadly with the brush, but odds
are if you here's and.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I think I said this last time.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
If you go on on the Google and you google
a person and you see they have reviews. That's when
you can get a good sense of whether they're looking
out for you or not exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So, Randy, the biggest question that we have is everybody
wants to know the difference in Medicare and Medicaid.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So just think of it this way. How do they end?
Speaker 5 (16:46):
What's the end of the word medic care that covers
your healthcare and you got to be sixty five or
older or be on disability for two or more years
to be on Medicare and then Medicaid EID. So basically
you don't have to be on Medicare to get Medicaid.
You have to meet certain criteria in terms of your
(17:06):
income and assets to get Medicaid. So that is the
main difference. So you don't have to be a senior
to get Medicaid. Now you can have both. So you know,
if you meet the criteria for Medicaid and you age
in the Medicare or you're on disability, that's where those
dual plans that we spoke about earlier. The person has
(17:28):
both of those, then they can get these dual plans
that have these really exorbitant food cards and.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
More Rainy talk about supplement plans.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Okay, so Medicare supplement that is where original Medicare is
your primary insurance, and then you get what's called the
Medicare or medic Gap plan. That's they're synonymous. So you
pay a premium on the front end to a company
and then they fill in the gaps of original Medicare.
The Plan G is the most popular plan that covers
(18:02):
everything Medicare doesn't except for the Part B deductible, and
the Part B deductible this year is two fifty seven.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Generally it goes up five to ten dollars annually.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
But if you've got a Plan G anything medically necessary
that Medicare doesn't cover, once you meet that deductible for
the year, you have one hundred percent coverage. And now
a Plan G Plan N and does it. Those are
the two I sell the most, Plan G and PLANT.
They're all the same in terms of what benefits they cover.
(18:34):
I mean, there's a few exceptions, but I'll talk by
and large. So if you have a Plan G, Steve say,
you're going to have a Plan G with Mutual Levoma,
you have a Plan G with Humana, you have a
Plan G.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
With any company that sells them.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Right, they're going to cover the exact same thing, and
they So Medicare has an automatic claims payment system. So
if the Medicare pays the claim right the supplement electronically,
he follows right after it and pays what.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
It's supposed to. Does that make sense so far?
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Yes, So as long as Medicare pays, the supplement pays
and it's automatic, all these companies have to use the
automatic claims payment system.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
They don't have a choice, they have to use it.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
So I call that no must no fuss insurance because
you basically you just pay your premium and you go
on with.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Your life with that. But there's always pros.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
And cons, right, I mean the pro of that is
you know what you're going to pay for your healthcare
for the most part, you know. The con is, you
know it goes up in price every year. So like
I don't can I ask how old you are?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Me? Yeah, I'm sixty seven. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
I didn't want to. I didn't want to put you
on the spot. But okay, so you're sixty seven, right.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Randy and I are twins if you can't tell earlier.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
He's ahead of me by about seventeen years here. But
all that to say so you say you lived where
I am, like a sixty seven year old pay about
one hundred and forty five hundred and fifty bucks for
a plan g Right, in Florida, it's way more.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
But here in Tennessee that's about what you would.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Pay, right, Yeah, we're one ninety five here.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Well, by the time you're say seventy five, that one
forty five fifty, it could be like close to three
hundred bucks a month. So I mean when you need
it the most. The older you get, the more you
tend to use your insurance. So it's like the older
you get, the more expensive it is. Think about an
(20:34):
advantage plan is you don't have a guaranteed cost like that,
but you may not pay anything or pay very little
if you have a good year with your health and
you get extra benefits with them. So like these this dental, vision,
hearing and all this extra stuff. It does not come
when you have a supplement because Medicare original Medicare doesn't
cover any of that unless it's medically necessary.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
This here's a call from Norman, also in Nashville. Dorman, Norman,
kudos to having a show like this. There are so
many people who are uneducated. Your expert. Guest is explaining,
it's so good. What happens if you're on Medicare and
you travel out of the country, Are you covered?
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yes, Yes, on either one.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So if you have a supplement, it's called foreign travel emergency,
So you meet, you pay a little deductible. I don't
know off the top of my head what it is
because it's such a rare benefit. But you pay your
little deductible if you use it overseas in an emergency,
and it reimburses you up to generally fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Advantage plans are the same, but.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
They don't have a deductible generally for foreign travel emergency.
Most of the plans I sell, they'll cover you up
to fifty thousand dollars. You fifty thousand US dollars after
the exchange rate, So you would be covered in either
Medicare with a supplement or Medicare advantage in a foreign
travel emergency situation.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Storm and Norman, I got we have a few more
minutes left. Wat should somebody use you as their agent?
Speaker 5 (22:15):
I'm the best. No, I'm not allowed to say it. Well,
number one, I'm friendly, I'm number two, I'm professional. You
don't like friendly and professional and no pressure, then I'm
probably not the.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Agent for you.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You're not their guy.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, I mean I don't. I'm not trying to be
conceited or anything. But if you don't like friendly, no,
I want you to be. You know, if you.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Don't like friendly, professional and no pressure, then I'm probably not.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
The agent for you.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
But that's why you should use me, because I'm friendly,
professional and no pressure. That's why we'll put it in
the post.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
It's pretty obvious. You know what you're doing too, Randy.
It's how do people reach you?
Speaker 5 (22:51):
The best way is to call me at six one
five five seventy eight five one seven four.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I also have a website.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Uww Mr Nice Guy MA medicare advisor dot com. You
can find me there and if you want to email me.
I know it's an old email, but it's Randy Whall
at Yahoo dot com. I have a professional email, but
it's surprisingly less reliable than my Yahoo one. So that's
(23:22):
why I just tell people to use Yahoo instead of
my mister Nice Guy one.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
I don't always get them, which is very disappointing.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Randy is with us every month. He'll be back again
next month. Then Steve Hey, yeah, really listen. If you
missed part of the show, or you want to turn
on a friend or a family member, they can go
to iHeart, or they can go to Spotify or Preacher
under st Experts Nashville. Randy, I love doing the show
(23:54):
with you. If you're the best bro. Likewise, I put
it together, put us together. Hey, we'll see you next month.
God bless you guys.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Be good, are the best bad you can be? Talk
to you later.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
That's Randy Hogg, Folks, I'm telling you, if you're getting
ready to turn sixty five, don't be like me telling you.
We're giving you a great agent no matter where you
are in Tennessee. That's going to do it for us today,
and we'll be back again with you next week with
more sc experts.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Thanks for tuning in today to the Ask the Expert
Show on the W four CY Radio and Talk for TV.
Tune in next week and every week to hear more
from our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs,
estate planning, medicare, and many other topics in the areas
of legal, health, financial and home improofment.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
See you next week.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.