General Motors and Medicare

[Rollem]

Does anyone know what exactly are the after 65 benefits G.M retirees have? I know salary and union are completely different. Are they in bed with MOO? Is there opportunity here or am I just wasting my time.
My own father (not 65 yet) doesn't even know for sure, but I.m trying to get him to take me to a union meeting to get some answers.

Has anyone here ran into this situation?

 

[sman]

Looks like salaried employees are losing their coverage:

http://www.gmretiree.com/docs/retiree_health_presentation.pdf

But it doesn't say anything about hourly employees. It also looks like your dad should be able to log in to a section on the website for employees. Maybe this employee only section will have some additional details. If you find anything let us know.

It also looks like they have selected Extend Health to help with the transition (this was in 2008 - may be different now).

 

[Rollem]

Who is this Extend Health and who are they bangin'? I do see that who they are contracted with are some of the more expensive carriers in the state. That does spell opportunity with salaried retirees, but getting them to realize this will be the challenge. I can't believe that GM can screw them like this after 30+ yrs of loyalty and they still trust that the "coverage GM provides" is the best. If it were me-I would not trust them and would definately be shopping. Instead they just herd into these meetings and sign whatever the company recommends. Unbelievable!

Anyway I am still looking for post 65 hourly employee benefits. I will keep you posted - and if anyone has run into this situation, please let me know how you handled it, or how fast you ran away.

 

[retread]

Who is this Extend Health and who are they bangin'? I do see that who they are contracted with are some of the more expensive carriers in the state. That does spell opportunity with salaried retirees, but getting them to realize this will be the challenge. I can't believe that GM can screw them like this after 30+ yrs of loyalty and they still trust that the "coverage GM provides" is the best. If it were me-I would not trust them and would definately be shopping. Instead they just herd into these meetings and sign whatever the company recommends. Unbelievable!

Anyway I am still looking for post 65 hourly employee benefits. I will keep you posted - and if anyone has run into this situation, please let me know how you handled it, or how fast you ran away.

I made a Coventry MAPD presentation to a GM retiree in 2008 presales season from a call-in request for Coventry. Drove 45 miles to his farm, spent two hours explaining everything from A to Z. Left him an enrollment kit with my agent number filled in, etc. like I did for all others prior to Nov 15th appointments and reminded him to sign it and mail it in on or after the 15th. He called in to HR to ask if this was a good deal, and they re-directed him to Extend Health, who said, "Why yes, of course, would you like us to enroll you right now on the phone?" They did.... I did all the work, they got the commission.

I learned a lesson about dealing with GM retirees from this... you might keep this in mind, also.

 

[insurance0707]

GM salaried lose their benefits at 65, their wifes can stay on until they turn 65. Gm hourly still receive benefits.

GM salaried have the choice of enrolling through Extend Health or they can go through a local agent. It's the same Medicare supplement or Medicare Advantage plan whether you buy it through Extend Health or an independent agent.

Extend Health doesn't seem to show all of the prescription plans, only 3 or 4 it looks like. So they're limited in the prescription plans. Also, they're not showing all the med supp plans, just a few in that area also. You can look at their site at www.extendhealth.com

 

[alldaytuesdays]

The bulk of the GM "GI" crowd occurred at the end of 2008. I worked with some of them and lost some of them to ExtendHealth calling them the day after I spoke with them and enrolling them over the phone (re-treaded Retread's story above several times).

I believe they (GM) are still working with Extend Health. From my understanding. GM is getting a cut of the deals Extend Health sells in exchange for pushing people that way. Doesn't exactly sound great, but it's business, and I believe it. The companies that are taking (or in most cases, took)this GI business from GM are taking on tons of high claim/older customers (MoO comes to mind as that's who EH was pushing in a lot of states). I believe you will see this reflected in rate increases in the near future. That's speculation but certainly is logical, considering the tens of thousands of GM GI clientele some companies took on.

 

[Russ]

I've got an appointment to write a GM retiree a MAPD plan w/AARP, tomorrow. He's turning 65 in May. I called him about a month ago and sent literature on the AARP MAPD and med-supp. He called me back Monday saying he wanted their MAPD.

He told me the insurance he's got through GM has a $2,500 deductible before it starts paying anything. Premium with GM is $140 a month for he and his wife. She has a couple of years to go before reaching Medicare and can stay on the GM plan for $70 a month(half of the $140 premium for both). Prescription coverage he has now is almost identical to a PDP plan as far as co-pays, but the prescriptions count toward the $2,500 deductible.

 

[Rollem]

Very interesting. I am still trying to figure out the exact benefit of the GM non-salaried employees, and if it would make financial sense for them to purchase a med-supp. Like I said earlier, my father was an hourly employee(retired but not yet 65), but it is rather difficult to find info regarding how his bene's will work once he does hit Medicare years.

I have been trying to get him in front of my computer to start digging but he sure is a stubborn ol' mule.

 

[insurance0707]

You may be able to give him better medical/hospital coverage because he probably has a dedcuctible and possible copays with his current plan. Where you'd fall short in helping him is the PDP plan. His current plan doesn't have a gap in coverage/doughnut hole, the Medicare PDP plans do. The hourly's are going to have to start paying more in premium though so you'll want to weigh that factor in also. It seems like I heard they had to pay about 25% of the cost of their insurance. Don't quote me though, find out from your dad