Medicare Supplement High Deductible Plan F Going Away??

[LostDollar]

Drafting Note: Subsection A.(4), above implements the High Deductible Plan G as a redesignation of the prior High Deductible Plan F because federal law “deems” any reference to Plan F as Plan G for “newly eligible” Medicare beneficiaries. High Deductible Plan G is the same as the High Deductible Plan F except that where the annual out-of-pocket expenses are met with Medicare Part A expenses only, any subsequent Medicare Part B deductible expense incurred by the beneficiary after the required annual out-of-pocket expenses is met may not be paid for by the High Deductible Plan G. Federal law prohibits the sale or issuance of any Medigap policy that provides coverage (i.e. third party payment) of the Part B deductible to a “newly eligible” Medicare beneficiary and was enacted for the purpose of increasing cost-sharing and reducing “first dollar coverage”. Treating the Medicare Part B deductible as an out-of-pocket expense of the beneficiary under Plan G High Deductible meets this purpose.

(bolding is mine.)

I was only partly right. It depends on whether or not someone meets the deductible with Part A expenses before incurring Part B expenses. I did not pick up on the bolded fine point at the end of the information above.

 

[LostDollar]

Clearly you're not an agent.

Please explain how often someone will pay the out of pocket maximum on a HDG without meeting the Part B deductible. How slightly better deal will it be?

Rick

So Rick, since you are an agent,

How would you suggest a person go about deciding when it would be right to switch from an HDF to an HDG plan when both are available.

 

[LostDollar]

Most all my companies that offer HD Plan F have had premium rate passes over the past several years because the claims experience has been favorable. That is because the ins company pays nothing until the deductible of $2240 is met. IMO, most people on HD Plan F are very low utilizers(ie healthy).

I am curious about something, if you will choose to answer me.

I think you made a post sometime back indicating that your most significant reason for loss of clients was death.

For those people that choose to purchase a high deductible plan in the first place, do you see them retaining that until death and incurring some higher oop costs towards the end of their lives, or do you see holders of the high deductible plan (that are still able to do so) switching to to G or N at some higher age range?
Thanks.

 

[phaedruspress]

They can't "dump" you. Your policy is guaranteed renewable for life and you can keep it as long as you want.

Right. I knew that. I guess what I meant to imply was that the insurance company can "dump" the entire plan at any time not just an individual from the plan. But I have no idea. For instance can Globe Life whom I have my plan HDF with decide one day that we just do not want to carry plan HDF anymore which would end up them dumping me and everyone else in it? TIA.

 

[phaedruspress]

A question. Do you have any plans to replace it now?

No, I do not. 67 years old now. $27.00 a month for the first two years. This June it goes up to $29.00 so I am still happy with this arrangement and am still willing to live pardon the pun with the high deductible.

 

[goillini52]

Right. I knew that. I guess what I meant to imply was that the insurance company can "dump" the entire plan at any time not just an individual from the plan. But I have no idea. For instance can Globe Life whom I have my plan HDF with decide one day that we just do not want to carry plan HDF anymore which would end up them dumping me and everyone else in it? TIA.

Even if the the company (any company) desides to stop offering the plan, you can keep it as long as you want. Whether you're talking about yourself as an individual or all the people that have that plan, they cannot cancel/dump it.

The only exception to this would be if your Medicare Supplement is a group certificate, whch can be cancelled as a group, not individually. In that case you would be in a guaranteed issue situation.

 

[LostDollar]

No, I do not. 67 years old now. $27.00 a month for the first two years. This June it goes up to $29.00 so I am still happy with this arrangement and am still willing to live pardon the pun with the high deductible.

(goillini doesn't want me recommending HDF to folks because of possible misunderstandings about how it works, but I figure since you already have it, I can talk to you about it.)

(goillini-in answer to an old question 95-105 years)

I'm 73. I was still on group health for several years, this is my 2nd year on HDF, my premium is $54 a month.

My only income is social security, so I am taking some risk, but I decided to take a chance on HDF for around 15 years and then transfer to a plan G if I can pass underwriting at that time. If I can't, well I'm stuck. I figure that sometime between 2020 and 2025 I will want to transfer to an HDG plan, I just don't know how to plan for that decision at the moment.

One other thing which I am doing that may not be common to HDF plan holders, I set up a separate savings account at my bank and am putting $100 a month into it, on top of paying the HDF premium. I have no idea if I will be able to continue that, or if I can keep the money reserved, but If I can and I have reasonably good health for that 15 year period, I think that will be enough to cover my OOP expenses in that time frame.

greensky and ds4 both come down pretty hard on me for continuing to post on the forum so I don't know if you will see any answers from them to the questions I asked.

Best wishes for your health and your insurance plan.
LD

 

[DS4]

For those people that choose to purchase a high deductible plan in the first place, do you see them retaining that until death and incurring some higher oop costs towards the end of their lives, or do you see holders of the high deductible plan (that are still able to do so) switching to to G or N at some higher age range?
Thanks.

Lets say you have HD F and are diagnosed with Cancer. Almost impossible to upgrade to any other plan. So, you ride out HD F and you are out of pocket $2240.

 

[phaedruspress]

Lets say you have HD F and are diagnosed with Cancer. Almost impossible to upgrade to any other plan. So, you ride out HD F and you are out of pocket $2240.

Trust me I do not mean to make light of the subject matter and I am only speaking for myself but if I am diagnosed with Cancer my 2240 out of pocket expenses are going to be the least of my worries. My sister who is executrix of my living will has explicit written instructions to pull the plug if I should so much as get a hang nail.

 

[somarco]

My sister who is executrix of my living will has explicit written instructions to pull the plug if I should so much as get a hang nail.

Seems a bit extreme, but she's your sister.

Does she also have a permit to pack heat?