Is Plan G The Best Medicare Supplement Plan? The Pros and Cons of Plan G

medicare supplement plan g is talked about a lot it is a very popular medigap plan but is it really the best value plan that is the question i'm going to answer today so stay tuned hi i'm stephanie apt i'm a licensed independent insurance broker and i help seniors all over the country to understand how medicare works i have lots of different videos about medicare the different parts of medicare and medicare plans so be sure to check those out if you haven't done so yet you can also subscribe to the channel and please leave all of your questions and comments for me below i'm glad that you're here in this little community and i love hearing what you have to say so is medicare supplement plan g really the best medicare supplement plan that is the question i'm going to dive into today so by the end of this video you will understand how medicare supplement plan g works what it costs and how to compare it to some alternative options that you may have so you can decide if it's really the best value plan for you medicare supplement plan g is a very popular medigap plan medigap medicare supplement mean the same thing so you may hear me use those words interchangeably throughout the video they mean the same thing so chances are if you're watching this video you've probably already heard about plan g and its popularity has really grown a lot especially over the past few years almost three times as many people are enrolling in plan g today than they were just a few years ago and there are a few different reasons for that which we'll break down a little bit today but first i want to dive into how medicare supplement plan g works so medicare supplement plans are standardized plans whose benefits are regulated by medicare and if you want a more in-depth overview on medicare supplement plans and how they work go ahead and click the video up here it's also linked in the description below if you choose any medicare supplement or medigap plan then you have traditional medicare as your primary coverage first so original medicare parts a and b are your primary hospital and medical coverage and this means that you can go to any medicare doctor anywhere in the united states and your medicare supplement insurance is your secondary insurance and with any medicare supplement plan you can always continue to choose your own doctor so you can go to any medicare doctor anywhere in the u.s and it doesn't matter if your doctor is contracted with your medicare supplement insurance company as long as your doctor accepts medicare patients then they must accept your medicare supplement plan no matter what insurance company it's with so that is one great thing about medicare supplement plan g or about any medicare supplement plan is that these are non-network plans and you can choose your own providers so this is the giant medicare supplements benefit chart which is a little bit confusing but if we go ahead and zoom in on medicare supplement plan g you can see that plan g really covers almost all of the gaps in traditional medicare at 100 percent and this means that plan g pays everything that medicare doesn't pay aside from the medicare part b deductible now in 2021 the medicare part b deductible is 203 dollars per year so that means that you have to pay the first 203 dollars of your medical services each year before medicare or your medicare supplement plan g kicks in but after you've met that deductible absolutely every other medicare part a and b covered service is fully covered at 100 so this means that any hospital stay you would pay zero any doctor's office visit any diagnostic testing cancer treatment chemotherapy you will have zero copay and zero out of pocket under a medicare supplement plan g medicare supplement plan g even covers medicare part b excess charges which are pretty rare but keep that in mind because i will be returning to that a little bit later in the video for most people this will be some of the most comprehensive medical coverage they've ever had right so it's easy to see why medicare supplement plan g is so popular it's also a very easy plan to explain uh which is one reason that you sometimes see medicare agents only selling medicare supplement plan g there are some call centers out there where agents are are just selling people medicare supplement plan g because it's the easiest for people to understand which of course isn't always in your best interest right you really want to know about all of your options so that you can make an informed decision based on your needs but because medicare supplement plan g is one of the most comprehensive plans or maybe the most comprehensive plan available to you it can be a good fit for certain people if you have major medical concerns or you visit the doctor very frequently or maybe you just like the peace of mind of knowing that you do not have any other charges after that part b deductible is met then plan g may be a good fit for you one of the only downsides to plan g is the monthly premium cost or more specifically the chance of rate increases as time goes on now in most parts of the country medicare supplement plan g will range between a hundred dollars a month to a hundred and fifty dollars a month for a 65 year old female but something important to note is that macra laws which stands for the medicare access and chip reauthorization act have changed the way guarantee issue rights work with certain medicare supplement plans and without getting too bogged down in the details of macra for the purposes of this video i want to try to simplify it a little bit there are two main things that you want to keep in mind when it comes to premium increases on medicare supplement plan g moving into the future the first thing to understand is that more and more people will be enrolling in medicare supplement plan g and as i stated at the beginning of this video currently three times as many people already are enrolling in plan g then compared to just a few years back and those numbers will continue to increase for anyone who is newly eligible to medicare that means that they turned 65 on or after january 1st 2020. plan g will be the most comprehensive medicare supplement plan available to them so if you are someone who needs frequent medical services plan g is going to be a very attractive option for you hence more and more people will continue to enroll in this plan the second thing to consider when it comes to how macra laws have impacted plan g is that plan g will now be taking on more guarantee issue medigap enrollees so as of january 1st 2020 newly eligible medicare beneficiaries will have certain guarantee issue rights to buy plan g without medical underwriting if they qualify with a certain type of life situation so let's back up and break this down a little bit the way that medigap plans work is that these plans are typically medically underwritten plans so that means that in most states if you want to enroll in a medicare supplement plan you have to pass through medical underwriting you have to answer health questions and generally be healthy enough to qualify for a medicare supplement plan if you don't pass through medical underwriting the insurance company could just deny you coverage or they could charge you a higher premium everyone gets one open enrollment window when they are new to medicare part b or when they are turning 65 when they can choose any medicare supplement plan with any company and there is no medical underwriting and you are always given the preferred rate right but once that window closes and you're no longer new to medicare then you generally have to be able to pass through medical underwriting to qualify for a medigap plan however there are some special life situations that will trigger a federal guarantee issue right for you to buy some not all but certain medicare supplement plans without any medical underwriting so these are the guarantee issue rights that we're talking about and now plan g is one of these guarantee issue plans for the first time so for example if you turned 65 last year in 2020 and you enrolled in medicare parts a and b but you never enrolled in a medigap plan because you were still working and covered under a group employer health plan and now in 2021 you are retiring you have a guaranteed issue right to buy medicare supplement plan g without any medical underwriting now i talk about this as well in another video that i'm going to link up here where we compare medicare supplement plan g to medicare supplement plan n which is another really popular medicare supplement plan so be sure to check out that video if you haven't done so so all of this is to say that because of these guarantee issue rights that are now attached to plan g as well as its increasing popularity there is a likely chance that you may see premiums increase on plan g at a higher percentage than you would on a medicare supplement plan that doesn't have the same guarantee issue rights attached to it if keeping your medigap premiums very low in the future is something that's very important to you and you don't mind sharing a little bit more of the cost of your medical services then you may want to consider an alternative medicare supplement plan like plan n you'll want to keep in mind that there are two big differences between plan g and plan n one of the big differences is co-pays so on plan g there are no co-pays after you've met your medicare part b deductible everything's covered at 100 percent on medicare supplement plan n you do have co-pays that you're responsible for after you've met your medicare part b deductible and co-pays are up to twenty dollars for office visits or up to fifty dollars for an emergency room visit i talk a little bit more about plan n co-pays in a video i've linked below and when you can expect to see those co-pays additionally medicare supplement plan n does not cover medicare part b excess charges so you might remember i mentioned that at the beginning of the video plan g covers all medicare part b excess charges at 100 and plan n does not cover them now excess charges are quite rare according to the kaiser family foundation over 99 of medicare claims by non-participating providers were billed on medicare assignment so that means that you did not see any excess charges on over 99 of medicare claims now i'm going to link a video up here that talks all about medicare excess charges and how to potentially avoid them but according to the available data these potential access charges are not in my opinion a huge reason to opt for plan g over plan n or another plan that doesn't cover the excess charges but i found that this preference really varies from person to person there are some people that would rather just pay a little bit more for the convenience of knowing that they don't ever have to worry about excess charges while other people would rather bear a little bit more of the out-of-pocket responsibility for an overall savings and premium overall the decision on which medigap plan to go with is a big one and that is what we help people do all day is to understand their options and make an informed decision when it comes to your medicare coverage i am a licensed independent insurance broker and my service is 100 free of charge so independent brokers like myself we get paid directly from the insurance company when we help you enroll so that is how i make my living is by helping folks many of whom find us right here on youtube to find and enroll in the best medicare plan for their needs my team and i are licensed in almost every state and we would love the opportunity to assist you so please don't hesitate to reach out with questions or for some free no obligation quotes or information you can give us a call anytime send us an email thank you so much for watching and we'll see you soon [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Medicare Specialist - Abt Insurance Agency

Views: 444,503

Keywords: Plan G, Plan G Medicare Supplement, Plan G vs Plan N, Plan G vs Plan N Medicare, best medicare supplement plans 2021, medigap plan g vs plan n, medicare supplement plan g vs f, medicare supplement plan g, medicare supplement plan n vs g

Id: vqBLsyuxdTo

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021