Southern Senior Care Blog

Why do most people go with an F or G plan instead of C, D or E?

I recently got the following question from a visitor to our website. My reply to her is below. I’m writing this pretty late at night, so for you Type A’s out there, if I have missed any of the finer points in my explanation, please let me know.

First of all, Medicare (CMS) creates the Medicare Supplement plans. Medicare Supplement Companies DO NOT create the plans. Whenever you see a copy of the Medicare Plan Table (see below) you will notice they are all the same - same plans, same options, same check marks, same percentages. No matter which Medicare Supplement company sends you the table, they are simply giving you the standardized table that Medicare created for everyone to use. This is a VERY important point to know. 

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News May Not be as Bad as it Sounds

On July 15th, General Motors announced that retired salaried employees 65 and older will lose their GM medical benefits. In exchange, GM will increase pension payments by $300 per month. My father is a retired GM employee, so I am very familiar with this situation. >>> Read the rest …

This is one of the most common questions we receive. When can I change my supplement, my drug plan, my advantage plan, etc. So here are the rules:

When can I change my Medicare Supplement?

Any time you want. That’s right. You could change Medicare Supplement Insurance every month if you wanted to. Realistically, you should review your rates every year, and you will probably find that you will want to change your Medicare Supplement company about once every three-four years to save money. To change to another Medicare Supplement Provider you will need to answer several health questions. Click here to see a list of common questions.

When can I change my Medigap Plan?

See Above. A Medigap Plan is just another name for a Medicare Supplement Plan. They are identical. They are synonyms. The reason for the confusion is the word “gap” which is also used to describe the gap (donut hole) in coverage in the prescription plan. Medicare also uses the two terms interchangeably which adds to the confusion.

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I get this question a lot. What IS the “best” Medigap plan? I think Plan G is the best in about 90% of the cases we see. The exception is if the client lives in a zip code in which they can get a Plan F for less than $134 more than the Plan G. The most significant difference between Plan F and G is coverage for the annual Medicare Part B deductible of $134.

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