Medigap is the official name given to health insurance plans commonly known as Medicare Supplement Insurance.  Medicare has many “gaps” left that can leave some pretty hefty out-of-pocket expenses.  Medigap is designed to supplement Medicare or in other words “fill in” Medicare gaps.   Medigap is provided by private insurance companies but regulated by both federal and state law.  Medigap supplemental insurance plans are not an alternative to traditional Medicare like Medicare Advantage Plans, but instead work with traditional Medicare.

Medigap plans come in basically ten flavors and are labeled with the letters A through N.  The letters E,H,I, and J are no longer used. Medigap plan A is typically the least expensive of the plans and provides the least amount of coverage while Medigap plan F provides the most coverage.  The most popular plan is Medigap plan F with Medigap plan G a close second.  Medigap plan F covers 100% of the copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, and even the excess charges that come with Medicare.  Medigap plan G is almost identical to plan F with the exception of not covering the yearly Medicare Part B deductible.  Often the yearly savings on the Medigap plan G premium is greater than the cost of the Medicare Part B deductible so it is an option definitely worth checking out.

When shopping for a Medigap plan it is important to note that all the plans are standardized.  This means that each plan by the same letter provides the exact same coverage.  So Medigap plans provided by AARP, Gerber, New Era, and United all provide the exact same coverage even though the companies may charge a different premium.

The best time to first purchase a Medigap plan is when you first turn 65.  During the first six months from when you turn 65 or when you first purchase Medicare Part B the insurance companies cannot turn you down and there is no medical underwriting.  This is a huge benefit because there are many medical conditions that normally will prevent you from purchasing a Medicare supplement.

One of the great benefits of having a Medigap plan as opposed to say Medicare Advantage is that Medigap is guaranteed to be renewable and cannot be canceled as long as you keep paying the premiums.  Medigap changes are also phased in for new purchasers and allow existing policyholders to retain their current policies.

When purchasing a Medigap plan it is best to utilize the services of an independent agent.  Independent agents do not just sell insurance for one particular insurance company.  They can pull quotes from all the insurance companies in your area ensuring you get the lowest price.  Before you request insurance quotes on any website make sure to read the fine print.  Many websites are set up only to collect your information and the sell it out to a whole bunch of insurance agents or companies.  This will get you a bunch of duplicate quotes and a lot of hassle.  One good independent agent will get you the same information, at the same price, and save you time and trouble.

Click here to get your Medigap quotes from an independent insurance agent

New Era Insurance Company has issued a rate increase in their Georgia Medicare supplement insurance.  Here is the breakdown:

• Rate increase will be 6%
• Plans effected are standard Plans A, C, F, G, and N
• Effective date is January 1, 2012

Good news is that existing policyholders  on their initial 12 months will not receive the rate increase till after their initial 12 month period has ended.

Even with this 6% increase New Era will remain one of the lowest priced Medicare supplemental insurance companies in the state of Georgia.  Because New Era’s Georgia Medicare supplemental insurance is already so low this rate increase was likely expected by many and New Era will loose very few customers.

New Era Life Insurance Company

New Era provides affordable insurance solutions that help you take control of your financial and health care future. Our quality products are backed by a commitment to keeping your insurance premiums stable and as low as possible. We are also devoted to superior customer service. When you call us, you will talk to a live person… a person who cares about helping you and your family.

We offer Medicare Supplement insurance to protect you against the rising cost of medical care. We also offer annuities and life insurance products to help protect your financial future and plan for final expenses.  Whether you are newly married, starting a family or of retirement age, New Era can help.

New Era offers these products through our family of companies:

• New Era Life Insurance Company
• Philadelphia American Life Insurance Company
• New Era Life Insurance of the Midwest

The company was incorporated in 1924 and current management took over in 1989.  Throughout its history, the New Era family of companies has provided quality, affordable insurance and financial products highlighted by outstanding customer service.

New Era is in the A.M. Best “Secure” group of insurance companies with a current rating of B+ (Good).  A.M. Best is the leading provider of ratings for the insurance industry.  Their ratings are recognized as the benchmark for assessing the financial strength of insurance organizations.

Searching for the best priced Medicare supplemental insurance?   Request a quote to see if New Era has a great price for you.

If you request a quote from us, your information stays with us, and goes to just one agent!  Unlike many insurance websites, we do not sell or give your information to other agencies or multiple agents. One agent contracted with many insurance companies gets you the best price, cost you nothing, and saves you a lot of hassle!

The 2012 Medicare Cost changes are out and they have as you can probably guess gone up.

Lets start of with the 2012 Medicare cost for Part B changes first as this is what most people are interested in.  Also here is the link to the 2012 Medicare and Me pdf manual.

The 2012 Medicare Part B premium will be $99.90.  That is up $3.50 from the standard rate of $96.40 for 2011.  That means you will pay $42 more in 2012 Medicare cost for Part B.  For most this was expected and the damage is not too bad.  The 2012 Medicare Part B deductible actually went down by $22 from $162 to $140.  Most will not see this savings though as it will be picked up by their supplemental insurance.  See the chart below taken straight from the Medicare.gov website for all the adjusted gross income increases.

As for 2012 Medicare Part A the deductible has gone up by $24 per benefit period from $1132 to $1156.  There are other increases as well see the chart below taken strait from Medicare.gov website for all your 2012 Medicare cost changes for Part A.

The 2012 Medicare cost for Part D

If you are looking for Medicare supplemental insurance to help cover the gaps in Medicare please feel free to explore this website to learn more.  You can also get free quotes for the insurance companies in your area by clicking the Medicare supplement quote button.

A Medicare supplemental insurance policy can cover most or all of the 2012 Medicare cost.  A majority of people turning 65 can find insurance in the $100 to $150 price range that will cover all the deductibles and co-payments.  When turning 65 there is no underwriting and all Medicare supplement policies are guaranteed renewable.

Medicare and Medicare supplemental insurance can be a source of frustration for People turning 65 as well as many seniors currently using the services. Medicare has its different parts and Medigap has its ten plans, most people don’t even consider issue age vs. attained age.

Issue age policies have the base price determined by the age you are when you purchase the policy and much more expensive when you first get them but are supposed to not go up in price as you age. Attained age policies determine the base price by the age you currently are. They are a lot less expensive while young but go up incrementally as you age.

I had a customer who was looking for Medicare supplemental insurance for his wife and himself ask me “would we be better off getting issue age policies so premiums won’t increase with age?” This was my response:

That is a good question and a hard one to answer. It is impossible to predict what future rates will be. They will most likely be going up and it will not matter if your policy is by issue age. Issue age means the insurance provider cannot increase premiums for the insured as he or she grows older. In essence, the insured is locking in a rate based on his age when the policy is issued. However, insurance providers can raise premium rates by class for all policies issued in their state. An insurance company might increase rates due to significant increase in claims or medical cost. Issue age plans will be more expensive at issue, but the insured hopes to pay less in premiums cumulatively over the long run by not experiencing rate increases with every birthday.

United Healthcare is based off of issue age (I pulled Bankers also for your wife only) and as you can see they are much more expensive at $132. I pulled Philadelphia American plan F for a 66, 70, 80, and 90 year old female in your zip for comparison and the rates were 66: $92, 70: $101, 80: $148, and 90: $233 a month. My personal gut feeling is to take the discounts while you got them and plan for the increase in premium, but that is just me.

I hope this helps.

This person lived in Tennessee where a majority of insurance companies use attained age. These quotes are for a specific zip code and will vary quite a bit from company and area, but the spread will likely be similar. As you can see this person would be in their mid 80’s before they started to save with an issue age policy. This may work out to be a very good deal for some, but it is so hard to predict ten to fifteen years down the road.

United Healthcare and National Council n Aging (NCOA) released a study that showed that many Baby Boomer and seniors 65 and older find Medicare confusing and some said they don’t understand their benefits at all.  Not criticizing the study, I think it is important to have hard facts but just ask any independent agent and they could have told you that.  Explaining Medicare, Medigap, Medicare supplemental insurance, Medicare Advantage, Part A B C D, Plans A through N, etc.. is our daily routine and we still learn something new every now and then.

The study showed that 35% of boomers and senior did not understand Medicare very well and 16% say they don’t understand it at all!  The Study has a lot more detailed information some of it pretty interesting.  You can read about it from the NCOA website.

To combat the information gap on Medicare, NCOA and United Healthcare are going to host a series of educational meetings at senior community centers across the country and push public service announcements on TV and radio.  With annual election period about to begin for Part C and D there will be lots of information available for the next few months.

If you are interested in learning about how to find the best prices Medicare Supplemental insurance please check out our website at www.centaurmedicaresolutions.com  It is safe to get your Medigap quotes from us as we do not sell your information out to a bunch of agents like many website do these days.  Your information goes to only one agent to pull quotes!

The debt deal signed into law on August 2 2011 has left a lot of Tennesseans unhappy.  Many of the politicians and people of Tennessee want deeper cuts to solve the US debt problem.  Many are also worried about funding for important programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other entitlement programs.

Tennessee’s Republican senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker both voted for the compromise legislation.  The benefits garnered by the law were keeping the US from defaulting while and the immediately reducing the budget deficits by $917 billion over 10 years and the promise of an additional $1.5 trillion cuts by a committee.  The $917 billion was the first step in cuts and probably the easiest to make.  The second step will be made by a bipartisan committee which will have to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion in additional deficit cuts over a ten year period.  This will be no small task as our society has become increasingly dependent on big government spending that has ballooned out of control.  Many constituents wished the senators had held out for an actual balance budget amendment which is ultimately needed to solve the root of the problem.

Currently Social Security and Medicaid will be exempt and Medicare cuts cannot exceed 2 percent. If any Medicare cuts are made, they would affect provider payments but not benefits.  But cuts to provider payments are troublesome for seniors just the same.  As doctors get paid less for their services they are less likely to except Medicare and more likely to have excess charges that hit seniors’ pocketbooks directly.

Alexander said on the Senate floor before the vote that entitlement programs, which accounted for about half of federal spending in 2010, must be restructured “so that seniors can count on them and taxpayers can afford them”.   This is a huge political hot potato that most democrats and some old school republicans are unwilling to address.

The effects of the first round of cuts may not be felt by Tennesseans right away, but the second round of deficit cuts may be more noticeable, especially if the special congressional committee decides to take up entitlement or tax reform.  Ultimately if the government doesn’t find a way to balance the budget then the nation will feel the effects for many generations to come!

If you are turning 65 and best way to protect yourself from the gaps in Medicare is to purchase Medicare supplemental insurance also known as Medgap.  Medigap can cover you Medicare deductibles, co-payments, and even Medicare Part B excess charges.  Click here to learn more about Medicare supplement insurance.

When a person first looks at the Medicare Supplement plans available they immediately zero in on plan F. Plan F is the plan with all the boxes checked meaning it has the most complete coverage. Plan F is also the most popular plan available, but most popular does not always equate to the best deal.

If you take a look at the next plan down from F, plan G, you will see that it has almost the exact same coverage with the exception that G does not pay the Medicare part B deductible. The Medicare part B deductible for the year 2011 was $162. This is how much you will pay one time per year for out-of-pocket doctor’s office charges.

So let’s do some math. Once you have your Medigap Quotes, you will see that plan G’s monthly premium is less expensive than plan F’s. So subtract plan G’s monthly premium from plan F’s. Now multiply the answer that you get by twelve (the number of months you pay your premium per year). The answer that you get is how much more plan F costs to have than plan G per year. Now subtract the Medicare Part B yearly deductible from how much more it will cost to have plan F. This is how much you will save by having plan G.

For 2011, if the premium difference between plans F and G is greater than $13.50/month, then Medigap plan G makes the most sense. Many people can save $100 – $300/year even after having to pay out that $162/year Medicare Part B deductible! Now if the savings is not that much and you simply don’t want to fool with having to pay the part B deductible, then maybe Medigap plan G is not the best choice for you. But it is defiantly worth taking a look at.

Often insurance agents are reluctant to point out the possible savings available by purchasing a Medicare supplement plan G in lieu of plan F. This is because insurance agents make a little more when a person purchases plan F. A trustworthy independent insurance agent is always a huge asset when it comes to getting the best deal with Medicare Supplement Insurance. An independent agent does not work for a single insurance company. An independent agent licensed by your state can sell you insurance from any insurance company in that state. This gives you the best opportunity to save.

Click here to learn more about Medicare supplement insurance.
Click here to request Medigap quotes

Reuters.com published an article discussing a Federal deficit reduction plan that could effect everyone planning on or currently using Medicare supplemental insurance.   The proposal is based off of a study sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation.  The study found that if the Government limited the coverage of Medicare supplemental insurance then Medicare would save money because people would be less inclined to use their Medicare benefits.  This could be a win for people who don’t use their Medicare supplement insurance very much because their premiums would go down.  But for anyone who relies on Medgap this would cause them to pay more out of pocket to cover higher co-pays and deductibles!  Wonder what the long term cost would be to Medicare when people stop seeking treatment early because of higher cost? Interesting topic.  You can read the article here: Medigap limits could save Medicare money

With our Government forced into “tightening its belt” because of years of over spending many people are finding themselves suddenly dropped from their Medicare Advantage Plan.  The bad economic situation has caused many to move out of their Medicare Advantage area or to simply seek a less expensive plan.  If you find yourself in the situation of looking for a Medicare Supplement plan, Centaur Medicare Solutions can help. Choosing a Medicare Supplemental Plan can be very time consuming, annoying and possibly overwhelming for some, but because the premium that you pay can vary greatly, it is advantageous for you to compare plans.  One way to request quotes is by calling the individual insurance companies yourself and then making the comparison. Another option is to request quotes from an online website.  This will save you a lot of time but you must be very careful where you get your quotes from!  Many of the websites that come up in search engines will sell your information to multiple companies.  This means you will be getting a lot of phone calls and emails for the next couple of weeks by all the agents fighting for your business!  The best way is to request quotes for all the Medigap plans available in your area is directly from a single independent agency.  Centaur Medicare Solutions is an independent agency that will get you quotes without selling your information to anyone.  You will be dealing with only one agent!  When you find the plan you like we will mail you the application and track it till completion.  When your insurance company raises your rates in the future we can compare rates again and make sure you are always getting the best deal.  The best part is our services cost you nothing, not even postage!

See the different Medicare Supplement plans here:  Medigap Plans

Learn more about Medicare Supplement Plans here: Medigap

Request your quotes here:  Quotes

The annual election period for Medicare Advantage starts this year  on October 15th and ends December 7th.  During this period anyone who is enrolled in Medicare may enroll for the first time in a Medicare Advantage Plan; or change from one Medicare Advantage Plan to another; or return to Original Medicare.  This year there will be many people leaving Medicare Advantage and picking up a Medicare Supplemental insurance plan.  Though Medicare Advantage can definitely be an asset in certain situations there is a reason more people chose Medicare Supplemental insurance over Medicare Advantage.  When you read some of the disadvantages of Medicare Advantage you will see why this trend will continue.

Disadvantages of Medicare Advantage

1. Typically the list of doctors and hospitals you can use are restricted.  This can be particularly problematic if you are want to visit a specialist or say a cancer treatment center that is not on the list.
2. If you do choose to go to a doctor outside your network, you will no longer have Medicare Parts A and B to fall back on, and will be responsible for 100% of all costs.
3. Most Medicare Advantage plans require you to pay a co-pay each time you see a doctor, receive medical treatment, or visit a hospital.
4. The government is reducing funding for Medicare Advantage, causing many plans to pull out of the marketplace or raise their premiums.

If you are shopping for a Medicare Supplement Plan request a quote from Centaur Medicare Solutions: One Agency Contracted With all the Insurance Companies Gets You the Best Deal!