Medicare Part C For 2022

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This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Finishing Well, brought to you by CardinalGuide.com, with certified financial planner Hans Scheil, best-selling author and financial planner helping families finish well for over 40 years. On Finishing Well, we'll examine both biblical and practical knowledge to assist families in finishing well, including discussions on managing social security, Medicare, IRAs, long-term care, life insurance, investments, and taxes. Now, let's get started with Finishing Well. Finishing Well is a general discussion and education of the issues facing retirees.

CardinalGuide.com, Cardinal Advisors, and Hans Scheil CFP sell insurance. This show does not offer investment products or investment advice. Welcome to Finishing Well, and oh man, what a show we have for you today. I'm gonna tell you, I've learned so much in a week.

I'm actually kind of surprised, but hey, I'm glad. I always love to learn. So, today's show is Medicare Part C for 2022. Boy, are we gonna share some stuff for you. But along these lines, I gotta tell you, after watching the video, which how cool was this video that Hans did on Medicare Part C for 2022?

So helpful to me. And as I watched it, I realized, oh my goodness, what a biblical precedent this is. For those of you who love the 23rd Psalm like I do, you might remember King David said after he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And you may know the significance of that, but if you don't, I want to share it with you that there was in the tabernacle, which is where they worshiped, very specific instructions in the book of Exodus and now where they were to put this, what they called showbread. And the showbread was on a table, and it was one loaf for all 12 tribes of Israel. And very specifically, it had to be on the northern side of the tabernacle so that it faced the north. It was very specific because if you read many prophesies, you're gonna, I mean, many prophecies, you're gonna see that the bad guys always come from the north.

And we have a tendency to turn left, which is north, by the way, when we're going in the wrong direction. God wanted the bread to be there when you started to turn the wrong direction that you would see this bread, that God is going to take care of us like the man in the desert. He is going to provide for you. You don't have to worry, he's got this.

And moreover, it's in the presence of our enemies because they are the ones that are heading at us from the north. Well, as we go through this Medicare Advantage plan today, I hope you see that Satan is always out there trying to get you to go like, oh no, I'm not going to be okay. I need to go the inexpensive route because I'm not going to be able to afford this insurance and all those kind of things. So I hope you'll pay attention today to see, wow, you know, God wants to provide for you coverage that will really protect your family, which is I watched this video, honestly, Hans, I switched, which our certified financial planner, Hans Schall, is host to the show, actually. I switched, I was really planning on switching to a Medicare Part C, but when I saw the exposure, I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. I'm getting insurance to protect my family.

And so I could see that that I'm really better off with a supplement that I have. Yeah. So today's show, we're talking about Medicare Advantage plans, which many of you are familiar with, because you can't turn the TV on these days or look in your mailbox because government limits the enrollment time from October 15th to December 7th. So it's about seven weeks that we have out of the 52 weeks of the year to do all our enrolling and disenrolling of Medicare Advantage plans or standalone prescription drug plans. So right off the bat, they got this limited time, we get real business. And so that's why we're talking about Medicare week after week after week is, you know, this is the truth network, and we try to get the truth out there to people so that you can make good decisions. And that's what we're doing here.

And so two weeks ago, we talked about the whole Medicare program, and then the upcoming enrollment period, Medicare Advantage, Medicare supplements, standalone prescription drug plans. You know, on YouTube, that video was 30 minutes. So it's the longest one we've ever done. And I've received a lot of good feedback about it.

I mean, people think that it's fine that it's 30 minutes. But anyhow, that was the opening one. And we're probably going to play that again throughout the season. And then last week, we talked about prescription drug plans, standalone prescription drug plans, or the prescription drug plan part of a Medicare Advantage plan. And we got into detail about those to a certain degree to help you make the decisions. Then today, we're talking about the whole part C program, Medicare Advantage, and then they normally add prescription drug onto that because most Medicare Advantage plans include a part D plan.

So it's MAPD. And so what we had planned on doing today, and I had planned on the video is really just showing you all the good parts of these and we're still going to do that. But I can't talk about them.

Apparently, Robbie watched the video before we got on to record the show. And he, you know, I went over enough of what concerns him about those that he's just going to stay right. You're going to stay right where you are. I am. Yeah, and we'll get to that part. But I love the way you go through these step by step. It's really helpful.

Yeah. So what I did is I took a 10 and a half page summary document. So this is a summary document that we use to explain these things to customers over the phone. And I turned it into 11 bullet points. So it was the summary document, and then it was the summary of the summary. And it still looks like a lot when you look at it on the board.

But I went over the high points and they're really the critical matters that you're going to use in making a decision. And we just picked a plan that used the office zip code here. We're over in Durham, North Carolina, and we use the zip code here. But this plan is also available over in Winston Salem, and it's available in Charlotte and pretty much all over the state of North Carolina. And there's similar plans all over the country. And this is with a major national insurer.

I'm not going to name because I don't want to send my stuff to them. And this plan that we're highlighting here is a PPO, which is as opposed to an HMO and a PPO is a preferred provider organization. It just means that you have a network. And if you go to a doctor in the network, the plan is going to pay the best. And if you go out of network, you can still do that with a PPO, you're just going to have to pay more. And then an HMO, which we're not illustrating, you have to go to the doctors in the network. I mean, it's just, that's it.

You can't go to doctors outside of the network, or you're not going to get anything out of it. So that's important to know that. And I just decided to demonstrate a PPO because, you know, if I purchased one of these myself, I would buy the PPO version for that reason. Okay. Yep.

Now, just going down what I went over in the video. And, you know, I'm sure that many of you who are listening to the show, you're thinking, I keep talking about these videos. I mean, if you go to YouTube, and you just go to Google, and you just type in YouTube, and then you get to the search function. If you type in Cardinal advisors, A D V I S O R F, or you type in Hans Shiel, you're just going to come to our channel. And then what will come up is this week's video, but it'll also come up the hundred and some other ones that we have.

And they track the same as the radio show. So anyhow, so what's on the board behind me on this is the very biggest attraction to Medicare Advantage plans. And on this particular one, that the plan is zero premium.

I mean, you just, you have to pay nothing for these. And if you're if you're been on a Medicare supplement, and original Medicare and you're going on these for the first time, you're good, you're not going to you're going to be able to drop your Medicare supplement. In fact, you have to drop your Medicare supplement. So in your case, your Medicare supplement is 120 $130 a month, Robbie.

Yeah, yeah. That was the attraction, as you're saying when I go to one of these, I can dump that. And that's big savings. And then the second thing is, you can, you'll have to dump your prescription drug plan of which you're paying 1520 bucks a month for. So there's a there's a big savings in going to these in the monthly outlay for the premium. And what you're doing with this plan, or any other one like it, is you're leaving original Medicare. So you're still covered by part A and part B, but you've agreed to accept your Medicare benefits from this private insurance company behind this plan. And even though you're paying zero premium, the government's paying a pretty significant premium to have you offloaded to the insurance company.

I mean, that's that's how the economics work. And the very first thing that we have on here is the in network maximum that you would have to pay out of pocket. So in other words, if the worst thing happened to you, and you were a bunch of time in the hospital and seeing a bunch of specialists and having surgery, whatever, that just the whole thing builds up and you pay all these deductibles and copays, the most it's going to cost you in any one year is 6700 bucks.

You just look at that on a piece of paper. That doesn't sound too bad. I mean, many of you have deductibles that high, if you're under 65 and on a on a regular plan, but I know Robbie, you looked at what was your reaction to that?

Yeah, immediately, it was a game breaker. Because and again, we'll get into some of the other details how easy you can hit that 6700. But if I did hit that 6700, you know, that would wipe out all my savings and put my, you know, my family at risk as far as I was concerned. And I was like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, I couldn't afford $6700 this year. You know, if that came at me, if I and again, when the days of COVID, right, how many people were in the hospital for three or four days? Well, you know, that's going to cost a fortune if you end up there.

Well, yeah. And, you know, I do want you to understand, this is going to be a very serious illness. You know, my experience has been that people that are on these, they come out of the hospital, and they've had big expenses, they owe a couple $3,000 is about what it costs them.

So they don't get quite to the 6700. But even a couple $3,000 is, is pretty tough, even if you're saving 120 $130 a month, like you would be right. Now, when you get somebody that's 80 years old 85, and maybe their Medicare supplement is now 300 bucks a month, now we start to change things and that $300 a month is breaking their back. And then they're paying for their drug plan. And so you start going through it. So I don't want to get down on these plans too much over the networks and the copayments and the out of pockets because there's many people very happy with them. And it produces exactly what they want. But I just it just struck me as we're getting ready for the show today.

I just thought you're the perfect example to just bring online to look at the downside of making this decision. Right. And we got much more to cover. We got quite a show for you today. And there's no doubt that this is a cool decision you get to make on Medicare, whether you're going to go with part C, original Medicare, we're going to cover so much more of that.

And today's show, Medicare part C for 2022. With certified financial planner, Hans Shile, and as always want to mention his book, The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living Retirement. It's all there at TheCardinalGuide.com.

We'll be right back. Hans and I would love to take our show on the road to your church, Sunday School, Christian, or civic group. Here's a chance for you to advance the kingdom through financial resources by leveraging Hans' expertise in qualified charitable contributions, veterans aid and attendance, IRAs, Social Security, Medicare, and long term care. Just go to CardinalGuide.com and contact Hans to schedule a live recording of Finishing Well at your church, Sunday School, Christian, or civic group. Contact Hans at CardinalGuide.com.

That's CardinalGuide.com. Welcome back to Finishing Well with certified financial planner, Hans Shile. Today's show, Medicare part C, which is very relevant for the day and time that we're actually coming on with the show, right Hans?

Yeah. I mean, October 15th is the first day that you can buy a Medicare Advantage plans or enroll in one that will start January 1st, 2022. It's also the first day that you could disenroll for one. So if you're on one of these now, and you want to get off, so on October 15th, all the way through December 7th, you can make that election. So you can go the other way too, and you can only do it during this period of time. And then the change will take effect January 1st. People, and they just get bombarded with information.

So I want to pick up where we left off. And where we were going into is we identified that this particular plan has a maximum out of pocket of $6,700. And that means as long as you use in-network providers, when you get all these deductibles and copayments, the most you can pay out of your pocket is 6,700 bucks, which we've just defined as a pretty significant amount of money.

You've got to be pretty seriously sick to get there. Most people that spend a week, 10 days in the hospital and they have something serious and they come out and they've got one of these Medicare Advantage plans, it's more like two, $3,000 that they've got in copayments and deductibles. So, I mean, that's just been my experience, but the number is $6,700. And the government really thinks they're doing you a favor by, you know, or the Medicare Advantage plan, because on original Medicare, you've got 80% coverage for Part B and you've got 20% as your out of pocket.

And there's no limit on that. But what they don't tell you is most people have a Medicare supplement for that. So, they got no out of pocket with the Medicare supplement and original Medicare. And you also got a premium. So, you know, that 6,700 bucks is just something you need to take a hard look at. And you asked me before the show, there are plans that have lower amounts, but I really haven't seen one lower than 5,000 or $4,500.

It's still in the same neighborhood when you get the ones that have the smallest out of pockets. Now, the way you're going to build up to that is you have an, if you go as an inpatient in the hospital, you are going to have to pay with this plan $395 a day for the first five days. So, you add that up, it's roughly $400 a day, it's about $2,000. So, if you're in the hospital for five days, you got $2,000 out of pocket. And again, when I compare, when you go over to the supplement, which you're on now in original Medicare, Robbie, you spend five days in the hospital, you're going to owe nothing, because, you know, it's all paid by the supplement, all this deductible stuff. So, that's a big area right there is it's going to cost you to go in the hospital, if you stay there a while, a couple thousand dollars.

Now, what a lot of people happens to them is you go to the hospital, because you got something wrong with you, and you're concerned about it, and you go through the emergency room, or you go, they check you in there, and they put you under what they call observation. And if you do that outpatient observation thing, you just have a deductible of $395. Unless you don't go to a network hospital, if you go to a non-network hospital, you got to pay 40% of the bill.

So, I'm just showing you an example of that. So, you know, if you go ahead in the middle of the night to a hospital, and you're on one of these things, you need to make sure that you're headed toward a network hospital. You know, you just go down in this list, I don't just go through the whole thing verbally when you can't look at the thing, but you have a bunch of deductibles and co-payments. It's anytime you go to the doctor, you know, you go to the specialist, you're going to pay 20, 40, 45, $65 each time, and that stuff adds up.

And again, to compare when you're over on the supplement, the only thing, when you have a plan G like you do, Robbie, where you're not part of one of these things, you've got an annual deductible of $203 under Part B that the supplement doesn't pay. And then after that, everything's paid. And you've experienced that, have you not, Robbie? Oh, yeah, it's been a good year though.

Yeah, this year has been a good year, but the year before that, you experienced that real quickly. So just in general, the reason you would do one of these Medicare Advantage plans is to have the zero premium, so that you don't have to pay any money by the month as opposed to your Medicare supplement premium. And then that's the biggest reason. And then the second reason is, these include a lot of goodies, like dental insurance, hearing, vision, a gym membership. They also include a Part D drug plan that you, Robbie, have purchased from me separately. And you pay a premium by the month.

This just comes with the package. So when they say zero premium, they really mean it. So those are the things that attract people to these is the zero premium and all the goodies that come with it. Now, the detractors or the things that would make you kind of put your antennas up are all the deductibles and copayments without any, you know, gap insurance or Medicare supplement coming in and paying them. And the fact that you need to use in-network doctors. And so anytime you get sick, you're going to have to go to the ones in the network. And the thing about that is if you get seriously sick, you really lost the option of going doctor shopping, you know, like the example I use of my wife went through cancer a year ago, and we're fortunate if we're under 65. But we were able to go to Duke, which is one of the best cancer places in the world.

And I actually picked my network because of that. But, you know, while we were there, there were people from all over the world, and certainly from all over North and South Carolina and Virginia. And many of them, you know, they just came in there for the care. And, you know, I hope that Duke was on their network of whatever their plan was, because, you know, that's an issue.

So, you know, when I get down to the whole thing, and I'm going through it, I don't think I've been much of a salesman of these things today. And I really, we offer these, we probably write two, 300 of them a year. And people love them. And it's just, people are willing to accept that exposure of the out-of-pocket. We're able to pick the plan that covers all the doctors that they want to go to.

So I don't really want to downplay these things so much. And we have many people that are paying much more than you are, Robbie, for their Medicare supplement. They're paying, you know, they're up in their 80s or late 70s, and they're paying 250, 300 bucks a month. And they're paying a lot for their drug plan.

So that kind of sways the numbers. So I don't want to diss these things. I just want to explain that when people are touting them on TV, and they're mailing you all kinds of stuff, talking about these are the greatest things from sliced bread, you know, you really need to be a little wary here, and you need to read the fine print.

And you can certainly call us. If we represent most of these plans, we also sell for most of the Medicare supplement companies. So if you're trying to get your Medicare supplement premium down, and you're looking at these, we can also look at some other companies for your Medicare supplement, and maybe take care of it that way. Yeah, I am thinking that, you know, one of the critical aspects and being a cancer survivor myself, like all of a sudden, wow, you know, they want you to go to Baptist Hospital. Well, as Baptist, you know, they, the network is over at New Vant, and I'm just talking about people in our area, this is kind of the decision. And I have a dear friend that actually was the other way around Hans, they wanted to send his daughter to Duke, but they wanted, they felt like the better doctor for her leukemia was a Baptist and their insurance, and they what they went through in order to make all that happen.

And so it isn't a cookie cutter deal. That for everybody, it's a really good idea, from my standpoint, to talk to Hans, to talk to Tom, who's with Hans, and share, this is kind of where I would go if I was really in trouble medically, and what does that look like with Medicare Advantage? And as you say, you know, if the average person out of pocket maxes out somewhere around three or $4,000, and they're paying $300 a month for the supplement, you know, add all those in, you'd made a statement to me before the show, I had to laugh, I'm still laughing. It's like, well, it's hard to know what kind of insurance you have with your car insurance until you've had an accident. And then all of a sudden, what seemed like a great insurance company, once you have an accident, it ain't so great.

And so that's where it really is helpful to have an agent, or somebody that you can talk to and trust, and say, okay, you know, help me here, because I don't want the tail to wag the dog. Well, yeah, and my pet peeves is people come to us and they say, oh, okay, I want a Medicare Advantage plan. We don't get sick.

I mean, we just look at the past three years. And I want this one. There's zero deductible on internet work doctors, and I get vaccines, and I'll be fine. And my friend has this one. And she's had the same experience.

So that's the one I want. And I'm like, well, you know, if you knew that's all you were going to have, you could just forget the whole thing, Medicare and everything. I mean, you're, you're not buying this for wellness care. I mean, that's just, that's all the stuff they tell you're buying this. Because 10 years from now, six years from now, next year, you could have something very serious.

And when that happens, you want to have made good decisions during this time of year. Okay, it's just, it's just kind of that simple. And we're gonna, we're gonna just assume that that's gonna happen to you, and then advise you accordingly. I mean, I guess that's what I kind of did for you, Robbie. Oh, yeah.

I was in there watching this. And again, I, you know, I guess I've had the unfortunate experience of having a few health accidents. And so I, and watching, you know, other people. So I'm thinking if you're listening, and wow, you know, you may be 50 and thinking, Oh, my parents are on Medicare, you know, what are they doing? And how can I find out from them? You know, because everybody's got exposure here. I've got a good friend that we have in common, that I know that she took Medicare Advantage, because she felt like she couldn't afford, you know, the Medicare supplement, but it's harmful to her health, because she won't go out, you know, and get the health care she needs.

Yeah, that's too bad. There are plans for people on Medicaid or a version of Medicaid, which is extra help. It's not a version of Medicaid, but for people with lower income, that we can actually tailor Medicare Advantage plans for them that these deductibles are brought way down. So we kind of have something for everybody. And in her example, that may have been an option or is an option. Just don't make decisions in a vacuum on this stuff, or just call in somewhere or somebody comes out to your house, and you just buy the first thing that's thrown in front of you.

Because it sounds good. Yeah, because Satan does come from the north. And he understands that often we're focused on the simple stuff of life and not really what the bigger picture is. And so you know, I used to say when I sold extended warnings, the people that needed them the worst were the ones that couldn't afford them. And it's so much with insurance like that in so many ways in them.

Yeah, I can't help but laugh. Because, you know, I've had people, you know, essentially hanging up over me to tell me to get lost. They say, I'm not interested. I'm thinking that somebody could be listening to the show. And then they're sitting there and somebody calls them up trying to sell them one of these things. And they're just gonna say Satan.

Get behind me Satan there. Well, unfortunately, we ran out of time again before we ran out of show. So lots on that video. As he had mentioned, if you go to Cardinal Advisors on YouTube, or you go to CardinalGuide.com, there you can find all the resources including Hans' book, The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement. Again, CardinalGuide.com. Thank you, Hans.

So much fun. Thank you. Finishing well is a general discussion and education of the issues facing retirees. CardinalGuide.com, Cardinal Advisors and Hans Seil CFP sell insurance.

This show does not offer investment products or investment advice. We hope you enjoyed Finishing Well brought to you by CardinalGuide.com. Visit CardinalGuide.com for free downloads of this show or previous shows on topics such as social security, Medicare, IRAs, long-term care, life insurance, investments and taxes, as well as Hans' bestselling book, The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement and the workbook. Once again, for dozens of free resources, past shows, or to get Hans' book, go to CardinalGuide.com.

If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for future shows, click on the Finishing Well radio show on the website and send us a word. Once again, that's CardinalGuide.com. CardinalGuide.com.

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