This is the Truth Network. Yeah. 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. Welcome to Finishing Well with Certified Financial Planner Hans Scheil, and today's show is the Medicare Irma. A financial plan series, episode three of eight. And I love. The structure of these episodes, they each stand on their own.
So, we hope in what you listened to today that. You know, I should never listen to the other Six seven episodes that this one stands alone, but of course, we feel like they're all part of a comprehensive plan. And this one, of course, being the third episode, I think you will see that. There's a season in life that you're now entering. And there's building blocks or ways that these episodes were put together to show you the wisdom of how they.
This new season of your life has windows of opportunity that. Are going to really change the way you do things. And one of those is how you do your health insurance. And we did Social Security last week. We're now in this new season.
It happens when you turn 65, believe me, you'll be getting plenty of letters, phone calls, whatever. They'll find you. But these are decisions that there's a window and it's open. And I think it's important, and I hope by listening to today's show, you'll see. The window of opportunity that you have for some things that that window will not be open again.
And there's a period of time it's open, and you got to take advantage of it because there are penalties and things that go along the line. I'm sure that you can relate to a door that was open in the time of Noah that was only opened. For a limited period of time. Although, for those who are standing around watching it while it was being built, You know, it seemed like this was an amazing opportunity. Um But the challenge was they never really understood the opportunity that they had, most everybody, with the exception of Noah and his family.
And so the people that were involved. Um chose ignorance. And you know, as Hans would tell you, if you think Uh Education's expensive, try ignorance. And those folks, that was an expensive choice. And so I commend you for listening to this particular broadcast.
And I think that you will learn some things about the window of opportunity that we have right here with Medicare and the opportunity that really you got to kind of seize the day when it comes upon you because there's very important decisions that will affect you. Uh for the rest of your life, Hans? Yeah. So this is a series. And we're taking a sample financial plan.
In applying the seven worries to, as we do in all our comprehensive financial plans, we go through Social Security, Medicare. long-term care IRA 401K. Your income plan and retirement, your investment plan, those are all interrelated. You're in estate planning. And then, of course, your tax plan.
So you take those seven worries. And they translate into seven sections of the financial plan. Yeah, as you said. Today we're talking about Medicare and we want to make each show stand by itself.
So we're going to teach you something about Medicare if this is the only show you listen to. And then we're going to apply the Medicare decisions. into Tom and Susan's financial plan. And and show what decisions they made around Medicare. Why they made them.
Yeah and uh So we're going to kind of go from there. But, Robbie, you have a little something to share about the order of things that we take on, the seven worries. Why don't you go on with that? Yeah, and I do love the worry, the order of things. And again, the idea is obviously we don't want you to worry.
We want to get this education process to eliminate the idea of. You know what's coming on with these, and one of the decisions that you make as you enter the season is. You know, what am I going to do with Social Security? You know, it's a season that your life is going to change. Like winter comes, the days get shorter.
You know, it's getting colder, however, that works.
Well, your body starts to feel these things. And interestingly, as you reach this age, all of a sudden, these new ideas of what am I going to do about my social security? Um Becomes key to building your financial plan. And then, number two block that is going to affect all the others tremendously is what are you going to do about your health insurance? Because the way you've done health insurance your entire life.
is significantly different as I've experienced. Um Then than it was you know with group plans and things like that you have opportunities you didn't have before um And the rules change. And there's new things coming your way. And so I didn't know I needed an education in this. God just provided it for me through Hans.
But let me pass on to you that this is really, really, really valuable information because. Um There are there are drug plans. There are, you know, Different supplemental plans. There's all these different things that have alphabets and all this stuff. And the better you understand it, the more options you'll have.
And it's my experience. The less worries you'll have because you'll understand the process and you go, okay, I got that covered. I really don't have to worry about it. And I recently been in the hospital for a number of days. And based on the plan that I have with Medicare, and spite of the fact that there's a lot of insurance companies fighting over what's going on, I didn't have to worry one second if something was going to come my way in the way of a bill because I have the insurance that covers it, right, Hans?
Yeah. Yeah. When you Approach Medicare. I mean, the first decision you're going to need to make is: am I going to sign up for Medicare at 65? Or am I going to delay?
And the only way you can delay. is if you have creditable group insurance. And when you turned 65, we were doing the show together, Robbie. You know, you had group insurance. you pretty much wanted to sign up for Medicare but Um You still You were considering staying on your group insurance.
And for your family and whatnot. Yeah, and I explained to you because There's less than 20 employees covered on your group insurance. That you didn't have the option of staying on the group insurance. Exactly. Tom and Susan in the example that we're doing here.
Tom is an MD, he's a doctor, and He's now almost 68, but he was turning 65 when we met him looking at Medicare. Yeah. He didn't want to stay on his group insurance either, but he didn't have the option because his group was smaller than 20.
So in other words, Let me just tell this to the listeners, is if you're part of a large group. and you're working or your spouse is still working. you have the option of delaying Medicare until your spouse or you lose that group insurance. And then you'll be granted the same. Rights to do everything.
Uh when that Group insurance ads.
So the only way to not sign up at 65. is to or delay Medicare is to be covered under grouping shots.
So The second decision, so once you sign up for Medicare, which you did about three months beforehand. And this was the situation Tom was in. Um now we got to decide. Are we going to go Medicare Advantage? Or are we going to go original Medicare?
And this is a binary decision. You got to go to the left or to the right. I mean, it's just, there's no. There's no in the middle. And folks, this is the second decision you need to make.
Once you get on Medicare or you're signed up, you're going to have to decide this. And so I want to tell you the difference between the two is with With original Medicare, it's just like it sounds. It's Medicare the way it originally was. I mean, it's just, it's part A and part B. and you're getting your insurance from the government.
And it has certain benefits. It has really high deductibles. in out of pocket.
Okay, so so People don't like that. I mean, they're saying, boy, I'm going to go on Medicare. And if I get sick, I'm going to have to pay 20% of the bill out of my pocket. for these large deductibles. the Medicare Advantage is a way to get out of those.
Know it's down the other fork of the road, but what you're doing with Medicare Advantage. is you're taking your government. Medicare. and you're outsourcing, or you're turning it into A privatized Medicare.
So you're going to an insurance company and you're saying, I want to get my Medicare from you, like Humana or United Healthcare or Blue Cross or somebody on one of these Medicare Advantage plans. And they're going to get paid by the government. They're going to get a check, the insurance company is every month. that is attached to Robbie Dilmore. you know, if if you assign them your Medicare.
And now you're going to have to get your health insurance from them. And there's two big disadvantages to that. One is you got to deal with networks, so you got to go to their doctors and hospitals. And then two, You also You're under managed care.
So when there's certain procedures done. your doctor has to contact the insurance company. Yeah, and get approval. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay, you know, and so I'm not trying to make them out like they're awful because they're certainly not. and people wade through that. It's just if you have the means. And you can afford. to get a supplemental policy to Medicare.
And certainly somebody that's paying Irma. which we're going to talk about later. um they're paying excess charges they they got enough money you know i kind of have a saying is why would you pay irma and pay the extra for Medicare. and then gum it up by getting a Medicare Advantage.
So a supplemental policy is not that expensive and put together with an original Medicare with with the original Medicare It's actually better coverage. than you have over with the Medicare Advantage. Just Point that I want you to get out of this is that's that's the first thing. when you're getting Medicare insurance. you need to do is you need to make a decision.
Am I going original Medicare? Or am I Go on Medicare Advantage. And you can just remember that. And if you know, if you get in touch with me or somebody like me. That's the first thing we're going to go over.
before we start talking policies and benefits and premiums. And that sort of thing.
Okay, I want you to respond to that a little bit, Rob. Yeah, it's actually from my standpoint one of the Yeah. It's way bigger than I would have ever guessed it was, and the more I'm Around Medicare, and have been through the things I've been through in the last few months, the more I understand how huge a decision it is. Because honestly, my wife, you know, due to some other things we were talking about was unable to get original Medicare is not able to get original Medicare and Medicare supplement because she didn't take advantage of the open enrollment when she had the opportunity to. And so we're kind of Stuck.
Because we couldn't afford a A supplement with her health concerns. And so we were kind of stuck with America Medicare Advantage because we missed out on the open enrollment originally. And so based on that. Um due to some of the things that happened in the accident, she needed surgery. Right?
And immediately we go into this managed healthcare thing. We got to see if your insurance company, but this surgery is urgent and needed. We need this. We got to have this. And now we got to wait on an insurance company to approve it.
And originally they didn't. They had to make them go in and do another procedure she would not even have needed to have. This would be a great point to remind you that the show is brought to you by Cardinal Guide, CardinalGuide.com. And if you go to CardinalGuide.com, there, you're going to see. of the seven of worries tabs, which are really Essentially, the episodes of what we're doing in this financial plan series.
But today's is obviously Medicare. And so, if you click on that, you're going to see a show, a video right along these same lines with show notes, all kinds of details about what we're talking about, including these open enrollment periods that we're talking about right now. And it's all there at cardinalguy.com, as well as Hans's book, The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for Living in Retirement, and the ever-popular. Contact Hans and Tom Page. And I would just urge anybody listening, if they're on Medicare, do you know, do I have Medicare Advantage or do I have Medicare with a supplement?
Do I understand the difference and the ramifications of that? That's a really, really important thing. We'll be right back with a whole lot more on this particular episode of the Financial Plan Series, episode three. Medicure and Irma. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, abbreviated BCM.
A registered investment advisor. BCM and Cardinal Advisors are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Cardinal Advisors is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency. Welcome back to Finishing Well with Certified Financial Planner Hans Scheil, and today's episode.
Medicare Irma. Financial Plan Series episode three of Eight. And so when we left we were talking uh before the break About how important these open enrollment periods are and what the difference is between Medicare. Advantage and original Medicare with a Medicare supplement.
So the government grants all people turning 65 or when they go on Medicare Part B for the first time. an open enrollment, as you said, and that's Period lasts six months. that it means you can buy any supplement that's available in your state. from any company Shh. without answering any health questions.
Okay. I mean, it's just that simple. Um If if you go on Medicare, you're going on Medicare. and you've got health problems. got serious health problems.
Um this decision becomes even more important. of which supplement you buy. Or whether you go on a Medicare supplement or you go on a Medicare Advantage plan. because of that six-month open enrollment.
So you've got one time, one chance to get in and pick anyone you want. Um And anyone you're advised to get, let me put it that way, a lot of times. This may be your last time you change your Medicare supplement if somebody has cancer. For instance.
Okay. You can't buy a supplement answering health questions if you've got active cancer.
Now, if you It's been cleared up for three years. Sure, you can enter a new supplement.
So I just want to stress the importance of that.
So, the first thing is you got to decide. Do I want to go Medicare Advantage? or a Medicare supplement. original Medicare. Yeah.
If you choose the Medicare supplement, original Medicare, now you've got a six-month window to buy any supplement you want. And I'm going to advise you for the sake of time here. Most people buy the plan G from us. G like gum. And you say, well, what's the difference between a G and an F?
We have other shows on that. But the G has the most level of benefit. Um it's the one I have personally and it's the one you have Robbie and Um Many of our clients, I would just say about 80% of the people, probably approach in the 90s, somewhere in the 80s. Um percentage of our clients have the plan G. And it's because it has the highest level of benefits.
And when people are buying it. The the cost is around 150 bucks a month. I'm just going to try to make that simple. It could be as low as 110, 120, 130. It could be as much as 200, 250 bucks a month, depending on where you live.
Um Even more than that, New York and California. Um But just so you understand On average, for people in the 60s, in their age 60s, around 150 to 170 bucks a month. which is no small amount of change. But when you start looking at what this supplement does for you, in combination with original Medicare, that's where you're gonna. You're going to be real happy.
So, I want to move on to some other things. We have other shows you can listen to and other videos that could break these decisions down. Much simpler. We need to talk about a Part D drug plan and in Tom and Susan's case. They're on different drug plans.
is they're taking different drugs.
So you know the part d is Medicare prescription drug plan. And what it does is You'd think that they're all the same. But they're really not because they all pay differently. On different drugs. And so, what we got to do.
is we're gonna plug all your drugs into a computer. And we're going to determine which plan is best for you. And I just wanted to make the point: sometimes this is. hard to explain to a married couple. Is that one of them gets a plan with say well care and another one gets a plan with AARP United Healthcare, there's a reason behind that.
Yeah. Um So Now, the next topic that I want to just move into, which really is affecting the financial plan, is this whole subject of Irma. And what IRMA stands for is income-related monthly adjustment amount.
Okay, and it's just that's a mouthful. It's the government's term for If you've got a high income. you're going to pay more for your Medicare. If you've got a really high income, you're going to pay a lot more for medicine. Yeah.
The the the note to self here, the note to others is is that It's very difficult to understand and read about something you're angry about. Yeah, so people People that are well-to-do get hit with a lot of taxes. And you know, they just the tax rates are high. And then all of a sudden They learn there's a social security stack. as well And then they go on and they say, Oh, now Medicare, that's taxed as well.
You know, what I'm going to tell you is you're just going to have to deal with it. And in the in the case of Tom and Susan, He he had a very high income. Yeah, and has had that, and they've been paying a ton of Irma. He's now 68, so he's been a customer for three years. And their Irma because he's working.
But now he's retiring. And so their Irma or they're a whole part B and be premium is over 700 bucks a month each.
Okay. In addition to the supplement, he's not real happy about that. Um But just in explaining it to them.
Now that he's retiring, we can appeal it.
So, you know, they're paying $1,400 a month. And then they hired us to do a financial plan. which we're gonna put together an income plan for them. We're going to plan to distribute their IRA. We put together an estate plan, an investment plan.
the whole works. And what we've done is we've planned their income. That these folks need to live on about You know, $140,000 a year, which is a pretty high standard of living. Not so much they're spending. Every month in the plan, and then it gets adjusted for inflation.
But the threshold for Irma is 218,000.
So You know, they're under that. But they also want to do Roth conversions.
So You know, when we get into this whole plan and the whole series, I'd suggest that you. Listen to the whole thing. And so, what we're doing is we put together the plan, and we needed to do that.
So, we planned out the rest of. 2026 And then all of 2027 Income So that we can sign off on it. And then once he retires. We're going to. fill out one of these appeal forms or he's going to do it and we're going to help him with it.
and we're going to put the income projection on there and they're going to make Irma go away. He's going to be real happy about that. Um Now, with some people, we can't do that because They have a bunch of investments and they have things going on, and they want to do big Roth conversions. And so I don't want everybody. that's at a high income that has Irma, I think they can just call me up.
and I'm going to help make Irma go away, because it's not that simple. But I do want you to understand. Is that We do a financial plan that we can do something about it, we can appeal it. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing that um Really add that and I remember from watching the video that You know, for the doctor. You know, he was paying.
you know, $1,600, $1,700 a month for his healthcare prior to going on Medicare. And that was buying a policy that had gigantic um Uh Deductibles. And managed care and all that other shenanigan that you would have with most healthcare plans.
So, for him going on Medicare, even though it was costing him. you know, $1,100 a month with a supplement and all that. It still was a much, much, much better value and better insurance. In spite of the Irma, in spite of the, so you know, it's pretty hard to knock it when you go, well, You know, at the end of the day, you're getting better insurance. Yeah.
Believe me. I've experienced that insurance now on more than one occasion. I didn't want to, but as I've seen it, like, man, when you are on Medicare, original Medicare, with a supplement. And you have to be picked up by an ambulance. And you got to go to the hospital for a week and have emergency surgery and all these things.
And again, but I just can compare the bills because my wife went through exactly the same thing. She's on Medicare Advantage. Right? I'm on Americare with a supplement.
Well, you can just watch my mailbox. And you can see, you know, here here comes the bills from the ambulance. Here here comes the bills from the deductibles on the medic on the Uh Anesthesia and for the surgeries and all the things. It's just like, oh my goodness. While you have this open enrollment, when you turn 65, and you can, and even if you're on Medicare Advantage right now and you've never even looked at a supplement, because maybe you'd have no problem with the health questions.
Still, something strongly to consider because, in this financial plan that you're talking about. One of the things that can really wreck your financial plan is a bad, bad sickness. If you get bad sick, And so this decision that you're making. is it's it's it's huge in your financial plan, right, huh? It is.
And that's why we go over it. We go over Social Security first. And that affects all the other areas. The next we go over Medicare. Because it's It's going to affect all the other areas and affect your long-term plan.
And then we go on long-term care and You know, I won't mention the rest of the episodes. and all this stuff knocking against each other that's what you're getting out of this whole series Absolutely beautiful. All the more reason that we would highly, highly recommend you go to Cardinal Guide. CardinalGuide.com is the sponsor for this program. And if you go to CardinalGuide.com, you're going to see these seven worry tabs that we're talking about in all eight episodes of.
Of what we've been doing in this series, and today's is the Medicare one. And when you go there, you're going to see. Again, this video plus many videos on this very, very critical understanding, in my opinion, of this new season of your life called Medicare. And aspects of it, like Irma, and aspects of it, like Medicare Advantage versus Medicare with a supplement, and all those things, lots and lots of information there at the Medicare tab at on the Seven Worries tab. And then, of course, Hans's book really goes into great detail.
And I couldn't recommend that high enough. And there's a book and a workbook called The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement. That's there at Hans's website. And again, to make it easy and more from my more comprehendable, just go to the Contact Hans and Tom page and they can walk you through. Oh, this is the kind of Medicare you have.
And here's the options you have, you know, based on your health stuff and what you're going on because it's not a cookie cutter thing. And I do realize some people, that's Medicare Advantage is the way they need to go. And so that's why you need the Contact Hans and Tom page. It's all there at cardinalguide.com. Great show, Hans.
Thank you and God bless you. The opinions expressed by Hans Scheil and guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of this radio station. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable, although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated are not guaranteed.
Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results. Any strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Information expressed does not take into account your specific situation or objectives and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for you. Before acting on any information mentioned, please consult with a qualified tax or investment advisor to determine if it's suitable for your specific situation. Finishing Well is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject covered.
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstrone Capital Management LLC, abbreviated BCM, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Cardinal Advisors are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Cardinal Advisors is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency. 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 Han's best-selling 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 Han's 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.
