Thank goodness! The agent I stumbled across while trying to navigate the Medigap labyrinth after Mutual of Omaha decided to up its Medicare supplement premium by $433 a year called to say Government Personnel Mutual’s underwriters have approved me for a Plan G policy.
That will be a difference of almost $700 off the two grand that Mutual of Omaha proposed to jab me with.
A few months ago, I’d heard from another insurance salesperson that Mutual of Omaha (which is part of United of Omaha) is notorious for luring new Medicare recipients into a Medicare supplement policy by offering the lowest prices around, but then after a year or two, they jack up the prices through the ceiling. The current episode suggests she was right.
What’s going on there is that when you first get on Medicare, you have a window of a few months in which to decide whether to buy a Medigap policy; in that first “open enrollment” period, carriers may not subject you to underwriting, and they can’t except pre-existing conditions or anything they imagine might be a pre-existing condition. But after that introductory period, any change, even to a different Medigap policy offered by the same company, has to go through underwriting.
Because most Americans in their 60s have been “diagnosed” and something like 90 percent of those 65 and over are on some sort of medication, after you’re enrolled in that first Medigap plan you have about a snowball’s chance of getting approved for a new policy. Thus, once you’ve signed up for a Mutual of Omaha policy, in about 90 percent of cases it’s a gotcha. In a big way. They can raise their prices and there’s not a damn thing you can do, short of going bare or switching to an HMO.
To accomplish the $700 difference, I had to switch to Plan G with Government Personnel Mutual. It’s the same as my old Plan F policy, except that Plan G hits you with a $142 deductible, whereas Plan F has no deductible. Obviously, Plan F is preferable; however, I can afford $142 out of pocket, and the difference in premiums is so great that it’s worth it.
After running through an interminable punch-a-button noise-maker at Mutual of Omaha, I finally reached a person who seemed in a position to put an application for a Plan G policy through that outfit’s underwriting. She sent me not one, not two, but three duplicate applications. These are multipage, intrusive questionnaires, and so I felt no call to fill it in and drive it to the post office three times. I sent one. Haven’t heard a single word back from them.
Government Personnel Mutual has a better A.M. Best rating than Mutual of Omaha and far fewer consumer complaints floating around the Internet. And, apparently, it has no reputation for gouging its customers.
So. That’s a relief. And it’ll even give me a few extra dollars in my pocket next year.
What great news!! And thanks for sharing…your…”journey”. This will sure come in handy with my folks when open enrollment comes around again AND for me and the DW when we get on this “medicare merry-go-round”. What I’m curious about is the dedutable of $142…why not just $150 or $200. Pretty sure the dedutable on all my other forms of insurance have odd amounts. Once again ….congrats on this victory!!
You have an annual deductible with Medicare of $142 and change. Plan G covers everything except that annual deductible. How is that figure calculated? Beats me!
Medicare A & B cover 80% of your charges. So let’s say the bill for the stress test I have to take next week is $500. I would have to pay $100 for that, which would presumably count toward the Plan G deductible. So I would still have to rack up $42.xx during the year to fulfill the deductible; after that, just about everything is covered.
Plan F covers everything with no deductible. It appears that a lot of people think old people just LOVE hanging around doctor’s waiting rooms, being poked and prodded, and having to deal with armies of medico-insurance bureaucrats, and so it’s imagined that if you have no deductible, you will make a hobby of running to the doctor. Apparently the reason Plan G is a LOT cheaper than Plan F is that these morons think $142 is such a stumbling block that it will discourage us old folks from going to the doctor whenever we’d just like a nice young doctor to talk to because we’re so bored.
Great idea, huh?
Thank you for the “education”. Couldn’t agree more about the $142 deductible…you meet that walking into examining room….so everything else is covered, Like you, I have always been puzzled by the big differences in insurance premiums with different deductibles. I have a high deductible policy…that has some pretty good benefits…it has paid off for me. Hope it does for you as well….