Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've got Plan G. I think I had 2 price increases within the last year.
I also turned 70 last week, curious if there's another "adjustment" for that.
I expect a price increase in 2023 anyway. Whatcha gona do? Lol.
I'm curious as to why UHC doesn't offer the HD Plan G. That would be a no-brainer!
Thanks to following Ariadne22 for years, I understand the benefits of an HD Plan G as well as AARP's' UHC community pricing. How to choose between the two??
I have a month to decide between moving from a full Plan F to either a full Plan G (USAA, Manhattan Life, Physicians Assurance Company, AARP-UHC have monthly premiums between $140 and $170) or an HD Plan G (Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company, United American and Humana have monthly premiums between $45 and $60.)
Suggestions on which company to go with, if I should decide on the HD Plan G?
I'm curious as to why UHC doesn't offer the HD Plan G. That would be a no-brainer!
Thanks to following Ariadne22 for years, I understand the benefits of an HD Plan G as well as AARP's' UHC community pricing. How to choose between the two??
I have a month to decide between moving from a full Plan F to either a full Plan G (USAA, Manhattan Life, Physicians Assurance Company, AARP-UHC have monthly premiums between $140 and $170) or an HD Plan G (Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company, United American and Humana have monthly premiums between $45 and $60.)
Suggestions on which company to go with, if I should decide on the HD Plan G?
I have had a Plan G-HD with United American for a few years.
High-deductible plans are their bread and butter.
I have not had a need for much doctoring in the past few years, but my G-HD plan has done what it is supposed to in the time I have had it. No problems with billing, renewals, etc. at United American.
No problems at all with United American G-HD.
United American is known for having very small premium increases on their HD plans.
Since Plan G-HD has been around for such a short time, I used Plan F-HD as a proxy to look at past premium increases. United American has not had a premium increase for Plan F-HD for 16 years in my state. In fact, they had had several premium decreases over that time, adding up to a cumulative premium decrease of over 40%.
Don’t know if you would be interested, but I used Medicare Nationwide as an agent. They are big proponents of the high-deductible plans.
It doesn’t cost you anything and they answered a lot of my questions upfront. Excellent service. I figured it would be good to have someone to go to with questions or any problems in the future, especially since it doesn’t cost me anything.
I'm curious as to why UHC doesn't offer the HD Plan G. That would be a no-brainer!
HD plans in some states have so little participation that only a few carriers offer it. In WI, several carriers such as BCBS, Standard Life & Accident, Colonial Penn have left the HD market. UHC has probably decided low participation rate and the very low premiums aren't worth the bother for them.
IMO, HD plans are a jewel and the great hidden secret of the Medicare insurance market. Few agents suggest them bc the low commission isn't worth their time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenah
Thanks to following Ariadne22 for years, I understand the benefits of an HD Plan G as well as AARP's' UHC community pricing. How to choose between the two??
I have a month to decide between moving from a full Plan F to either a full Plan G (USAA, Manhattan Life, Physicians Assurance Company, AARP-UHC have monthly premiums between $140 and $170) or an HD Plan G (Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company, United American and Humana have monthly premiums between $45 and $60.)
Suggestions on which company to go with, if I should decide on the HD Plan G?
United American Insurance Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Life Inc. United American (Globe) is the coverage I have, as well. When I completed my app for UA last year, the application actually went to Globe. Many here have the United American plan, some have met the deductible requiring the plan to pay, all have reported they have no issues with payment.
You are in CA. Know that once you downgrade to an HD, the CA birthday rule will apply in future only to HD plans. Under the birthday rule, you can purchase another plan of equal or lesser coverage once a year without health underwriting. Because of the high deductible, it is very unlikely you would feel pressed to change carriers because of cost as premium increases for HD plans are nonexistent or negligible. In other words, once you purchase an HD plan, your Medicare supplement insurance coverage decisions won't need to be revisited. Over the years the premium savings should more than offset the occasional year when your medical expenses might reach the deductible.
Fwiw, Humana will always be the more expensive product. Unless Humana is offering a perk you will actually use - like a gym membership - the Globe product would be my choice.
It's not the Birthday Increase like Blue Cross where every year your rate goes up on your BD. It's a lessening of the discount which AARP United Healthcare provides from the date of enrollment until you hit the end point of the discount period, which is several years. My discount will end at age 77 and then my rate will stabilize and only change with community-wide, policy-wide increases. Switching to AARP UHC Plan G from Blue Cross has saved me a lot of money as those Birthday Increases were ridiculously high.
Do you have any idea what the policy wide increases might be...I'm hearing around 3% per year. Just curious.
Do you have any idea what the policy wide increases might be...I'm hearing around 3% per year. Just curious.
That would be an unusually low number for inflation. The number also depends on your location. More probable would be 5% or higher, given the inflation we've had.
It's not the Birthday Increase like Blue Cross where every year your rate goes up on your BD. It's a lessening of the discount which AARP United Healthcare provides from the date of enrollment until you hit the end point of the discount period, which is several years. My discount will end at age 77 and then my rate will stabilize and only change with community-wide, policy-wide increases. Switching to AARP UHC Plan G from Blue Cross has saved me a lot of money as those Birthday Increases were ridiculously high.
Thank you. I think I understand this, now.
I just found out that my premium will go up when this plan year ends & new plan yr begins - 3/1/23. It's going up 4.2%.
So the birthday increase is not due to age, but because it's taking away part of the original discount I got when I signed up a few yrs ago. That's what I think all of you are trying to tell me. (Which is better than what I thought, when someone mentioned birthday, because UNH is Community Rated, which I thought would go up for reasons NOT due to age. So I was unhappy to hear that it was going up on my birthday, which would be age-related, sort of. But that's not the case, apparently. The birthday raise is the loss of part of my signing-up discount.
Thank all of you for responding with your explanations.
BTW, UNH doesn't ever notify me of increases. I found out the increase when I accessed my online UNH account, and it shows the next premium due.
I get a letter each year with new payment coupons (I pay by check). That letter outlines each month's premium so while it doesn't say anything per se about rate changes due to the discount change, it's there to be seen in the summary of monthly charges. I remember getting a letter when the community rate changed. Do you have autopay or the equivalent? That might be the difference.
I'm in California so things may be different where you are if you're not in CA. There is a clause on the back of the latest letter I received (last February) specific to California residents as to the increase in rates for some plans. It also has a statement stating that "Your monthly household payment may change due to any discounts that you may have." It then explains what those discounts may be. Then, "Please note that all discounts are not available in all states." In addition, it says "Any changes in employer contribution amounts or pension deduction may result in changes to your overall monthly payment."
Most Medicare Supplement plans are subject to two increases per year. On your birthdate, and then again an annual inflation adjustment.
This is regardless of whether or not the plan is sponsored by AARP. And while plans G & F offer the most comprehensive coverage, they are also the most vulnerable to premium increases.
My UNH Plan G doesn't increase on my birthday. It increases at end of policy year (end of Feb/beg of March), then again 3 months later (June). My birthday is in December.
After both increases for 2023, my premium increased by 10.6% from 2022.
That would be an unusually low number for inflation. The number also depends on your location. More probable would be 5% or higher, given the inflation we've had.
With both raises for 2023 in, now, the total increase for me is about 10.6%.
The first raise at end of policy year was about 4%. The second raise was about 6.1% more than the recently increased rate.
2024 beg. of new policy year rate goes up about 4% (again).
If it keeps up at this rate, I may not be able to afford it later on. Am thinking I may need to change now, before I have any pre-existing condition.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Full Plan G with AARP-UHC or HD Plan G with ??
