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Medigap Changes in 2010
Medicare Supplement Changes
Effective June 1, 2010
Summary of 2010 Changes:
Eliminates 4 Medigap Plans:
Plans H, I, and J are eliminated (Due to the elimination of the Rx benefit)
Plan E is eliminated (Becomes the same as D once benefit eliminations are made)Modernizes Benefits
:
Eliminates the At-Home Recovery Benefit (Affects Plans D, G, I and J)
Eliminates Preventive Care Benefit (Affects Plans E and J)
Replaces the 80% Part B Excess Charges Benefit with a 100% benefit (Affects Plan G)
Creates a new Hospice Benefit as part of Basic (Core) benefits (Affects All Plans)Creates New Plan Options:
Plan M – with increased cost-sharing (50% of the Part A Deductible, no coverage for Part B Deductible)
Plan N – with new co-pay structure ($10 copay for physician visits, $50 copay for ER) and no coverage for Part B DeductibleCall Chuck Rhodus for more detail. 1-877-209-0455
Bonus Annuity
- Earn 8% interest for up to ten years
- Receive a 10% upfront bonus
- Receive a guaranteed lifetime income
Think about it... Invest $100,000 and get a bonus of 10% which is $10,000! Earn 8% interest. Your first year return is 18%!!!
This annuity is tax deferred, not subject to probate and not subject to market fluctuations. What more could you want?
This bonus annuity has many other great benefits and options. Call 1-877-209-0455 for all the details.
How much more can you afford to lose in the market?
How long will keep that 2% CD?
Invest your IRA, 401K, Pension, CD, Mutual Fund and more!
This tax deferred annuity is not available in all states.
Medicare Supplement Quote
Medigap / Medicare Supplement Quote
Buy Medigap from:
- Mutal of Omaha
- AARP
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- Other Medigap Companies
Click Here to Receive Your Free Medicare Supplement Quote
Call 1-877-209-0455 for free advise.
U.S. Acts to Ease Costs of Private Medicare Plans
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration set new terms for private Medicare plans that are aimed at protecting sick patients from paying high charges and giving consumers a clearer idea of what the plans cover.
The changes, announced Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that manages Medicare, are part of conditions that insurance companies must meet if they want to bid on Medicare insurance business this year.
Administration officials said the changes are intended to weed out certain out-of-pocket costs charged by Medicare Advantage, the private version of the federal health-insurance program for the elderly. Medicare Advantage plans, they said, will face more government scrutiny if they don't cap a patient's annual out-of-pocket costs at $3,400 or less, or if they charge patients more than traditional Medicare does for dialysis, home health care and other services. If the government deems the charges too high, insurers will be asked to scale them back.
In addition, insurers won't be allowed to charge sick, low-income patients more than what they would pay under traditional Medicare.
The changes represent the first steps by President Barack Obama's administration to rein in Medicare Advantage. Mr. Obama has criticized the private plans for spending too much while doing too little to care for the nation's elderly and disabled. He has proposed cutting payments to those plans to help pay for a health-care overhaul.
Medicare Advantage, which has about 10 million enrollees, wraps physician and hospital services in one. Unlike traditional Medicare, the government doesn't pay providers directly but instead pays insurance plans to manage care.
Additionally, the administration will eliminate about 1,400, or 27%, of Medicare Advantage plans in an effort to make it easier for beneficiaries to compare options. It is targeting those plans with fewer than 10 enrollees that are similar to other plans.
For drug plans, insurers will have to describe their coverage of the "doughnut hole" -- the gap where consumers generally must begin paying the full cost of their medicines -- in simple terms.
"By strengthening our oversight efforts, we are protecting beneficiaries and taxpayers by ensuring that the data provided by plan sponsors is reliable and correct," said Jonathan Blum, CMS's acting director of the Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice.
Medicare Advantage Plans and Mr. Obama
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On Medicare Advantage Funding Cuts & "Competitive Bidding" Mark Miller, executive director of the independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, told reporters Friday that a proposal by the White House to save $177 billion over ten years by putting a competitive bidding process into effect for Medicare Advantage plans likely would have the effect of taking some of the programs out of the market.
Miller stipulated that he had not seen the details of the White House proposal, but that the bidding portion of proposal likely would bring lower payments to managed-care companies appreciably, bringing them closer to what Medicare pays for its own fee-for-service structure. "You should assume, and we have made this very clear in our own work, there will be fewer managed-care plans and the generous benefit packages that they have right now will be less generous," Miller said. "We expect there will be a great deal of competition and we expect there will be changes, but we are optimistic that market forces will help to bring down costs and keep as many Medicare Advantage plans in the system as possible," the official said. |
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On Medicare Part D: Wealthy individuals earning more than $85,000 would reportedly be asked to shell out higher premiums for their Medicare drug coverage starting in 2011, a change that would affect about 2.3 million of the roughly 45 million Medicare enrollees.
The concern is that the higher premiums may drive seniors who don't need any pricey drugs out of the program altogether, leaving poorer, sicker seniors behind and driving up their costs. Moreover, given the thousands of plans offering various levels of coverage for different prices already, says Vicki Gottlich, senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, segmenting the program further "could be an administrative nightmare." |
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On Medicare Physician Reimbursement Rates: The $634-billion healthcare slice of President Barack Obama's budget takes the threat of reduced Medicare payment off the table this year and may provide a baseline for a permanent truce in the annual Medicare reimbursement battle. A real fix will require Congress to recast the physician payment formula by eliminating the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, a calculation factor tied to the gross domestic product.
For more than a decade, the GDP link has threatened to automatically reduce physician payments each year, and each year Congress has stepped in at the last minute with a one-year fix. This year the automatic cut would have reduced payments by 21%, but Obama's budget resets the budget baseline to zero. The net result is that the automatic cut is off the table -- for now. And that was enough for the AMA to start celebrating. "President Obama's budget proposal takes a huge step forward to ensure that physicians can care for seniors by rejecting planned Medicare physician payment cuts of 40 percent over the next decade," said AMA president Nancy Nielsen, M.D.
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On Quicker Access to Generic Drugs: The budget also outlines a plan to prevent private drug companies from blocking generic competitors. It calls for creating a "workable regulatory, scientific, and legal pathway" for generic drugs.
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On Re-importation of Foreign Drugs (i.e. Drugs from Canada or India) According to an Office of Management and Budget official, the budget provides a basis for allowing the FDA to approve the re-importation of foreign drugs. |
Call Chuck Rhodus with questions at 877-209-0455
Important News About Medicare Advantage Plans and Medigap
According to the New York Times, "Mr. Obama will propose cutting a variety of programs, including the Medicare Advantage subsidies for insurance companies that cover seniors who can otherwise acquire health coverage directly from the government."
Many also expect the President to address the 20% Medicare physician payment cut that is scheduled to go in effect at the end of the year. This funding cut will impact not only doctors that treat Medicare patients, but it will hurt ALL doctors who have contracts with both group and individual health insurance companies since those contracts are based on the Medicare reimbursement rates.
For example, a group of doctors will agree to accept patients under age 65 (not on Medicare) who have a policy with XYZ Company based on a reimbursement rate of 140% of what Medicare pays. So again, if Medicare reimbursement rates are cut by 20% the impact will be felt by all doctors and hospital systems that treat patients of all ages.
Here is a link to the New York Times article published yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/us/politics/22budget.html?_r=1&hp
Here is the link to the below Bloomberg article published this morning: http://uk.reuters.com/article/regulatoryNewsHealthcare/idUKN2330159620090223?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
Humana, HMO shares drop on Medicare rate worries
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Shares of Humana Inc, UnitedHealth Group Inc and other Medicare health plan providers tumbled on Monday after the U.S. government proposed a much lower-than-expected payment rate increase for 2010 that sparked fears about the program's growth prospects.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed late on Friday raising payment rates for privately run Medicare Advantage plans by 0.5 percent next year, far less than analysts expected. Medicare is the U.S. government health program for the elderly.
Shares of Humana (HUM.N) and UnitedHealth (UNH.N), the two biggest Medicare plan providers, dropped 18 percent and 11 percent respectively in morning trading. HealthSpring Inc (HS.N) fell 18 percent, Coventry Health Care (CVH.N) slipped 10 percent and Universal American (UAM.N) was down 7 percent.
Should the preliminary rates become final, analysts said the insurers will need to cut benefits or increase premiums to maintain their profit margins. Such changes could lead seniors to leave the Medicare Advantage plans for government-run versions.
"The bottom line is a negative for profitability of this group," said Tim Nelson, a healthcare analyst with First American Funds.
The rate announcement also raised anew investor fears the Obama administration would seek broader cuts to private subsidies for running Medicare plans, analysts said.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Dave Shove cut his ratings on Humana, HealthSpring and Universal American to "underperform" after the rate announcement.
"We believe that budgetary strain and sentiment shift on Capitol Hill will cause 2010 (Medicare Advantage) plan changes to drain the profitability from the program," Shove said in a research note.
Humana issued a press release on Monday saying it "finds certain assumptions behind the preliminary 2010 rates to be unusual and inconsistent with decades of experience and with past" government practice.
It warned the rates would have a "significant adverse impact" on 2010 premiums and benefits for seniors if they become final. The company said it was reviewing the government's plan and would take part in a formal industry comment.
Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch said he had expected an increase in the range of 3 percent to 5 percent, well above the proposed 0.5 percent increase.
"The bottom line is that (Medicare Advantage) plans will need to cut benefits to maintain profit margins, which could be tricky with many more plans competing for MA lives relative to prior years," Borsch wrote in a research note. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Dave Zimmerman)
If you need help, have questions or want to know what plan is best for you call toll free 877-209-0455.
Medigap Testimonies
Thank You for these very kind emails!!! We are glad to be of service and appreciate your trust!
Chuck,
I want to thank you for taking time with me in answering all the questions I had about your company's supplemental insurance coverage.
You were very patient, kind and helpful. I had spoken to other agents about insurance, but because you seemed interested and called me back a couple of times but not in a pressuring way, I decided to choose you as my agent. I look forward to working with United of Omaha and I appreciate their saving me money on my coverage.
Sincerely,
Barbara H. of Marietta, Ohio
Chuck,
Thank you so much for all of your help. I talked to several agents on the phone trying to get supplimental insurance for my mother. You were by far the most patient and helpful. It seemed like a very difficult task when I started this project, but you were so kind and helpful with all of my questions and concerns. Thank you again for all of your help, and I will definately recommend you to others who are looking for insurance in the future.
Sincerely,
Pat C. of Wayne, Michigan
I received a call yesterday from Ben at Admiral Life who informed me that everything was in order for them to start drafting our account. Just wanted to thank you for your efforts in getting us into another company and saving us about $550.00.
Wayne O. of Cincinatti, Ohio
Greetings,
Thank you very much for the e-mail. After careful research I had decided you were the best advisor. I greatly appreciated your help with my mother's insurance. It was wonderful speaking with you, about a year ago, I still remember speaking with you it was a pleasant experience and you made it easy.
Thank you very much,
Rhonda J. and Marilyn D. of Hendersonville, Tennessee
For help with your Medicare Supplement Plan or if you need a quote or advise call 1-877-209-0455 and ask for Chuck Rhodus
Chuck at breakfast at the Mutual of Omaha's Leaders conference in 2008.
When Can I Buy Senior Insurance?
- Medigap
You can buy a medicare supplement twelve months of the year. Open enrollments do not apply to medigap plans. There are enrollment times such as 1) new to medicare, 2) turning age 65 3) losing coverage do to a move or some other reason. These three examples will most likely guarantee you a new medigap plan. In general you can buy a medicare supplement plan whenever you want!
- Medicare Advantage
These plans do have certain limitations on when they can be purchased. You can buy them from November 15th through December 31st. You can change your medigap plan or be a first time buyer during this time of the year.
If you own a medicare advantage plan you can swap it for a like plan. In other words you can change your advantage plan with this company to the other company over there. This can be done from January 1st through march 31st.
- Plan D
Drug plans can be purchased from November 15th through December 31st.
For more detail to when and how you can buy these plans call us toll free 1-877-209-0455 or contact Medicare directly.
Saved Huge Money!
Would could you do with an extra $984 a year???
Oh yea, she went from Plan C to Plan F, which was a little increase in benefits.
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