Ask The Medicare Specialist

QUESTION:

I know I told everyone last week the first installment of my reboot of the “New to Medicare” series would start today. However, it has been postponed because a day after submitting last week’s column to the PG, I got the email below from Bonnie Bloom, the managing agent at our Forest Hills office. It’s the perfect example of why people need to heed what I’ve written repeatedly. Let me be clear once again before the series begins; It and the columns are not meant to be a substitution for scheduling a consultation with one of our licensed agents! I also apparently need to add it’s also imperative to take our advice and allow us to enroll you in the plan or plans we recommend! As you will read, failure to do so can be costly beyond imagination.

ANSWER:

Bonnie to me: I think this may make for an important column. Back in 2020, I spoke with a lady numerous times, months before she was able to enroll in Part B. Instead of coming back to me, she went online and applied for an expensive Supplement company because, “That’s who I was with before going on Medicare.” She also said she read enough of your columns that she didn’t need help. To top it all off, she didn’t bother getting a Part D plan. And now, four years later, she’s reaching out to me for help.

My response: It never ceases to amaze me how many people read the columns and decide to use another agent or try to go it on their own and end up costing themselves a ton of money. Bonnie: During the conversation I just had with her, she said, “I read the article every week, so I just did everything myself.” I asked her why she didn’t purchase drug coverage. She said because “I wasn’t taking meds at the time, and I didn’t see anywhere that it was required.” She was even diagnosed with cancer and prescribed Keytruda last year, but instead of adding Part D during AEP (Annual Election Period) she just kept going without. Just crazy. The thing that bothers me the most is, what she did “based on the article” makes us look bad. You’ve NEVER encouraged someone to just buy a Supplement from the company they had prior to going on Medicare. The columns NEVER encourage people to go without drug coverage. You’ve talked about the penalties. I don’t want someone out there saying they made those bad decisions based on the column because everything she did was the exact opposite of what you write about. Hers was a what NOT to do kinda moment. (End email exchange). Bonnie correctly described this person’s choices; crazy. She may have read the columns, but she didn’t take particularly good notes or retain the most important information. She’s already spent and will continue to pay an enormous amount for her mistakes. Her current Supplement started at double the cost she would have paid if she had come back to see Bonnie and followed her advice on what Supplement company and letter plan to take. It now costs over $1,500 more per year and that figure will continue to increase as she ages. And now that she’s been diagnosed with cancer, she can’t switch companies or letter plan. In addition, because she didn’t take prescription coverage when she first went on Part B, she will have a 50% to 60% Part D late enrollment penalty that will last the rest of her life. In another five years her mistakes will have cost her well over $20,000, maybe closer to $30,000 when you add up what she will end up overpaying in premiums, in late enrollment penalties, and the cost of her medications because she didn’t have any insurance to cover them since 2020. All she had to do was make another no cost appointment with Bonnie and it would all have been avoided. Bonnie would have never let her decline a Part D plan that would have only cost her between 50 cents and $15/month. Bonnie also would have made sure she chose a Supplement that started around $80 per month instead of $160 with a company that had a good reputation for keeping rates low for the long haul, unlike the one she enrolled in. What I hope everyone will get from today’s column is no matter how much you think you may know about Medicare, there’s plenty you don’t, and can’t without being a licensed and experienced agent. No one takes their job of advising seniors more seriously and with more care than those of us at The Health Insurance Store, which includes our administrative and client support staff.

My apologies for the delay to the “New to Medicare” 10-part series. I felt running this “warning” was especially important before it started. Don’t forget that the columns will now only run here in the PG, both the print and digital editions, and our Facebook group. It will no longer be on our business Facebook page or the website. You can join the group from the website, however. Just click the blue banner at the top of the home page.