1 00:00:00,059 --> 00:00:02,927 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Stacey Hyde and I'm back for another episode 2 00:00:02,927 --> 00:00:07,402 of Better Financial Health in 15 Minutes or Less, and today's 3 00:00:07,522 --> 00:00:11,371 topic is going to be geared toward those of our listeners 4 00:00:11,412 --> 00:00:16,608 who are a little bit older either early retirees or 5 00:00:16,667 --> 00:00:20,900 soon-to-be retirees that are looking toward Medicare, and the 6 00:00:20,900 --> 00:00:25,650 reason they are is they're like my medical insurance will 7 00:00:25,710 --> 00:00:26,553 finally be free. 8 00:00:26,553 --> 00:00:32,511 I've been paying into Medicare all these years and now I won't 9 00:00:32,530 --> 00:00:33,252 have to pay for it. 10 00:00:33,252 --> 00:00:37,968 Well, that's not exactly true, and also people get confused 11 00:00:38,027 --> 00:00:40,232 because there's so many different parts of Medicare. 12 00:00:40,232 --> 00:00:45,149 Medicare Part A is free for most people because you've paid 13 00:00:45,228 --> 00:00:49,463 into it over time and that covers hospital stays and bills, 14 00:00:49,463 --> 00:00:55,093 but there is a deductible of $1,600 per hospital stay. 15 00:00:55,093 --> 00:00:57,220 And then you have Part B. 16 00:00:57,220 --> 00:01:00,243 This is your doctors, your medical tests, things of that 17 00:01:00,325 --> 00:01:01,585 nature. 18 00:01:01,585 --> 00:01:09,894 It has a premium of just under $175 a month, so definitely not 19 00:01:09,935 --> 00:01:10,275 free. 20 00:01:10,275 --> 00:01:14,706 And then there's also all sorts of co-pays and out-of-pockets 21 00:01:14,887 --> 00:01:19,743 depending on what you're doing that are set by Medicare Too 22 00:01:19,784 --> 00:01:20,787 many to go into. 23 00:01:20,787 --> 00:01:23,513 Medicaregov is a great site. 24 00:01:23,513 --> 00:01:26,340 I would encourage you, if you're looking for information 25 00:01:26,459 --> 00:01:29,588 on Medicare, to actually type that into your browser 26 00:01:30,129 --> 00:01:32,075 Medicaregov. 27 00:01:32,075 --> 00:01:36,906 That way you know you're not on some other site, because a lot 28 00:01:36,965 --> 00:01:38,509 of sites try to spoof that. 29 00:01:38,509 --> 00:01:41,884 So I think you're safer, rather than doing a Google search, 30 00:01:41,983 --> 00:01:46,120 just type that into your browser's address bar and get 31 00:01:46,740 --> 00:01:49,546 the real thing and it'll show you exactly what your 32 00:01:49,766 --> 00:01:50,909 responsibilities are. 33 00:01:51,751 --> 00:01:54,180 And then part D is drugs. 34 00:01:54,180 --> 00:01:57,087 Well, you might say, stacy, you skipped C. 35 00:01:57,087 --> 00:01:57,927 What is C? 36 00:01:57,927 --> 00:02:00,774 Part C is Medicare Advantage. 37 00:02:00,774 --> 00:02:04,549 Those are the all-in-one plans where you still have to pay your 38 00:02:04,549 --> 00:02:12,133 Part B premiums, but it groups together your A, b and your D. 39 00:02:12,133 --> 00:02:16,504 The difference between that and traditional Medicare is the 40 00:02:16,724 --> 00:02:21,197 insurance company creates a network of doctors that may or 41 00:02:21,236 --> 00:02:25,432 may not include your doctor, so it's more similar to what you're 42 00:02:25,432 --> 00:02:27,562 used to when you're employed. 43 00:02:27,562 --> 00:02:32,657 As far as being limited to you know one hospital system versus 44 00:02:32,697 --> 00:02:33,057 another. 45 00:02:33,057 --> 00:02:35,864 Certain doctors groups are included, certain ones are not. 46 00:02:35,864 --> 00:02:39,812 They also tend to be very location specific and have 47 00:02:39,939 --> 00:02:43,866 limited benefits outside of your particular area. 48 00:02:43,866 --> 00:02:47,312 They got real popular for a while because the insurance 49 00:02:47,372 --> 00:02:50,322 companies were making a lot of money on them, and so they 50 00:02:50,361 --> 00:02:53,770 started offering vision benefits and some dental benefits and 51 00:02:53,810 --> 00:02:54,772 things of that nature. 52 00:02:54,772 --> 00:02:58,750 As I've said here on the podcast before, not really a fan 53 00:02:58,750 --> 00:02:59,292 of them. 54 00:03:00,060 --> 00:03:03,185 And then there's also, if you have traditional Medicare and 55 00:03:03,224 --> 00:03:06,169 you have A, b and D, you're. 56 00:03:06,169 --> 00:03:10,991 We also recommend that you have a supplement plan, and what the 57 00:03:10,991 --> 00:03:15,901 supplement does is it steps in and pays those out-of-pocket 58 00:03:15,942 --> 00:03:20,056 co-pays the $1,600 that we talked about for hospital stay, 59 00:03:20,578 --> 00:03:25,013 the other testing co-pays, that sort of thing and those run 60 00:03:25,052 --> 00:03:29,694 about $150 a month, depending on your age and whether you got it 61 00:03:29,694 --> 00:03:31,621 during your initial enrollment period. 62 00:03:31,621 --> 00:03:36,001 So then you have obviously your premiums that we talked about. 63 00:03:36,001 --> 00:03:40,453 You'll have your Part B deductible, which is rents in 64 00:03:40,473 --> 00:03:41,475 the low 200s. 65 00:03:41,475 --> 00:03:44,962 But if you have a Plan G supplement, most everything will 66 00:03:44,962 --> 00:03:45,890 be covered after that. 67 00:03:45,890 --> 00:03:52,039 So, adding that up, you're looking at about $400 a month 68 00:03:52,781 --> 00:03:57,996 per person for just the premiums and then you have the Part B 69 00:03:58,015 --> 00:04:00,361 deductible and then you have any drug cost. 70 00:04:00,361 --> 00:04:07,519 But what a lot of people miss are if your income is over as a 71 00:04:07,579 --> 00:04:15,091 married couple, over about $213,000, over as a married 72 00:04:15,111 --> 00:04:17,500 couple of over about $213,000, not your taxable income but the 73 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:18,785 big adjusted gross income on your tax return you have to pay 74 00:04:18,805 --> 00:04:21,351 higher Medicare premiums and they can be substantially higher 75 00:04:21,351 --> 00:04:26,201 , you know, four times the base premium, which can really add up 76 00:04:26,201 --> 00:04:26,944 for a couple. 77 00:04:27,971 --> 00:04:33,004 Also, dental and vision and hearing are generally not 78 00:04:33,084 --> 00:04:33,565 covered. 79 00:04:33,565 --> 00:04:37,877 Some Medicare supplements will have limited dental. 80 00:04:37,877 --> 00:04:42,730 They may cover cleanings and they may offer some discounts 81 00:04:43,050 --> 00:04:43,992 for vision. 82 00:04:43,992 --> 00:04:48,802 I will say for the plans that I've looked at the dental and 83 00:04:48,843 --> 00:04:52,038 vision plans they don't make a lot of sense because you're 84 00:04:52,089 --> 00:04:56,560 paying in premium essentially almost what the maximum that the 85 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,023 policy would cover anyway. 86 00:04:58,023 --> 00:05:01,478 You're better off talking to your dentist, particularly if 87 00:05:01,519 --> 00:05:03,492 you've been going to that dentist for a long time and 88 00:05:03,533 --> 00:05:06,422 saying, hey, I don't have dental insurance anymore. 89 00:05:06,422 --> 00:05:11,420 If I agree to pay you, you know , at the time of service you 90 00:05:11,439 --> 00:05:14,733 don't have to chase me for a bill Will you give me the same 91 00:05:14,793 --> 00:05:17,281 discounts that you were giving my insurance company? 92 00:05:17,281 --> 00:05:19,456 And most of the time they will, because they're happy to not 93 00:05:19,495 --> 00:05:21,261 have to deal with the insurance company. 94 00:05:21,261 --> 00:05:28,928 And then for vision, you know you can go to the Costco or the 95 00:05:28,988 --> 00:05:29,329 Walmart. 96 00:05:29,329 --> 00:05:32,059 I've had great personal experience with Costco Vision 97 00:05:32,098 --> 00:05:34,452 Center, great pricing there. 98 00:05:34,452 --> 00:05:39,783 But I still go to my long-time optometrist for my exams and 99 00:05:39,822 --> 00:05:40,524 that sort of thing. 100 00:05:41,189 --> 00:05:45,237 And then you've got inflation and these premiums do go up 101 00:05:45,338 --> 00:05:49,752 every year, both for Medicare, part B and your insurance. 102 00:05:49,752 --> 00:05:55,663 So you need to plan for about $6,000 to $10,000 per year per 103 00:05:55,744 --> 00:05:59,079 person, even in retirement on Medicare. 104 00:05:59,079 --> 00:06:04,600 If you were fortunate enough to have a HSA during your working 105 00:06:04,620 --> 00:06:05,903 years, guess what. 106 00:06:05,903 --> 00:06:10,947 You can still pull money out of that and use it to offset these 107 00:06:10,947 --> 00:06:14,137 costs, which is a big reason that we oftentimes tell people, 108 00:06:14,738 --> 00:06:18,675 if they can afford it, let their HSA grow during their working 109 00:06:18,696 --> 00:06:22,524 years and use it for these premiums in retirement. 110 00:06:22,524 --> 00:06:30,504 And in many cases it makes sense to coordinate your Social 111 00:06:30,524 --> 00:06:34,112 Security start date with your Medicare start date so that you 112 00:06:34,153 --> 00:06:38,341 can have your Medicare premiums deducted from your Social 113 00:06:38,382 --> 00:06:39,363 Security benefits. 114 00:06:39,363 --> 00:06:43,776 So that would be starting at 65 versus 67. 115 00:06:44,437 --> 00:06:48,952 If you don't want to start it then pulled out to get the 116 00:06:48,992 --> 00:06:52,569 maximum benefit, then you will actually have to mail in your 117 00:06:52,610 --> 00:06:55,535 Medicare Part B premiums on a quarterly basis. 118 00:06:55,535 --> 00:06:57,177 They don't allow you to pay monthly. 119 00:06:57,177 --> 00:06:58,456 You have to pay them quarterly. 120 00:06:58,456 --> 00:07:03,329 So Medicare is not a free ride but it can be a pretty 121 00:07:03,410 --> 00:07:09,410 predictable and you definitely don't have the assuming you have 122 00:07:09,410 --> 00:07:11,413 traditional Medicare and a supplement. 123 00:07:11,413 --> 00:07:15,108 You don't have the risk of huge out-of-pocket costs like you 124 00:07:15,168 --> 00:07:16,471 used to have, especially now. 125 00:07:16,471 --> 00:07:20,014 Some people would have large prescription drug costs, but now 126 00:07:20,014 --> 00:07:22,646 those are capped at $2,000 a year currently. 127 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:29,985 So review your Medicare cost open enrollment for if you're 128 00:07:30,326 --> 00:07:34,394 using Medicare Advantage open enrollment and if you have a 129 00:07:34,459 --> 00:07:37,848 prescription drug plan which I hope you do both of those open 130 00:07:37,908 --> 00:07:40,521 for enrollment in October and goes through. 131 00:07:40,521 --> 00:07:41,884 I believe it's December 7th. 132 00:07:41,884 --> 00:07:45,940 So it's important to go and look and make sure that, even if 133 00:07:45,940 --> 00:07:49,045 you like your plan, to make sure that there's no changes 134 00:07:49,165 --> 00:07:52,940 coming for this year, that the doctors haven't changed, the 135 00:07:52,961 --> 00:07:55,865 networks haven't changed and some of the benefits haven't 136 00:07:55,906 --> 00:07:59,016 changed, because what I'm reading is that some of the 137 00:07:59,117 --> 00:08:01,288 insurance have dialed back some of the benefits. 138 00:08:01,288 --> 00:08:03,742 So you really want to make sure you pay attention this year. 139 00:08:03,742 --> 00:08:07,346 You don't just assume that everything's going to be okay. 140 00:08:07,346 --> 00:08:10,110 So happy shopping for Medicare. 141 00:08:10,110 --> 00:08:13,934 It is a great program, but you definitely need to pay attention 142 00:08:13,934 --> 00:08:14,694 to the details. 143 00:08:14,694 --> 00:08:16,317 Thanks for tuning in. 144 00:08:16,317 --> 00:08:19,620 This has been another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 145 00:08:19,620 --> 00:08:20,341 Minutes or Less.