10 Things You Can Get 100% FREE On Medicare | April 28th, 2026

Could Medicare be covering things you didn’t realize were available at no additional cost?

Join us live on the Medicare School Daily Show as we break down 10 things you may be able to get 100% free through Medicare, depending on your situation. From preventive services to commonly overlooked benefits, we’ll help you understand what may be available to you.

Have a question about your own Medicare coverage? Call in live during the show at 833-824-2004 and speak directly with our experienced Medicare educators. Your question could help others learn too.

Real people. Real Medicare questions. Real guidance.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome to Medicare School Daily. If you're on Medicare, there are some things that you can get for free. And so in today's episode, we're going to talk about the 10 things that you can get 100% free on Medicare. You know, a lot of the stuff that we talk about is like, oh, it's going to cost this, or you have this financial risk and you need to get this insurance to cover it. But there's actually some things you can get for free on Medicare. So stay tuned for today's episode and we're going to talk all about that. Guys, welcome to Medicare School Daily. This show is brought to you by MedicareSchool.com. We are a full service Medicare insurance brokerage, which means we can help you if you need help with finding the right advantage plan, finding the right supplemental plan, whether that's a plan F, a plan G, a plan N, getting drug coverage set up, filing all those government forms like the SSA 44, the CMS L564, the CMS 40B, all these forms that exist out here that really can cause a problem if you don't know exactly what to do, when to use them. We can help you sign up for Medicare, sign up for Social Security. It's what we do and have done every day for the last 15 years. My name is Josh Music. This is my dad, Marvin. You guys probably know him. But if you want to talk to us and be a part of today's show, get your questions answered. I think there's a really great opportunity. We're not going to try to sell you anything on a show, right? We're just going to walk through your situation. So if you want to call us, share an experience, ask a question about your personal situation. The phone number is at the bottom of the screen. It's 833-824-2004. 833-824-2004. We would love to help you. If you would want immediate help and talk to somebody on our team about your personal situation and even getting enrollments or uh insurance setup, uh getting making application for your insurance coverage, our office phone number is 800-782-6676, 800-782-6676. We would uh consider it an honor to help you. Let's hop into this. Ten things you can get 100% free on Medicare.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

All right, so let's talk about these services. Uh, I think the main thing to remember is that these are truly preventive. Okay. Okay. So if there's no cost, it's preventive, because when we get into investigative thing uh treatment, that's never preventive. All preventive type of things. So the first one uh would be uh one actually that's only um an eligible uh of the person, right? Oh, sorry about that. Okay. There we go. All right. So the first item is very limited in its in its duration, meaning we have to get this service within 12 months of our B date. Okay. Okay? And that is called the Welcome to Medicare Preventive Visit. Uh reminder, it's not a full-blown physical. Um, it's better than an annual wellness checkup, but it's still it's still just uh limited. And so uh basically who does that? Uh your primary care doctor. Have you done it? Uh not yet. Are you going to? Uh I I need to. Well, I just started back here in January, so I have up to 12 months. Exactly right. So it's only good 12 months of your V date. But but what the way to look at it, I think the best way to describe it, it's a one-time onboarding visit. Okay. Okay. So onboarding. And they're going to establish kind of some baseline type issues and really set things up for uh for preventive planning for the future to make sure everyone is doing what they need to do, you know, for for preventive.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

And so you just like call your doctor and say, I need to on Medicare, I need to do my welcome to Medicare visit.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Exactly right. And so here's what's involved. Uh they'll do the height, the weight, uh, body mass, blood pressure. There's a vision screening, and uh, and then the doc is responsible to do some type of a risk assessment. You know, where are you cognitively or there or are you a fall risk? Is that where you don't want to go? Yeah, that's it. That's that's my main thing. Uh and so they're gonna set up this personalized preventive plan, which means uh screenings that may be available that you need to take advantage of, you know, immunizations, those kinds of things. Um and then also if uh the doc is concerned about something they may during that visit say, I think you need to see a cardiologist or endocrinologist or whatever. And so that's that's that visit. Uh and so I'll tell you what, I'll commit to doing one of those, and it is zero cost.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Yeah, do it and bring video bring Daniel along and video. Okay, I'm gonna go. Well, Daniel, he volunteered you to do that. So I'm in as well. So I also I want to see the results of the cognitive screening.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Okay, I'm concerned about that too. So number one, uh that uh welcome to Medicare Preventive Visit. Okay, so number two, then after that, annual wellness visits. And these are even uh more condensed. Uh so what these are all about is then the doc reviews everything with you. You know, did you get that, you know, that you know, prostate cancer screening, or did you get that mammogram? It's a yearly thing. Uh but uh you can't have one of these until until after 12 months of your welcome to Medicare physical. Okay. Okay, so we have 12 months to have that. Uh and then two weeks. Every year. And then every year thereafter you're eligible for one of these visits. So that's uh an annual wellness visit. But it's free. It is. There's no cost.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Most people would have a copay when they go see their doctor. Right. Right? Like if you did an annual checkup, is I mean, is it free now? Uh well. Like on group insurance or other insurance. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah. Most of them have zero for uh wellness. Yeah, we never compare what a comp a group plan wellness is with Medicare, because group plans are usually better. Oh, okay. But but but it's still it's still a good it's good to do. And here's why, because if the doc uh is concerned about something, again, they can order some additional test. I I think we have an issue here. No, they're not gonna do it during that visit because it's not gonna be covered under that annual wellness.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Well, so let's let's talk about that. Because we've had callers and we've talked to people before. They go in for their whatever, Medicare or annual wellness, and they end up with a bill. That's right. So talk through that, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

And Medicare is not gonna cover that. So I think that would be, you know, maybe next day or next week or sometime in the future.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Yeah. Well 0%. My understanding is anything. Exactly right. So I'm yeah, it's probably that. It's not like it's like so but they're maybe going in expecting hey, this is gonna be free totally, and the doctor does like, let's do a blood draw right now for something that's not part of that. Exactly. So then they get charged.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Exactly right. Doc wants to do some additional anything. Uh they're gonna they're gonna be in their normal plan, whether it's an advantage plan copay or it could be just 80-20 on their uh so maybe the warning is like if you want a truly, truly free visit, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Make sure that you tell the doctor.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Restrict it to whatever.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Yeah, just whatever. I don't want to do anything above being.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

That's what I tell our clients. Hey, uh, doc, I'll only whatever Medicare is going to cover today, that's all I want. Nothing else. If it's bad, there's a cost, nothing. Okay. And so the doc should, you know, set up the another visit for that. All right. Okay. So that's number two. Number three would need be any any type of a vaccine or an immunization that Medicare is going to cover. And there's only a few of those. We have a list of those, oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. Uh of course, uh flu shots, some people take those, those would be annual, annually covered by Medicare. Uh pneumonia shots, uh, those can be up to two in a lifetime. Uh that's all people would need for pneumonia. Uh, if someone has a high risk uh with uh hepatitis B, which probably for a variety of reasons could be, you know, maybe they're a drug user or whatever, uh, that would be covered. A COVID uh vaccine still covered, and then the shingles. Now, the difference between shingles and the others, though the others are covered by part B, but your shingle shot's still covered, uh, but that would be through the drug plant. So if someone did not have a Part D plan, then they would not get that at zero cost. They'd have to have a drug plan. No, it it's the shingrix, shingrix is the is the you know the brand of that, and they usually do a two-round yeah um so it's covered as preventive as long as you have a Part D plan. All Part D plants cover that.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

And they would have to pay for that generally on a group plan, right? Oh, for sure. Because I've heard of people like, oh, I'll give my shingle shot from medication.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, yeah, exactly right. They will. And that'd be good. So that's it. And then uh for ladies, uh mammograms, uh, they get a mammogram. Uh this is for you know breast cancer type screening. One every 12 months. Oh, okay. Yep, yep. And then also for ladies, PAP test and pelvic exams uh if they're daily. Well, well, if they're high risk. If they're not high risk, uh then every 24 months. Exactly right. And then we go to the next on the list would be diabetic screening. So anyone that could be a possible risk for diabetes. I'm not saying they're diabetic yet, but uh they'll they'll test them every uh six months. Uh so this would be someone that uh maybe they have high blood pressure, uh maybe they're they have some weight issues, you know, considered to be obese, then they'll get diabetic screenings, um uh which would be just you know blood tests for that to see where their their sugars are. Uh colorectal screenings, big deal at this particular age for sure. Now there's lots of ways they do colorectal screenings. They can do a blood test, uh uh those are annual, they can do a DNA test, which is also blood, they cover that every three years. And then they have a thing called a flexible sigmoidoscopy. Uh and those, I didn't well, uh I don't know what it is, but uh I just saw a picture of it. But it those are they only cover those every four to five years. Uh but here's the big issue, because people uh, you know, generally speaking, like to have a colonoscopy, you know, the full-blown one. This is the most um extensive test, but here's the way it works. If you're not at uh uh at a high risk for uh you know, colon issues, then they only cover the full-blown colonoscopy every 10 years. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Medicare. Medicare.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

That's right. High risk every two years. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

But again, that varies depending upon the flexible sigmoidoscopy is yeah, I see the images. Yeah, yeah. So it's like a 10 to 20 minute, often non-sedated diagnostic procedure. So it's it's like in place of a full-blown colonoscopy. Is that right? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

And they cover those every four to five years. Uh so a little bit more frequency. So they obviously there must be a lower cost. Yeah, for sure. But the full-blown again, uh, every 10 years or every two if you have a high risk for that. And then just a couple more things. Lung cancer. Uh, this would be people that are currently smokers, or if they were formerly uh, you know, a very heavy smoker. So the way it works is they will actually give them an annual test, uh, anyone that's above 50 years old. So 50 to 77. Uh, lung cancer screening for current smokers or previous heavy smokers. Every year. Every year. Okay. Exactly right. High risk. And then lastly, mention the for men, of course, prostate uh screenings are very important. Uh and this is just a PSA blood test. And these are also every single year as well, as long as you're above 50.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Do those do those things happen at the annual wellness visit?

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Uh remember the doc is supposed to go through a preventive plan with you and set these kind of things up and schedule them and all those kind of things. All right. So those were those were your your big ten. Uh so no cost, again, because they're truly, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. And then uh I just want to add to this, those that are currently are diabetics, then they actually can get two preventive eye uh exams uh uh a year. Two every six months because diabetes has an effect upon the eyes. So if you're a diabetic, then you can get two of those. Otherwise, we know that if you're not a diabetic, then Medicare does not cover preventive eye exams. They'll cover medically necessary eye exams, but not preventive.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Okay, let's get to our first caller, Todd from Florida. Todd, are you there? I am here. Hey Todd, welcome to Medicare School Daily. Uh, what questions do you have for us, sir?

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Hi, yes, sir. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my call. Um, I turn 65 soon, and I'm curious if I enroll in, say, an high deductible G plan now. Okay. And I move to a zip code where my HDG plan is not offered by my company. Do I keep the same company in plan or do I have the opportunity for guarantee issue? Uh I've been given both answers. And I assuming uh I'm asking outside of the six-month open enrollment period after my birthday, um, as I assumed, and I can do whatever I would want to.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Okay. Yes. Well, unless you move to New York, Connecticut, or Massachusetts, uh, after your six months of your B date, you will not have a guaranteed issue product. Uh you get to take your high G with you wherever you go. It's a lifetime policy. It cannot be canceled because you've relocated. You take it with you. But as far as being able to convert that uh from a high G to an N or to a normal G, that is not going to happen outside six months of the Medigap OEP. It just will not, I promise you.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah. So what what happens is you you will move, and even if it's not offered in that area, you can still keep it. Right. Um, they will probably adjust your rate somewhat. It could. Um to whatever would be kind of uh almost what yeah, normal and customary, but if it's not available almost like whatever they want to charge. But it's it's not gonna like triple or anything, but they will adjust your rate. Yeah. Um, more than likely. And you just call and do an address change. It's a pretty simple process.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Aaron Powell Now we've not had this happen uh uh yet, then that at least that I'm aware of, but if you're on uh a high G that gives you the right to do a conversion, uh I would assume you would keep that conversion rate. Yeah. Uh I mean it can can you better can keep the conversion option. Uh sometimes they'll give you a year or two or whatever uh to convert to a normal G. Uh so I think that would stay with you. But as far as being able to just you know just get it straight, let's say you're on a high G and you're in an area for five years and then you move away, you're not gonna be in a guaranteed issue.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

I promise you that I have not heard of that conversion option.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Excuse me, how do you find that if you have a most most most don't yeah, there's a plan or two from a carrier, maybe one carrier or two that has something like that. They call it like innovative or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

So there are there, yeah. I only I only know of one carrier that does maybe more than that. Uh but what happens when you do that, you're still gonna be, you'll get to convert it with no underwriting, but you're still gonna be at whatever the rate is for that 68-year-old person or what you know, whatever age you are at that time. Uh so I'm just saying to that could travel with you. Uh, but there's there's not gonna be any kind of GI possibility at all. Except again, if you went to a state that's has open open enrollment year-round, uh, which would be again New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, that would be it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Sounds good. It um certainly makes it a little more complicated because the state or states that I'm looking at moving to an HDG just doesn't make that much sense because the G plan is so much expensive. So I guess they're better make all those decisions during the state.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

What what states are you thinking about moving to?

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Uh like New Mexico.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You're in Florida right now, which means your supplement plan is probably pretty expensive. Is that the case?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yes, except for the high uh deductible G, I think very reasonable. Um But now the E M and the G are very expensive, especially.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

But Todd, it's only reasonable if you don't use your your insurance. So it's not reasonable if you use it. Uh, we had uh uh Josh was at a conference all week last week, had a uh a couple agents that were on the program with me. And I thought one of them had a very, very good point, and that is that why do you get insurance? Because in case something happens. So what happens with a high G, the thought could be that someone's gonna delay maybe getting some services because now they have to meet the deductible. It happens all the time when people have individual plans and group plans. And I thought that was a very valid point. Uh so again, uh I I don't know where you are on an income-wise, but so what? So if it does cost you a couple hundred dollars a month, uh right now you're probably looking in the mirror and saying I'm healthy. But if your health changed, you'll be very grateful that you have that plan. You'll love the hygiene if you stay healthy, but you and I do not know that. I'm your age, I'm actually a little bit older than you. And so all I'm all I'm trying to say to you is that don't look at it as expensive. My homeowner's insurance is expensive, but you know what? I'm glad I have it in case my home burns down. You know, so I'm just saying there's just other ways to look at the premiums.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

So let's say, like, because I think N is more affordable in Florida. So if if he goes from an A, let's say he chooses an N, whatever, in Florida, and then he moves to New Mexico next year, the rate would probably end up being lowered. Right. I think because it's going to be like normal and customary for and the other thing is that you can also like shop those things right now. So you can say, okay, if I'm moving to New Mexico, what's the rate? And it sounds like you've already done this. Like, what's the rate going to be for that plan in and choose your carrier with a little bit of a longer term perspective? Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Does that make sense? Uh makes perfect sense. Just one side comment that where I'm at and the company that I'm considering. Yeah. The worst case scenario with the high deductible G, I can save $666. The best case, I can save about $3,300.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

And how does that how does that change once you're in New Mexico?

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Uh totally flips on its head. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah.

unknown 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah. I I you can see in my view, Todd. I don't know where you are financially, but you know what I the way I look at it. Uh it that I mean, I know that I know that 50% of all men that are on Medicare are going to get a diagnosed with cancer. 50%. Okay. That's a high probability. Ladies, one out of every three. And so, you know, for for for the for the risk of that, uh, to me, uh, you know, what what happens? So your children get left a little bit less money. Uh, I mean, really, when it boils down to it, I uh I'm not saying you're you're not thinking correctly, but I do think we don't we don't buy insurance uh, you know, the no hoping we're gonna use it, but but many times we're going to. So I just don't think it's a you know a waste of money to invest in yourself to have great insurance. That's all.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

But but also like the uh if you're moving, I think that that is almost backing up a little bit of whatever you're saying, right? Because the this decision for you So a lot of people like on a group plan, right? You can go, I'm gonna try a high deductible this year. Let's let's do that. Because you always know next year you can change, right? If something comes up and you get some chronic disease, you're gonna switch to probably the best plan that your group insurance has. The problem with Medicare, right, is that you make this decision now, and this is a 30-year decision, perhaps, right? And so you don't have the option to go back and forth. And so, you know, the high deductible sounds fine now, but something changes. Um, and especially because you're moving, that that that differential is just so small. Um Florida, Florida's a tricky state. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Well, and part of that is because it's it's an issue age state.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Rates are just gonna be higher. Uh just so you know, uh, Todd, I live in I live in an issue age state also. Uh, and we just pay more. Uh uh that's why I love attained age rates. I I I mean, I I'm not one that thinks issue age policies are better. They're always always higher. So that's what you're dealing with. Um, you know, issue age state in in Florida.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

So Okay, we'll set up what questions do you have? What's where where's your head, Todd?

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Um uh quick question on what you just said. Uh so uh New Mexico is issue age, I believe. Um I'm sorry, Florida is SUH. Yeah, it is. New Mexico is attained or community. Uh if you sign up in one like that and move to the one that's different. Uh is that an easy enough question to answer?

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yes, yeah. It it it'll go. What'll happen is once you get to that state, whatever whatever that company offers in that state is what you're gonna be rated as. So we would then go to an attained age. Um uh New Mexico would be attained age, not issue age. There's only four states that are issue age, and New Mexico, not one of them. Well, they Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, and Georgia. And Georgia, okay. Yeah. And there can be some of those that offered that. You know, they leave it up to the insurance carrier, but as far as pretty much having to. Exactly. Right. Or the or the standard. Well, Todd, uh, thanks for letting us share our two cents with you, sir. Yeah. I mean, we're obviously opinion about this. We've been we've been doing it a long time, but uh, we know it's ultimately up to you. And if you decide to do that, we're in an I am nots for a second saying you're crazy. But I just think there's another another angle to look at this, and and that's yeah, that's all. So but we hey, we appreciate it go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Go ahead. I was gonna say maybe uh one warning worth mentioning is I actually called two of the companies that I'm considering and ask them this specific question, and they told me I would have guarantee issue. And I got the uh your answer from uh another source, and that's why I posted to you. So I mean it's a warning that you can absolutely get wrong answers, and that's very frustrating.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

It it is frustrating, yeah. So yeah, I will tell you uh uh you know what? If if that's what they're saying, just tell them to send it to you in writing. Okay, because I've never read that, I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Well, at the end of the day, like it's not up to them to do whatever it's what whatever carrier you're trying to switch to, they'd have to go along with it, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Yeah, and Todd, what we find in our business agents will say whatever they want to say to ink an app. And that's just that's very true.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

I think a lot of insurance companies, they also they mean well, but I mean we call call centers all the time, you know, to get questions answered or whatever. And they it's like 50% chance of whether you get good info or not. Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Yeah. But if you do find that that is the case, send that our way. We'd we'd love to read that. But I've I've never seen it ever.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Kim. Yeah, I did request it from uh one of them and they said they would send it, and it never came. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Okay. Okay, Tom, thanks. Hey, good. We can help you. Give us a call, okay? Thank you. Thank you so much for everyone. Okay, let's talk to Lynette in Utah. Lynette, are you there? Yes. Hi, welcome to the show. What questions do you have?

SPEAKER_04 21:43

Um I was gonna ask is about Medicare A when somebody had mentioned. Maybe it's when I'm going to be studying it. Next May, that we're going to do it. Yeah. And I read some words that plan A research every 60 days. So like if you have like two hospitalizations within a couple months, you have to pay twice. I've never heard that before, so I want to get to that question. Then I want to do about monitoring disability. We've already decided we're gonna do MetaGap plan.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

We have to have because me and my husband have got complicated diagnoses. We have rare diseases, and we already battle insurance companies, and it's not very fun.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

We're not gonna well the good news is that hopefully it should get easier. Hopefully. Depending on what it is.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

Yeah, we're not gonna play the battling every time we get a claim.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

I mean, I think I'm on a first name basis with the insurance company.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Oh, she's good. Lynette's calling again.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Yep, we're not doing I I'm not playing the battle, it's so stressful.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:10

We have rare diseases, and when you have a rare disease, nobody knows anything about it. So it puts you in another ball game because things are ordered because they don't know. Right. And then the insurance company because they don't know anything about it either, they don't want to pay for it.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Yeah, you know, yeah, they just make things complicated.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

So we already we already know we're gonna do the Medigap plan. But I don't know. I'm interested in long-term care how much that supplement is in addition. If we need that.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Okay, yeah, let's let's talk about the part A deductible kind of issue first, that every 60 days, if we can. So we yeah, so we generally think of a deductible as being annual, right? So, you know, you pay your deductible, and then once it's good, then you're all you know, it's over. Um, Medicare part A, the deductible works a little bit differently. It's called a benefit period. And so uh I believe the way it works is uh, and dad, you can correct me if I'm wrong, you go into the hospital, let's say something happened, you come out, that starts a 60-day clock, right? If you go in within that period again, then you don't have to pay that deductible again. But if you wait until day 75, you go back in, you're gonna have to meet that deductible. Okay. But all of that being said, and I think that deductible this month is it 1730 something?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

1736.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

1736. So that's I think, or maybe 86. Sorry about that. So uh let's call it $1,750 or whatever. So it so if you timed it perfectly or imperfectly, I guess, you could have to pay that thing four or five times a year, six times a year if it's every 60 days. But that being said, if you get a Medicare supplement plan, like a plan G or a plan N, you don't have to worry about that at all. Because that Medicare supplement plan is going to pay a hundred percent of that. Yeah, regardless of how many times you use it. Yeah, it's unlimited. Yeah, so don't worry about that. It is true that that is a thing. But are you thinking about a plan G or a plan N? Do you do you know where where you're leading?

SPEAKER_04 25:17

No, we're gonna we're doing G. Okay, so we've had contact two, but we're we're gonna do G. I know it's a higher premium, and that worries me because it goes up. Yeah, but I've budgeted very closely, and my pension is gonna help cover our and the end's gonna go up as well.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

They're all gonna go up. Yeah, they're books.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

But as we age, they're gonna go up too. And so it don't matter.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah, yeah. So at the end of the day, the don't have to worry about that part A deductible. On a plan G, the only out-of-pocket expense that you will have is that Medicare Part B deductible, which is annual, right? You will have to pay that this year's $283, you pay that, then it's 100% coverage after that.

unknown 26:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

And can we pay that up front, the $287? I mean the 283.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

No, no, no. How does that work?

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what happens is there is one carrier that will actually set up an account for you to be able to, when the when the bill comes in, let's say, let's say you have a doctor visit that's $100. Uh so then you have met your deductible bet yet, so we're going to begin to meet that deductible. So that $100 bill, uh in advance, you can sign up for them to actually start covering that deductible. But listen, I would not sign up with that company just for that reason. I think it's a nice little feature they offer. Uh, but let's say you are with that company and uh the $100 bill comes in, instead of them sending it back to the doctor to say, hey, bill the patient, they'll go ahead and draft that $100 out of your checking account. So they will they will, you know, get it all coordinated so you can reach that $283. Again, nice feature, but I I wouldn't do it for that reason. The company I signed up with on my G Plan does not do that. So what's gonna happen is uh the first $283 of anything that's billed through the Medicare B is gonna appear as a bill in my my mailbox eventually. I do not pay that at the doc's office. Uh I may pay the doctor, but it's gonna come later after Medicare pays their part. They take the balance, send it to the supplemental company that is not going to pay the 283. So they'll take that balance and then send that over to the doc saying bill the patient. And again, it could be an eight hour bill, it could be a $210 bill, but it's not going to exceed $283 this year. So that's the way it works. Again, there's one carrier uh you know that would coordinate that. But um makes sense? And then uh I want to make sure I'm clear on this. So you're saying that you're you're you're gonna turn 65 next May, May 2027. I think in August, actually.

SPEAKER_04 27:43

Um in August I'm gonna turn 65. My husband is he's already I'm on disability right now. Okay. So we're waiting, and I'm on my husband's insurance. So next May we're gonna sign up.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

We've already talked with Howard before company.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Good.

SPEAKER_04 28:02

And we're gonna get uh everything lined up because I don't want to deal with all the crap I've done with it. I've been fighting insurance company since I was diagnosed with my rare thing. And then my husband has a couple of rare things too, but um we're gonna I'm not gonna I need a third I need somebody to help me if I get caught in battles. I've battled it myself long enough.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Sure, sure. Well, we'll do that for you. Uh hey Lynnette, so what you're saying is you're you turn 65 in August of next year.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yes. Okay, I can't follow and get and wind up. So his insurance will end July 31st and Medicare will start August 1st.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Very good. Okay, so let's talk about your second question. I think it had to do with long-term care. Maybe give me a little context on that. What's the what what are you curious about?

SPEAKER_04 28:53

If something happened seriously and like I'm in the hospital or whatever he is, and we're in a nursing home. Yeah, you can't get assistant. Well, anyway, we can't do assistant living wood. I'm wondering how important is it to get long-term care if he really needs it? I live in my home. We own our home, we have children that live close by. When do you think it's important to get long-term care or is it important to get it?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Well, 70% of all people that are 65 and above are going to need long-term care sometime in their life. Um, and over 50% of those are gonna need care that's gonna be fairly extensive. Uh, 20% are gonna need it five years or longer. So the point is, I think it's wise to do it if you can, you know, financially make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Yeah, but also yeah, I I feel like not to be the bearer of bad news, but if you are on disability currently, it's gonna be a hard road. Yeah, well, Lynette, you know, get approved for it. Because you, I mean, we all need insurance before we need it, right? While we can qualify for it. And that might be pretty difficult, if not impossible.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Um but there is a way. Yeah, Lynette, there there is a way now. Hear me out. Uh Josh is right. You're not gonna qualify for for traditional long-term care. That's not gonna happen. Okay, you almost have to be perfectly healthy to get that. However, there's a couple different means where you may be able to qualify for that. Um what what happened, we we can set up um, and we do this all the time, you can set up either a life policy or an annuity type of a policy, and then we can add a long-term care writer to it. Uh, because if it's a life policy, the insurance company knows they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Okay, okay. But maybe maybe an annual. Yeah, maybe he could. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

I don't I don't know what the rare diseases are, but the point is uh we we can we can get a uh a long-term care benefit added to another type of insurance policy where you don't have to qualify for that. Uh with a lot of annuities today, we can set up an annuity and then you'll have um uh a a writer that goes with that that says you can use some of that money towards long-term care expenses.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they give you a pretty good benefit.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

And and here's the good thing, if you never need it, the the money is not wasted because it's gonna go to your beneficiary or you know, it's in your estate still. So that's something you could seriously look at.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

An annuity with long-term care benefits. That's right. Yeah. There's also, I think, uh, whenever you turn 65, I uh uh you you could ask us about this when you have your appointment next year. There are some products that offer it's not maybe not long-term care, but it's more short-term care. So at least you have um some coverage. Maybe it's not gonna last for years, so maybe it's gonna last for a year or something. Um, so that and whenever you're turning 65, there are some carriers, I believe, that offer no health questions asked, so guaranteed issue on that product. And so that might also be something next year when you sign up and you're talking to the people at our office to get a little info on to see if that's an option. Yeah, given your health.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Yeah, critical illness policies is what he's talking about. They're they're called different things, but that's a great idea. Yeah, uh, you may be able to get something guaranteed issue around 65. So that'd be good. Okay. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Well, definitely, yeah. Chat chat with somebody on our team. Um, okay. Any other questions, Lynette? Well, that'll do it. Okay, hey, thank you. Great to talk to you.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Thanks. Bye-bye. You know, Josh, one of the things that I find people are surprised with in regards to long-term care is realizing that Medicare doesn't cover it. Yeah. Uh now, if let's say I' Med Medicaid. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. Of course, you know, you have to be broke to be able to qualify for Medicaid, but uh, Medicare is for things that are that are medically necessary. So if I've got, you know, cancer, you know, heart issues, whatever, Medicare is, you know, they're gonna help me. But if I just need help with bathing or dressing or eating or or transferring from my wheelchair to the bed, or you know, I'm having some type of continence issues or dementia or Alzheimer's. Yeah, these Medicare is not gonna cover. Now, let's say I have dementia, Medicare doesn't take care of that. But if I have a heart attack, then they'll cover me uh for my dementia needs while they're treating me for my heart attack. But once I've recovered, I'm back on my own again. And so the truth is all of us have to plan in advance how are we gonna cover this? Uh, because you're either gonna sell pay, in fact, I have I have some clients right now, very, very sad story. Both of them worked, you know, had had kind of medium income type jobs, uh, and uh now retired. She just had a stroke. Uh meaning just it's been over a year now, but they had savings and it's costing them ten thousand dollars every single month for her to be in. And so it's sad because uh uh before too long they will be broke and uh they'll be on Medicaid. Yeah, Medicaid takes over, but then you gotta be in a Medicaid uh facility as well. Gotta have an open bed. So it's very, very uh unfortunate when that happens.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

I was talking to somebody uh the other day and they were talking about like a partnership program. Do you know what that is? Like where i i uh uh if you if you have like certain types of long-term care policies for every dollar that is spent on that, they will protect that level of assets whenever they go out. The face value to the policy. Okay, so let's say you had a policy that was going to pay out $200,000, right, for your care. Um obviously it let's say you're in the event you know you're in a long-term care need for for a period of time and you you used all of that up or whatever, but as they as when you switch over to Medicaid, you can actually protect that same amount of assets. That's right. So that doesn't have to be spent through or recaptured. And so it could pass to your heirs or your own.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Exactly right. Yeah. And I and I and I I I I'm pretty sure all the states have that. I'm not 100% sure on that. Where they'll have um uh qualified plans for that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Meaning it's and they're just incentivizing people to do something about it because Medicare is not gonna cover it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Medicaid will eventually rewarding you for being responsible about it. But that would be traditional long-term care policy. Yeah, are there any do annuities? Not that I don't know I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Wouldn't qualify. We need to I'm gonna We should do uh maybe a segment on some of the short-term care because I think it is an option that we need to um we can educate folks about.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Yeah, yeah. I think we need to clarify to make sure when we talk about long-term care, we're talking about custodial needs.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Yeah, activities of daily living. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Okay, uh, yeah, not uh not like recovery care. It's not Medicare is still going to cover that.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Let's do a couple of comments. So, guys, you can leave comments literally anywhere on the internet and we will see them uh as long as it's on one of our channels. So whether that's TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, uh we have a Facebook group, uh, our Facebook account. We're monitoring all of those comments, and we do our best. Uh, we have a team member that literally sits all day and replies back to your comments to make sure you guys aren't being led astray because there's a lot of misinformation out there on the internet. Um, but one of the parts of this show we like to do is pull up a few of those comments and uh kind of give people answers. So Jeremiah Jackson, April 24th, so this was last Friday, I think, at 10 30 a.m., said, I thought when you reach the maximum amount of $2,200 in medication, all the medication after that is covered completely. I have reached that amount and still being charged for a percentage. Thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Okay. Well, um, once someone has um reached $2,100, it's $2,100, of course, this year, uh, for meds that were actually in the formulary, they are done. Okay, so there is something that's going haywire there with the with the with the calculation of the $2,100. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

That's what I would be done. What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Exactly right. Yeah, because once you've met it, as long as those were in formulary, uh, you should never get any bills. In fact, uh I've that's the first I've ever had someone tell me about that. So I'm with you, Josh. I I would call the insurance company and say, hey, I've already spent $2,100. Uh and then I think they'll verify and tell you why it is if you're still getting billed a certain percentage.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Yeah, that's kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Yep, it is.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

Sandy uh also on Friday at one o'clock, said, Can you clear this up for me, please? I'm supposed to sign up for Social Security and Medicare Part A only next month. I'm still going to work and keep my employer's health care. My question is, do I have to stop my HSA contributions six months before that, or can I continue to contribute without any penalty? I called Social Security Administration and they said I could continue to contribute, but that's not what I read online. Any help would be appreciated.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Yeah, well, first off, uh sadly, you can get bad information out of Social Security uh offices. They're just people that put they put on the phones before they're really trained well. So here's here's here's the issue that I'd recommend, Sandy. I would do nothing with Medicare if you're going to continue to work for a while. And use an HSA. Yeah, and yeah, you do you don't you do not have to uh and sign up for Medicare A or B. You don't have to sign it for A, and you will not be penalized. And again, sometimes Social Security offices, uh, their personnel will tell you that. And I promise you, as long as Medicare A is zero premium for life, and that's 99% of the population. Meaning you have 40 quarters. Yeah, you have 40 quarters. You paid in the tax system. Yeah, so and I'm sure you do. Uh, and so there will never be a penalty on A ever. So I wouldn't take A, I wouldn't take B and keep contributing to the HSA. Now, if you do uh decide that you're gonna go ahead and take A only, and that's fine, you can contribute up until the month before you hit 65. You can be putting in that maximum amount. They prorate it, so you can't put the yearly amount in, uh, but you can't put in the max monthly, which is about $450 a month. Um but uh if I were you, I I would do nothing. Now here's the key, Sandy. Let's say keep it simple, you're gonna work two more years. So you're gonna work till you're 67. You'll probably apply for Medicare 90 days before you turn 67. So on that third month before you turn 67, you're they're gonna they're gonna, and you enroll, they're gonna backdate your aid date six months. So nine months. Nine months. Basically, before you start Medicare, you need to stop contributing to your HSA. That's the way it works. But up until then, and especially if you're gonna work for a while, I would not uh uh take anything with Medicare and you will not be penalized. I don't care who tells you that. Yeah, uh I promise you there's no penalty on A ever as long as it's zero premium.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Well, but she's saying the SSA told her that she could continue to contribute it once she's on A.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

Okay, she can't, though. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The let me and and I'm gonna get weedy, okay? Okay. Here's the way that works. The only way that's even possible would be this. And it's not hers, okay. But let's say her husband was the worker, okay, and and he he didn't have Medicare A, B nothing, and then she enrolls into A only and she's on his plan, then he could continue to contribute to both of their plans. They could do a family plan. That's the only way you can do it. But in her situation, if she takes A because she's the one that's working, uh, she could not contribute to her HSA. And I'm telling you, she's just getting bad advice from the local socialists.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Let's pause. So just because I didn't know this. So if you're on your spouse's employer group plan and it's an HSA plan, you can still take pay take A and contribute.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

And still contribute family contribution. Okay, so the one lawyer wants and the employee contribute to the matter at all do it. Yeah, exactly. Right. This year it's what is it, 83? No, they kept up for whatever. Yeah, one one one spouse. But it's uh uh right now it's 4,400 individual, and then you think it's double, but it's not. It that it's $100 less than that. So it's like $8,700, something like that that they can put in uh as a as a family. And so if I have A only and I'm covered by my spouse's group plan, then we can still contribute to the family plan. That's the only exception when you have a interesting.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

Okay, an anonymous member, somebody inside our Facebook group. Guys, if you're not in our Facebook group, you should join. You can go into your little Facebook app, you can type in Medicare School Community, Medicare School Community, and you can join that. Um and we'd love to have you in there. We've got you the opportunity to like ask questions to people who are on Medicare. I think there's I don't know, 50, 60,000 people in there. Um ask questions to real people on Medicare plans just like you and get feedback. Oh, does this plan good? Is this plan bad? Hey, experience listed the doctors. That sound right. Um just a good opportunity for you to connect with other people and see what's happening out in the real world. A lot of the information that you get is from TV commercials, agents trying to sell you things, you know, all these sorts of things. So it just gives you an opportunity to ask questions and get answers from real people on Medicare. Um, and we also monitor it to make sure that there's not people in there giving bad advice and there's not sales agents in there that are trying to send you DMs, trying to, you know, sell you insurance. So try to keep it nice and tidy for you. So somebody in our Facebook group, uh, this was from Thursday, said, I have two questions. If you're all if you all can help me, please. If I travel between two states, is it better to get a supplement plan or an advantage plan? And second question is if I travel a lot overseas, which plan is better too? The overseas is not a big deal because I could buy separate travel insurance. I am more concerned about the traveling to two states. So let's say both of those.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Well, my opinion would definitely be a men's up plan as long as it fits the budget and uh you're you feel comfortable paying a monthly premium. I would, I am doing that. And the reason for that is because Medicare Vantage plans are are are local. At best, they're regional. Okay. Local, meaning a few counties, regional could be half of a state. But the point is there's 35 service areas.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

So you move out, yeah, you go outside that service area, so then you're not sure if those people are really gonna understand how your plan works. It's designed to work within a local group of hospitals and doctors. And so you can have some friction uh because of that. And that doesn't mean you don't have insurance, but but but how that insurance is gonna work. I mean, I had a guy, of course, our home office is in Kansas, wrote a guy in Kansas. Uh he goes to Florida on vacation, uh, has an accident, not life or death, but serious enough where he's in the hospital. And so calls back to Kansas on the advanced plan to get pre-approval and some things, they said no, come back home, we'll take care of you here. I'm just saying. Now, does that happen every day? Yeah, exactly right. So why would you want the hassle? So if I can afford a premium on a supplemental plan, I know I'm gonna be traveling, that I think you're gonna be better. I had a lady, interesting story. Uh, I had a lady that um uh wrote it, wrote husband-wife. Husband takes a med-sup plan, she writes, she takes an advantage plan, they had money, she just was very helpful.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Usually the wife took the supplement. Yeah, they got it.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

I'm just telling you, he took, he takes up, she takes advantage. They they they go to Hawaii on vacation, she has a problem, again, not life or death, but serious. She's in the hospital and had all kinds of friction and was so frustrated, actually calls me from Hawaii.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Yeah, and I remember that. It was like five years ago.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

It's been a few years ago, anyways, comes back home, immediately gets off her advance plan and gets a sub. So I'm not I'm gonna hassling this. They have plenty of money. She could easily could afford it. She was just trying to cut some corners and realized what happened in Hawaii. Of course, I don't think there's any advance plans there, period, anyways. Yeah. I'm not positive about that now. Uh I know in Alaska there's not. But the issue is, you know, if you if you want to pull out your insurance cards and have no friction, you don't worry about what they're what what they're gonna say, uh uh what you what's gonna get covered, how it's gonna get covered, then that's A and B with the supplemental plan. Everybody Knows how that works. It's a federal coverage.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

So then to the travel part, um you know if you're international, you're in South America or you're in the Philippines or you're in Germany and you pull out your red, white, and blue Medicare card, they're just gonna kind of laugh like what's that? Yeah. So how do you handle it?

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Yeah, okay. Okay. If you get in uh six of the 10 supplemental plans, any that you're gonna get, definitely the FG and the N, are all gonna have $50,000 worth of foreign travel uh benefits available to you. So basically to look at it is they take $50,000 and attach it to your policy. It's a lifetime benefit. It didn't renew, uh, but we have up to $50,000. So let's say you're uh I'll use an example. I had a lady who fell in Australia and fell down some stairs. It wasn't you know tragic kind of thing, but uh $9,000 claim. So what happens on a claim? You pay a $250 deductible, whatever is the balance, then the insurance company pays 80 percent, you pay 20 percent.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

This is your Medicare supplement plan. That's exactly right. It does not go through Medicare at all.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

No, Medicare pays nothing in Australia, okay, or anywhere, anything outside the U.S. or or US territories. Now, if this happens in Puerto Rico, I'm good to go. Okay, but it the point is so you you look at the $50,000, so you pay the first $250 deductible, and the company splits the bills at $80-20, insurance pays $80,000, you pay $20,000, but their 80% stops after they have spent $50,000 on you. That's the way it works.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Guys, thanks for being with us today. Join us tomorrow uh for another episode. Reminder, we are here Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. Central Time to noon, uh doing some education, taking your calls, anything Social Security, Medicare, retirement related, we would love to chat with you both to hear your experience, um, get calls from people all the time who uh, you know, share an experience that helps other people. And because we learn from what we hear back from you. And so, uh, or if you have a question about your situation, need some advice for starting Medicare, we'd love um to help you as well on that. If you want to be a part of the show, that phone number is always down at the bottom of the screen, 833-824-2004. If you need immediate assistance, meaning you need help with setting up an advantage plan, a supplemental plan, drug coverage, filling out those government forums, somebody at our office would love to help you. So you can call 800-782-6676, 800-782-6676. Our services are free. We're not paid by you. We are paid by whatever insurance company you choose to enroll in a family. Yeah, there's no surcharge to use us. We're just here, just like your auto or home insurance broker. Uh, we are paid just like them. And so we would love and consider it honored to help you. Guys, tomorrow we're gonna talk about there's a rule, a 10-year Social Security rule for couples. So if you are married, um, there's kind of a special Social Security rule um 10 years that you need to learn about. So we'd love to have you join us tomorrow. Learn about that and how that impacts you and how you can navigate through Social Security correctly. It is fraught with a lot of traps, Social Security is. So join us tomorrow for that episode. We will see you then.