Medicare School Daily
The team at MedicareSchool.com led by Marvin Musick answers REAL Medicare questions from our callers, and help bring clarity to the VERY confusing Medicare System.
Medicare School Daily
The 5 Medicare Mistakes That Cost You For LIFE
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The wrong Medicare decision can cost you for years, and in some cases, for life.
Today on the Medicare Daily Show, we’re breaking down 5 Medicare mistakes that can create lasting consequences, and why knowing them ahead of time matters more than most people realize.
Marvin and Josh will be taking your calls LIVE after we cover the topic.
Welcome to Medicare School Daily. My name is Josh Music. I'm here in the studio with my dad, Marvin Music. And if you're just starting Medicare or you're just starting Social Security or it's time to retire and you've got questions or concerns and unsure how to navigate these big government systems, you are in the right place. In just a moment, you're going to learn about these big five mistakes. But if you have a question about your personal situation, maybe you've made one of these mistakes, maybe you know somebody that's made one of these mistakes. I want to encourage you to call in. Get your question answered, share your story. We all get smarter when we hear what's going on in real people's lives. The phone number to be a part of the show is 833-824-2004. 833-824-2004. Call in. We would love to talk to you. Dad, let's talk about these big five non-reversible Medicare mistakes.
SPEAKER_04All right. So uh big picture first, we're going to talk about uh a um mistake people make with Medicare A, one with B, uh one with D, drug plans, uh, Medigap, and also Medicare Advantage. So we're really kind of hitting the gamut. And uh there are, of course, many other mistakes that you can make beyond these, but the the the component of these are you cannot reverse them. They truly are lifetime mistakes. So all right, so let's uh uh let's look at specifics uh into this part A penalty that I don't want you to make. And so what happens when uh people uh turn 65 and they're still working, or maybe their spouse is still working, uh they will hear that you don't have to take uh B, but you have to take A, and if you don't take A, you'll be penalized. And that is absolutely not true. And here's the rule of thumb that you need to remember. As long as Medicare Part A will be premium free for you, uh mean zero for the rest of your life, you'll never be penalized for A when you take it. Uh and the way we get, and the way you're gonna get part A at premium free is because you have paid in to the Medicare tax system for at least 10 years. They call it 40 quarters. We get four quarters a year. And so if you as long as you have 40 quarters, 10 years worth of taxes paid in that system, you'll never ever be penalized on A. And uh you don't have to take A at 65. And here's why it matters. Because if you take A only, because you're fearful that you'll be penalized and you are contributing to an HSA through a high deductible health plan at work, you can no longer put any money into your HSA. So here's what happens. Some people will hear about this uh decision they've made after the fact. They've enrolled in A, and now they've been on A only for two, three, four, five months, and they realize they should not have done that. And now what's going to happen is you cannot reverse that decision. There's no way to disenroll in A? Once A has gone into effect, you cannot reverse it. That's kind of weird. Why is that? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, like that's just like who cares? Like it's it look I don't understand why you couldn't reverse it, because then they could just say, well, we're not paying for this.
SPEAKER_04Because there's no premium on it. You the only A that you can reverse is if you're paying a premium for it. We have a form uh you know 1763. Yeah. Well, again, you wouldn't you know Josh me, think about there are 70 million plus people on Medicare, and so they have to have some rules, and they don't want people making starting and stopping.
SPEAKER_00And they do put a lot of friction, like even if you were to stop B. I feel like it's just kind of a pain, and then you know there's rules on when you come back in. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And so it's unfortunate because uh you may have an HSA, and if you enroll in A only and A has already gone to effect, now you can no longer put money into your HSA. Now, here's what you can do. Let's say that you have made that mistake already, but A has not gone into effect. Let's say it's gonna go in effect August 1 or September 1. You can reverse that by calling uh Social Security and telling them you made a mistake on the enrollment. They will undo that. It's when it's long as it hasn't started.
SPEAKER_00Exactly right. Okay. All right. So that's the same thing. So mistake number one, A. A.
SPEAKER_04And and what way and what's the penalty? You're gonna what's the penalty in that? It's because now you can no longer put money into your HSA. Uh and by the way, we would tell you if you don't have an HSA, it is smart to take A only. Uh once you turn 65, you really should do that.
SPEAKER_00Let's talk about the uh part B mistake. That's right. Let's talk about part B.
SPEAKER_04All right, part B. Um if you are still working uh or your spouse is and you um have a great group plan, uh not only do you have you don't have to take A, uh and you don't have to take B either. And so as long as the group has 20 uh employees on the payroll or longer or more, you don't have to take part B. And so when you're going on Medicare, you want to be sure you start all these at at the right time. So what happens is if you uh are in a certain situation, I'm gonna list them real quickly, there's five of them, where you have to start B at 65, and there's one where you don't have to. And I just explained the one where you don't have to, and that's you or your spouse start working, 20 or more on the payroll, uh, you don't have to take B. But those of you that um are not in that scenario, it means you're no longer working, you're on Tri-Care, you're on Cobra, uh, you're on a small employer plan, 19 or fewer, or you're on an ACA plan or on Medicaid. In all those situations, you are required to take Medicare B. Can we run through those again?
SPEAKER_00So you have to take Part B.
SPEAKER_04You have to take B if you are if you're no you or your spouse are no longer working, okay. You're on Cobra, you're on TriCare, you're on a small employer plan, 19 or fewer employees on the payroll, you're on Medicaid or on an Affordable Care Act plan. Those are the six scenarios where you have to go on Medicare. At you have to go on Part B at 65. At 65, right. We call that the initial enrollment period. And so if you do not, you have made a lifelong mistake. Yeah. Uh and so you can get Medicare in the future, but you can't get it just when you want to. And so that's where the penalty comes into play. So again, if you're in one of those six scenarios that I just described, you are making a mistake if you don't go on Medicare at 65. And sometimes people do that, Josh. They miss that initial enrollment period. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right. So how do what what does it look like down the road? Let's say if they let's say they realize their mistake six months after. So they've missed their three-month, you know, right. Right. Yeah. So what happens six months?
SPEAKER_04Well, okay, it just depends on where that six months falls, but there will be another enrollment period that will be an option for you, and that's called the general enrollment period. Here's the problem. The general enrollment period is only the first three months of the year January, February, March. Okay. And so for every 12 months we go without Medicare B, when we should have had it, now we're going to be penalized, 10% added to our Part B premium for the rest of your life. And so for every 12 months, 10% penalty.
SPEAKER_00So the issue is the penalty only comes into effect if you go a full 12 months. Full 12 months, that's right. So you're in one of those five those six scenarios and you went go 12 months past whenever your coverage ended, essentially, right? Or you turn 65.
SPEAKER_04You can get into Medicare, but you have to wait until the first three months to enroll, and then they'll assess that penalty of 10% added to B for the rest of your life. And that's called the general enrollment period. So what I'm trying to teach you is that if you have to start at 65, uh, that's called your initial enrollment period. If you miss that, you can come in later, but again, you're subject to penalties, subject to a limited time of enrollment. Those of you that don't have to start at 65, and it's only one group, it's really simple. And that is you or your spouse are working, covered by group plan, you're going to keep working. That's a great group plan. The coverage is great, the price is good, so you don't have to do Medicare until you get ready to retire. We call that the special enrollment period. And here's what happens that special enrollment period uh starts uh the month that you stop working and it goes for eight months. And so if you don't enroll in the Medicare B within that eight-month window, and by the way, you shouldn't wait that long, but you do have eight months, but we enroll after that. Now we're stuck. Just like missing the initial enrollment period, we missed our special, and now we can come in, but again, first three months of the year, and we're gonna have a 10% penalty.
SPEAKER_00So this is a mistake under B. Basically, there's two different ones. If you're in one of those six scenarios, not taking it 65, or if you're retiring and not getting into part B within eight months of when that active employment coverage ends.
SPEAKER_04Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. And the mistake is missing your right enrollment period. You miss the IEP, you miss the SEP. Now we're stuck with the GEP and it's a lifetime penalty if we go uh more than twelve months uh without part B. Okay. Right. So that's uh number two. Number three is Now let me let me guess.
SPEAKER_00So number three is drug plans. That's right. So uh let me see. I think the drug plan mistake that would be for life is if you go when you're eligible for a drug plan, right? Meaning you have part A, because you don't have to have part B, so just part A, and you go more than sixty-three days without drug coverage. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_04After you lost a credible plan. Like if the right, you you actually have you have three you have the seven-month window. You sue you really have three months if you're gonna enroll at sixty five. That's right. But if I'm uh working and I'd retire sixty seven, I have sixty-three days. So the IEP is three months after I turn 65, the SEP is 63 days after I leave.
SPEAKER_00If not, you are penalized.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you will be. And and the other thing, the reason you who are who are not on a drug plan, the reason you don't have one and you should have one is because you're healthy or you have cheap meds. Sure, yeah. I don't even know. You just didn't understand there'd be penalty.
SPEAKER_00So that penalty is one percent of what they call the base premium. And that base premium, it's like $38, $39, something like that. So it's $39 a month, we'll call it $40. So it's $40. If you go without for it it's what, $4 a year? Yeah, $4. So about five. Exactly. Okay. So about five dollars a year that you will pay every month for the rest of your life. Exactly right. So if you go without for two years, then it'd be a $10 penalty. So if you're three years, $15 penny, you'll pay every month for the rest of your life. And the reason they do that is because they want you to have a drug plan. Yeah. Right. And so they're gonna penalize you if you come in because the reason you'd be coming in at a later date is because, oh, you need it now. And the whole way insurance works, of course, is that the people who don't need it, right, are paying for the people that do need it. And so if you only pick it up when you do need it, there's gonna be a penalty. And I feel like the bigger thing with drug plans is not necessarily the monetary penalty. We can probably most of us afford a five-dollar penalty or something like that. It's you get you are restricted on when you can enroll in a drug plan. So if you miss your window, let's say it's February of some given year, you haven't had a drug plan for three years, you get put on a medication that's $7,000 a month, eleven thousand dollars a month, fifteen thousand dollars a month, whatever it is, now you have to wait until the following annual enrollment period. That's right, which then means your coverage will start the following January 1st. So if it's February, you put on expensive med, you're gonna be paying out of your pocket no protection, no assistance anywhere for 11 months. Right. Yeah. So you're gonna have a penalty, but you also who knows how much you spent.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. In addition, I think if you went ahead and had a drug plan, the max out of pocket is $2,100. Yeah. And if you're on a medication, I mean we have people right now, they're on Stellara. Yeah. Uh mm minimum dosage, $18,000 a month. Yeah. Normal dosage $33,000 a month. There you go. So you have a part D plan that and they'll all cover Stellara. They have to. Uh and so you would max out a $2,100. So there are there are several facets of a penalty when it comes to part D. So get a drug plant. Get it as in most markets.
SPEAKER_00Or there's no cost plans. Right. I think not every market there is, but in most places, there's one or two different no-cost drug plants. So get one of those. Right.
SPEAKER_04So what do you think the next one would be?
SPEAKER_00The Medigap is easy. Exactly. So when you first start Medicare, it's part uh when you first start Medicare Part B, you have six months to get a Medicare supplement plan without any health underwriting. No health questions, right? Yep. That's right. So you just you could be undergoing cancer treatment, had a heart attack last week, and you you know, you just had a you just had a massive pile up on the highway, and any insurance company is forced to take you. That only lasts for six months after your part B starts. That's right. Beyond that, you have to go through medical underwriting in the vast majority of states. Right. Right. There's a couple. What are those three?
SPEAKER_04Uh New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and I think Maine.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So those states have different rules. But beyond that, you're gonna have to go through underwriting to switch plans. Right.
SPEAKER_04That's a big deal, especially those of you that would have let's say if you just had AFib or you're in a diabetic and you're on 50 units or more events than a day, or you've had retinopathy or neuropathy, spinal stenosis, uh psorian arthritis. I mean, just on and on we could go. Uh with health conditions that that are, you know, certainly chronic, but it doesn't mean they're you know right now life or death, but the insurance companies are not required to take you. And so many people are confused by this because Medicare has this open enrollment season every year and they think, well, I can just switch when I want. And that's just not true. There are rules for switching every plan. And to me, this really is the biggest um uh misfortune that people face when they don't realize that they could have gotten a Medicare supplemental plan within six months of their B date, they didn't understand that, and they missed that opportunity. And truly, for some of you, it will be a lifetime opportunity because if you have something seriously, think about if listen, if you're a diabetic, I don't care if it's type one or type two, and you've had retinopathy or neuropathy, you will never get a med plan after that six-month window. If you're you have rheumatoid arthritis, you're not gonna get it. Uh they just insurance companies don't have to take you and they won't take you. And that's sad because you just missed out on this chance to have this great coverage. Right.
SPEAKER_00That's a big mistake. No, it is a chance on that one. Yeah, and then oh, for sure. And the sad part is that most of these 800 numbers that you're going to call off of the television, or most of these companies that are filling up with your your mailbox with mail, they're not going to tell you that. No. Yeah. Now they weren't going to be able to do that. They're going to tell you that you need to get on this advantage plan that has this dental benefit and a free gym membership and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And at the end of the day, they don't know, not they're bad people necessarily, they just haven't been trained, that there are more there's more to life and there's more rules than just whatever the latest advantage plan is the sales manager said to push.
SPEAKER_04Exactly right. Yeah. And that really brings us then to the fifth and and final mistake, and that is this that when you decide you're going to take a Medicare Advantage plan, uh, there's really two different scenarios. One scenario is if you take one at 65. And so let's just use right now, uh, we're uh almost in July. So let's say uh our A and B date is July 1 of 2026. In that scenario, because my A and B date matched up and I'm starting Medicare at 65, uh, you actually have 12 months to try an advantage plan. Anytime, any reason, during that 12-month trial rite we call it, you can return back to original Medicare, uh, you can get a uh suppmental plan with no underwriting, and you can get a drug plan. So people can do that. Um but what happens is so many people, their A and B dates don't match up. They may start A at 65 and they start uh B at 68. You don't have that 12 months. In fact, you don't have any period of time. Uh or you're on an advantage plan and you stayed on that for a year, two, three, four, five years. Uh now uh you would like to get off of the advantage and get a supplemental plan and you absolutely uh have to go through underwriting. We're gonna ask you 40 health questions, we're gonna check your medications, uh, maybe get a statement from your doctor. All the information is given to the insurance company. You go through underwriting, they do not have to take you. And this is a huge mistake that people make, not realizing that that advantage plan is now gonna be your coverage for the rest of your life. Now, does that mean you have bad insurance? No. But it does mean you have networks for the rest of your life, pre-authorizations for the rest of your life, a plan that's gonna have to be changed every year, and the insurance company can drop it and on and on it goes. So uh it's unfortunate. But again, those agents who pr promote and push advantage as though they're the you know next best thing to slice bread, they will not tell you about this because they don't want you to know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think it's important just to say as a company, as individuals, we are not anti-Medicare Advantage plan. If ten people call us and work with our company, seven to eight of those are going to get a supplement, and two to three of those are going to end up with a Medicare Advantage plan because they make sense for certain people's situation. Especially like no one should be insurance poor. So if all of a sudden you're in a situation like the guy we talked to earlier, I mean it's six now, he's a little bit of a different exception because he's under 65, and you know, that Medicare supplement would be $600 a month for him. Probably doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_04Uh plus somebody else we've had on the show today, Josh, he we he had uh he got his meds to the VA, he used the VA.
SPEAKER_00That MPI would go get a med up. It's too much money for what you're gonna get. He's got coverage elsewhere.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so we're not anti, but what we are anti is not disclosing to you the way they work. You need to know that. You need to understand the ins and outs, the ups and downs and the fine print of advantage plans. You have a right to know that. And we're just committed to making sure you understand that. Why? Because you have to live with that decision and the consequences of that for the rest of your life. Yeah, you deserve the right to know. Not just push something so we can make double a commission or whatever.
SPEAKER_00Let's talk to Armando in Florida. Armando, welcome to Medicare School Daily. What questions do you have for you? All right, we can hear you, sir. Go ahead. How can we be of help?
SPEAKER_03Well, I am 63 and disabled. I had a liver transplant in February, and obviously I survived. Um But I needed some kind of a Medicare supplement, uh and the Medigap policies were far too expensive on a monthly basis. So I opted for a Florida Blue Medicare select PPO. And it has been very difficult dealing with them, even though they're a PPO, uh, insofar as getting transplant medications and stuff like that paid for by Medicare. So I've read that plan G seems to be a better plan in so far as a supplement, but I've also read that it requires uh uh uh qualification and that pre-existing conditions are a reason to um basically be denied the change from advantage to supplement. So I was curious if that is correct and what my options are.
SPEAKER_04You only have six months of your B date to get a supplemental plan. Now you did select an advantage plan, so you're still within your trial right. Um uh and so the the the the issue is right now the only It sounds like it's too expensive anyway. Yeah, exactly. So but but if if you feel like that you can afford it, you do have an option. So what you have is uh you're within a trial right period. So we you you've you just missed your Medigap OEP where there was no underwriting, but because you are on uh an advantage plan, uh you have the right to return to original Medicare, um uh really any time, any reason, between um uh 12-1 to 2025, all the way up through uh November of 2026. And so if you want to do it soon, you can. Um and so what will happen is uh you'll exercise your trial right. And what that means is you return to original Medicare, you can get a supplemental plan with no underwriting at all, because if you if you had to go through underwriting, you would not pass it, but they have to take you, and then also you uh will get a standalone prescription drug plan, a separate drug plan, and then what that does is that will act actually automatically kick out your uh advantage plan uh effective whenever you want to start. So if you did all that today, which you still could, it'd be kind of pushing it, but let's say you did it during the month of July, uh you could pick out a drug plan, you can get a supplemental plan, and everything then would go into effect August 1. Um, and then uh your drug plan uh would go into effect as well. So you can do that. Uh again, you're gonna have to pay the price for that. Uh you also uh should be able to get um uh let me let me just tell you some rates. Josh looks some up here real quick quickly. It looks like your G plan uh is about six hundred and fifty dollars a month, and your M plan is gonna be about five hundred dollars a month. Um and the reason for that. No, those aren't normal, those are those are underage rates. Yeah, those are Okay, very good. Would you would you do that? Yeah, look up a regular rate. So what happens is uh federal law says that insurance companies do not even have to offer uh Medicare supplemental plans to people who came into Medicare because of disability. They don't even have to offer them at all. But some states say uh they they that insurance companies must, but they get to uh charge a higher rate. And that's what Florida is doing. Uh there's some carers that will make these available, but again, they're very, very pricey. And so you're gonna have to decide is that gonna fit your budget? So, you know, if you went with the G, that's uh what is that? That's $7,800 a year. Um your end would be $6,000. But you're gonna have great insurance. Uh and of course you have to have a drug pun as well. So do you think that will fit your budget, Armando? Can you afford that?
SPEAKER_03It's gonna be a tough swing.
SPEAKER_04Um it's something that I'm considering right now. Okay, okay, sounds good. Well, here's what can happen. Let's say let we let's give you your options. So let's say that uh uh you decide you cannot aff cannot afford that. What will happen then in uh March of 2028, then you will be able to reset the clock. You can and then at that time select uh a supplemental plan, no underwriting still, uh, and uh those rates are gonna go down substantially. The G is gonna go down to about 225 and the N is going down to 187. So, you know, uh a third of the price uh on the G and less than half uh on the N. And the reason for that is because um at that uh age at 65, the insurance companies cannot charge you any extra. So you get to start all over again. We call that an initial enrollment period two. Your first one, uh you your your first initial enrollment period uh just expired, uh, but you'll have a second one when you turn 65. So my point to you is if you can't afford it that you do have at least an option here within a couple years, not very long. Not long. But if you feel like you can, even let's say if you you can afford the G and the and you do this, it's fine to do that. And then you then you would reapply uh Yeah, you would probably change insurance carriers.
SPEAKER_00But you would you could keep the same plan with their G or N, and then your premium would go down four hundred dollars. Got it in a month.
SPEAKER_04And on your PPO plan, you have a max out of pocket. I don't know what that is, but uh you know it it's it i i if you can. Afford it, I would r highly recommend uh that you go ahead and get a supplemental plan using the trial right. I think that makes sense. Uh if it doesn't fit the budget, I would encourage Armando, don't try if you have any doubt if you can do it or not. Uh most people that try it that have doubts usually do not keep their supplemental plan. They just it doesn't fit the budget. Okay, so if you know for sure you can afford it, do it. If you can't, I probably would just uh hang in there and try to get the you know the very best advantage plan uh that you can. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00Uh let's talk to Lawrence in Texas. Lawrence, welcome to Medicare School Daily. What is your question, sir?
SPEAKER_01Yes, hello. Hi. Um, yes. I um you want me to just jump right into it? Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_04Ask away, sir.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay. So I uh turned 65 this year in February. Um my wife and I work for uh a missionary organization. Um and um so we're we're considered self-employed for the purposes of social security. Okay. So I sent in my application earlier this month, and Social Security Administration told me that I I am still earning too much money uh for them to pay me my full benefit. Um so so they're gonna deduct uh some of my benefit. They probably won't start paying me until August rather than starting in June. Um we I'm just wondering, so here's my question. Um with our mission, we have the ability to move our income from from me to my wife if we want to. So on paper, I'm ri I could be receiving nothing, um, no income from now on for the rest of this year. And that income could go to my wife's account, and then it'll look like you know my wife is earning the income and not not me. Do you know if that would uh would making that change uh enable me to start receiving my full Social Security benefit earlier, or is there another way to do that?
SPEAKER_04Here's my only issue with you doing that. I I am I would be cautious because you've already applied and uh they ask you for your income, and so you told them that you were gonna be making a certain amount of money. And so that's what puts you above the l. It's very low. It's $24,480. That's all you can make. Right. So you're above that. That's why they're going to withhold, you know, two, three months' worth of checks. Uh so if you go back in and and and then and adjust that, it may draw some suspicion. However, it's a huge, huge system. So if you yeah, so I'm I'm just I'm just saying to you, I'm not saying that uh you know maybe someone would see it and red flag it. Uh, you know, I think it's also uh you know an honesty issue. Uh so I think, you know, as long as you're it's it's honest, you're being honest, say, hey, my wife is going to uh you know receive that money, not me, if someone were to ask you, then that would be certainly fine. Uh so if if you want to do that, uh then what I would do is I would call them because you've already told them to start the benefits, correct? I mean you have applied. Okay, very good. You've had you have a caseworker has talked to you. Uh so then what you would want to do is call Social Security again and just say you were not aware of how the um uh uh uh earnings test works. And so you're now making some adjustments now in your appointment because you don't want to be penalized. And uh you don't even have to tell them what you've done. You just changed it, and then they'll probably say, well, then you can reapply. You could just say you're giving out the numbers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you went and recalculated all the time.
SPEAKER_04But you you're gonna have to call the Social Security uh administration to tell them those new numbers, but you want to keep it below $24, uh $480. Um or it could also just be the monthly amount is probably what they're doing because you've already been above that amount for this year, uh the $24,480, I assume. Right. So the what they're gonna look at is a monthly amount, which is you know $2,040. So as long as you stay below $2040, uh you will be fine. So give them that number. And and you know what it may make sense is, you know, maybe you you you do yours at $1,500 a month or something. Just say you've decided to uh change things in income and go to part-time. It's fine. They just want you to be below that annual amount or the monthly amount when you first apply.
SPEAKER_00So there's a form. Uh it's called SSA 795. You might write that down, SSA 795. And it's 795. And from what I can tell, it looks like it's the form that you would use to basically you're signing an affidavit saying, hey, I need to make a change to this, and you just write in there, hey, I you know, estimated my income incorrectly. Yeah. Um it's actually going to be this for the rest of the year. Please recalculate my benefits and when everything should start and how much it should be based upon this information.
SPEAKER_04Is that is that a reconsideration form, Josh? Is that what it is?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh well, no, statement of claimant or other person. So for the best I could tell, this is the form that they will either if the phone doesn't work, they may still require you to send this in. Good. Yeah, that's great. That's so it's got a bunch of blank space on the first page, understanding that this statement is for the use of the Social Security Administration. I hereby certify that. That there you go. I stated my wages incorrectly, and it's going to actually be this amount for 2026. Please recognize it.
SPEAKER_04Or I made the decision to to go and work less because I don't want to be penalized and whatever. I mean, you you you you decide how you want to uh communicate that to them. So that's great. Use that form uh and then you can drop that off at a local office or you can upload that in the SSA.gov system. Uh either one would be fine. Okay. Um some people just like to drop off, drop off if there's a local office uh nearby. Uh but uh uploading is is good as well. When you had when you had your appointment with Social Security to verify that you know you were applying and it was really you and all that, uh, did that person give you uh like a name and number that you were dealing with, the caseworker?
SPEAKER_01No, they didn't.
SPEAKER_04They didn't. Okay. They didn't.
SPEAKER_01I I filled out the application online and sent it in.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And then the only reason I went to the office to see someone in person was to to give them my marriage certificate and they wanted to make a make a copy of it.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01That was all I did in person. And then they gave it back to me and they said uh, you know, you'll get your results uh in a in a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_04Did did you take benefits off your spouse or is your spouse taking benefits off of your work record? I was just curious why they why they wanted a marriage license.
SPEAKER_01Well, when I I don't know. I didn't understand that either. When I um filled out the application, of course, I you know wrote that I was married. Married, sure.
SPEAKER_00Um Yeah you didn't so your your spouse didn't apply for benefits at the same time or anything?
SPEAKER_01No, no.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04Well maybe they just maybe they just wanted in their records uh that'd be the reason. But it's interesting when you're drawing on your own work record why they would keep in care of that. But yeah, just curious. We're we're we're kind of nerdy when it comes to that kind of stuff. We like to learn you know why they uh do what they do, so that's fine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Let me ask you this. Are are you now did you go on Medicare as well or just Social Security?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I started Medicare um, you know, I signed up for it just before, a little bit before I turned 65.
SPEAKER_04So you do you do do you have A and B then?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I do. All right. That's that sounds great. Did you get a med Medicare supplement or advantage, or what did you what did you do for your own?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm I'm a v I'm a veteran, uh so I have uh full coverage with VA through the VA, except I don't have dental, and um so I wanted to have dental insurance. So um I think it was uh you I think it was you or you guys, your organization that told me that I could sign up for this particular Medicare Advantage Plan. Yeah, in the only part military.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Those are excellent.
SPEAKER_00That's that's you get some does it have did it have a reduction on your Part B a little bit? Right.
SPEAKER_01So they they give me a reduction every month. It's uh I forget how much it is, but it it makes the it makes the cost only $92.90 a month. So it's about $10.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, $100, $105, $100.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, $130 off, something like that.
SPEAKER_04That's great, Lawrence. That's that's truly a great program. You get your meds to the VA, you get a kickback, uh a gib back on your part B. Some dental benefit. Yeah. So I think it's smart. I I love those when people are, you know, and that you have a option to get uh meds also.
SPEAKER_00Now you can go civilian option too. You don't just have to go to the VA.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Right. All right.
SPEAKER_04All right, sounds good. Anything else, sir? Are you good?
SPEAKER_01No, I think that's it. Um that's all. Thanks very much. I appreciate your advice. Yes, sir. And I'm gonna follow it.
SPEAKER_04Okay, sounds great. God bless you.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you're what you do. Thank you. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00If you want to work with our company, uh, we would love to work with you. Uh it doesn't cost you anything. Call in. You can schedule an appointment. I'll give you the phone number here in a moment. But here's what happens: you call in, you're gonna you're going to be connected to somebody right here in our office in Kansas City. They're gonna, somebody that's been trained by my dad, Marvin, right? And they're going to be able to walk you through your options, comparing Medicare supplements to Medicare Advantage plans, comparing plan G to plan N, getting your doctors, getting your medications, finding the right drug coverage, helping you enroll in A and B, filling out Irma appeal paperwork, special enrollment penalty paperwork, enrollment into Medicare A and B. I mean, whatever it is, we've navigated this tens of thousands of times, right, over the last 15 years of doing this. So if you want help, you can call our company. It's 800-782-6676-800-782-6676. There's no upcharge for using our services. Just like all insurance, we're paid a commission whenever you purchase insurance through us, and then we become your um agent of record, is what it's called. So in our company, you're actually assigned a pod with a dedicated client care manager. So you will always have a person that you can reach out to if you move, if you lose your ID cards, if you have a billions issue, a claims issue, if your premium goes up on your Mets up and you're like, hey, I need to save some money. You've got somebody on your side that can advocate for you and find you the best coverage uh for your situation.
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