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Social Security & Medicare Questions Q: Since 1992 my Medigap insurance premium with Mutual of Omaha has gone up from $900 a year to $1,600 a year. I take a total of four prescription drugs that currently cost over $339 a month which I pay for myself. The last three years my insurance has only paid about $300 a year for my health care. I changed from plan F to plan D because I can't afford the premiums. Would you recommend that I keep this policy? A: We recommend that you comparison shop among different insurance companies and health care plans. Medigap coverage comes in 10 standard plans. Because benefits are standardized you may think premiums are similar. They are not. Premiums vary widely sometimes by as much as 100% for the same coverage. When comparing costs, choose a plan and then compare the cost of the same plan from other companies. Plans H, I, & J cover prescription drug benefits which your current plan does not. How can you evaluate if you can afford prescription drug coverage? Right now you pay a $1,600 a year premium + $4,068 a year for your prescription drugs which comes to $5,668. Plan J will cover up to $3,000 in prescription drug costs. The deductible is $250. You also have a 50% copayment. After shopping around say you find a Plan J policy for $3,200. Your bottom line would look like this: $250 deductible + $2,034 (50% of the cost of your drugs), + $3,200 premium. That comes to $5,484. You would save $184 a year, and you would have much more comprehensive coverage than the plan D you now have if you do become ill. A one-stop resource for comparison shopping of Medigap plans is Weiss Ratings, Inc., a consumer-oriented rater of Medicare Supplemental Insurance policies. A 30-40 page report of companies in your area lists safety ratings, plans offered, and what they charge. The report costs $49. For more information contact Weiss Ratings, Inc., 4176 Burns Road, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410, (800)289-9222. This article first appeared in Volume 4, Issue 10 of "The Social Security and Medicare Advisor" newsletter (October/1999). To receive future editions of "The Advisor" in its special, free e-mail version, please click here. | ||||||||
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