Retirement supplemental health plan?

Winter · 12-08-2007, 04:51 PM

Green question here.

Was talking with a client the other day and he was describing his health coverage but did not have actual plan and details and was going to research a couple things and get back. Anyway, it sounded like his retirement health plan is basically supplemental to medicare. It pays second behind medicare and he is required to maintain part B and may or may not have some benefits beyond medicare covered. It did not sound though like it was a traditional med sup plan.

What does the landscape look like out there. Are there group plans that act like some type of group med supp or other types of group supplemental plans that are meant to plug and play with medicare but are not one of the traditional medigap plans just being purchased by the company.

Anyway, my question is loose but you get the drift. What are the possible scenarios here. I will clear his situation up with more info but I still have it as a general question.

Thanks for any constructive comments.

Winter

Mr. Bill · 12-08-2007, 08:31 PM

The big diff is that by keeping an employer plan, he may be keeping "other" ancillary benefits, for example, a dental and vision plan. Plus, able to keep spouse and kids/dependents maintained on policy. It is far less expensive than even a "free" MA plan plus individual insurance for family. Although MA requires no qual, a med supp will. All employer group plans will shift to Medicare pay first upon client attainment of qual. Some will also pay for the Part B charge. Nutshell, don't have client cancel/switch out of retiree group/employer coverage before understanding full implications. Many employer plans will NOT allow retirees to switch back.

michellea · 12-14-2007, 02:14 AM

I have always heard to stay away from anyone with retirement, but this last week I have dealt with 3 couples that wanted to drop their retirement knowing they could never get it back. Two of the couples had Aetna and premiums were around $450/mo, prescription coverage was no good, and deductible was higher then our out of pocket maximum. Both couples dropped and enrolled into MAPD. The other couple had premiums around $600. So I enrolled them and all 3 couples knew and understood that they would not be able to get back their retirement insuance.

policy doctor · 12-14-2007, 07:59 AM

Some of these retiree plans are fading away, some are getting a cash amount for an HSRA, and others have a high deductible, like $5,000, so it behooves you to meet with these people and help them out.

All the old rules are now fading away, thanks to high cost medical plans. We will see more of this as time goes by.