Page 2 - Cover Letter and Appendices for Melanie April 2019

apply for a Medigap policy. But after that six-month period has passed, you will likely
have to answer questions about your health before you can get a quote.

You indicated that you are considering either Medigap Plan F or Medigap Plan G. It’s
probably safer to go with Plan G because Plan F will no longer be sold after this year.
People who already have Plan F at the end of this year can continue to use it in the
future, but there is a slight risk that premiums will start to rise more quickly when it
is no longer sold. For that reason, Plan G is a safer choice.

Plan G covers all of Medicare’s gaps except for the Part B deductible ($185 this year).
It also includes some coverage for foreign travel emergencies (you’d mentioned in
your questionnaire that you may travel abroad occasionally in retirement).

Appendix A is a list of insurance companies’ premiums for Medigap Plan G for
someone your age who lives in Collin County. This is not a list of all the companies
that sell Medigap Plan G in your area, but only a list of the ones with lower
premiums according to CSG Actuarial.

Some premiums listed in Appendix A may be lower than you can get because they
do not include commissions (there’s no way for me to know which ones these are).
It’s a good idea to call at least three companies – their phone numbers are shown in
Appendix B – and to get your policy from one of the lower premium companies.

Although you want a low premium, you should also consider the companies’
financial ratings, shown in Appendix A. You might also try some of the larger
companies – UnitedHealthcare/AARP, Humana, Aetna, etc. – because a government
study a few years ago indicated that larger companies tend to have slightly lower
annual premium increases. You should be able to get a Plan G policy for $140-$150 a
month or perhaps less.

Some insurance companies that sell Medigap policies also sponsor prescription drug
plans, and when you buy a Medigap policy from an insurance company it may also
try to get you to enroll in its prescription drug plan (the representative will mention
that the company’s drug plan has low premiums and co-payments, etc.).

Generally speaking, you should not get your drug coverage this way because you will
likely wind up paying more than if you enroll in the lowest-cost plan for your drugs,
which includes not only premiums but the co-payments for each drug you take.

As you know, Medigap policies do not include dental and routine vision coverage –
and so for these you can either self-insure or buy a dental or vision policy from an
insurance company. See page 10 of your original evaluation for more details about
dental and vision coverage.

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