Page 3 - Cover Letter and Medicare Evaluation for Eric Hartman
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guessing that you can get Plan G for somewhere between $230 and $250 a month, or
roughly between $2,800 and $3,000 a year.
2) Medigap Plan N. This plan is less comprehensive than Plan F but still provides solid
coverage. The only differences between this plan and Plan G are that in Plan N you will
have co-payments of up to $20 for doctors’ office visits and $50 if you go to the
emergency room. Your estimated premiums are $200 a month ($2,400 a year).
Let’s say that your annual premiums are $400 lower in Plan N than in Plan G, and you
have 8 doctor’s office visits during the year with a $20 co-payment for each visit. In that
case, you’d save $240 with Plan N. If you have 20 doctor’s office visits during the year,
you’d break even (this assumes you wouldn’t have any visits to the emergency room,
which requires a $50 co-payment in Plan N).
The pricing of Medigap policies
Medigap premium comparisons are in Appendices B1, B2, and B3. Appendix B1 is from the
California Department of Insurance and includes the companies’ phone numbers. Appendices
B2 and B3 are quotes for Plan G and Plan N, respectively, and are from CSG Actuarial.
CSG Actuarial is a quoting service for insurance agents, and in some cases the premiums shown
in the appendices may not include an agent’s commission (I don’t know which ones they are).
But for most companies, the premiums should closely reflect how much a 78-year-old man
(who lives in Orange County and is in good health) will pay. If you want to get current quotes,
I’d suggest you start by calling UnitedHealthcare and State Farm, whose phone numbers are
shown in Appendix B1 (or you can contact any State Farm agent).
Comparing two Medicare Advantage plans
Orange County has 58 Advantage plan options for 2023, among the highest in the country (the
average county will have 48 Advantage plans next year). On average, these plans’ benefits are
excellent, far better than in other parts of the country (mainly due to the large population of
seniors here). As one example of the relatively lavish benefits, both Advantage plans in your
evaluation have no costs (zero premiums and zero co-pays) for the prescription drugs you take.
Both plans have Dr. Fan listed in their networks, as shown in Appendix A. You can see a
snapshot of these two plans coverage on pages 2-4 of your evaluation, and more detailed
benefit summaries are in Appendix C1 and Appendix C2. Here are quick overviews of each plan:
1) SCAN Venture HMO Advantage HMO Plan (your current plan). This plan is a superior
Advantage plan by almost any measure. Its Medicare quality rating is 4.5 out of 5
possible stars, which places it in the top 15% of Advantage plans nationwide. These
quality ratings take into account several clinical factors as well as customer satisfaction.
It also has a very low $1,000 out-of-pocket (catastrophic coverage) limit. Among its
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