Page 3 - Cover Letter and Evaluation for Mike Peaseley

list of companies’ premiums and their toll-free telephone numbers. These premiums were last
updated in October, so it’s possible that a few them are out ot date.

Appendices B2 and B3 are from CSG Actuarial, a firm that provides quotes to insurance agents.
Some premiums in the CSG Actuarial lists may be lower than you can get because the
commissions may not be included (unfortunately, there’s no way to filter these out or for me to
know which ones they are). Most of these premiums, though, should be current.

CSG Actuarial’s premiums may be helpful in a couple of ways. First, they can help to identify the
companies that have lower premiums; second, they can show which firms have household
discounts, which are described in the next section.

Discounts

Insurance companies that sell Medigap policies offer discounts of various kinds. As an example,
some companies have discounts for automatic debit payments of monthly premiums or for
paying a year’s premiums in advance.

Discounts are often available when both spouses buy their policies from the same company.
Usually these “household discounts” range between 5% and 12%, and they are included in the
quotes from CSG Actuarial. I did not mention these in your wife’s evaluation because I didn’t
know you were also planning to enroll in Medicare. If you decide to get a Medigap policy, you
and your wife may get an additional discount, depending on the company.

In addition to discounts, some insurers provide extra benefits such as membership in Silver
Sneakers, which give you access to more than 12,000 gyms and health clubs nationally.

The two Medicare Advantage plans in your evaluation

According to the plans’ provider directories, Dr. Dawson is in the networks of these two
Advantage plans (see Appendix A). But occasionally the provider directories are out of date, and
before enrolling in an Advantage plan you should verify with your doctors’ offices that they are
in the network.

1) Aetna Medicare Select PPO Plan. This plan’s strong points include a network of more
than 18,000 providers, giving you a wide choice of specialists. It also has an above-
average quality rating of 4 stars from Medicare and does not have a health plan
deductible. Annual health care premiums are $714 (this plan’s Rx drug premiums are
included in its estimated 2018 drug costs, discussed below).

As you are aware, in PPO plans you are covered when you go to any doctor, but you will
have higher co-payments if you see doctors who are not in the plan’s network. In this
plan those out-of-network costs can be as much as 45% of the total cost, which makes it
important that you use network providers whenever practical.

3