Page 5 - Cover letter and evaluation for Darlene Hoover

If you acquire an AARP policy, you may have two increases a year – one a 3% increase
associated with the reduced discount (until you turn 75) and the other an increase for health
care inflation. AARP policies can be good choices if they are attractively priced, but you should
be aware that because of the reduced discount each year until you are 75, your premiums may
rise more quickly than with many other insurers. After you turn 75, the AARP premiums may
increase more slowly.

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.

Medicare Advantage plans

Advantage plans are managed-care plans – primarily HMO’s and PPO’s. They are different from
Medigap policies in that they are not considered supplemental coverage. When you enroll in an
Advantage plan, it replaces Medicare for as long as you are enrolled in the plan (Medicare
assigns your benefits to the plan). Advantage plans must follow Medicare’s coverage rules and
provide the same overall benefits as traditional Medicare, but they have some flexibility to
impose restrictions and vary co-payments between in-network and out-of-network providers.

Medicare pays the plans a monthly amount -- $900 a month, say – for each enrollee. These
amounts are adjusted for an enrollee’s age and health status. Because of these monthly
payments from Medicare, Advantage plans are able to offer attractive benefit packages that
include zero premiums for health and Rx drug coverage.

Before enrolling in an Advantage plan, you should verify with your doctors’ offices that they are
in the plan’s network -- occasionally the online directories that we use are out of date.
According to the current provider directories, all three of your doctors are in the networks of
both plans that are compared in your evaluation.

In your zip code there are 20 Medicare Advantage plans that include prescription drug
coverage. These plans are listed in Appendix D1, where they are sorted by their annual costs for
the one prescription drug that you take. Both plans in your evaluation have above-average
four-star quality ratings from Medicare, zero costs for the drug you take as well as zero
premiums for medical coverage and no health plan deductible. And both plans have large
provider networks, although the Anthem MediBlue Plus HMO’s network is spread over several
Indiana counties.

Here are summaries of the two Advantage plans compared in your evaluation.

1) The Aetna Medicare Value PPO Plan. Because this plan is a PPO, you have the added
flexibility of being covered when you see any medical provider. If at some point, then,
you wanted to go to the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic for an opinion, you would
have some coverage. Also, the out-of-network costs for doctor’s office visits are low

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