Page 3 - Cover letter and evaluation for John Johnson

likely not be. As an example, Medicare covers large numbers of clinical trials, but Advantage
plans rarely cover them.

Neither Medicare nor Medigap policies cover routine dental and vision care or hearing aids. The
three Medigap plans compared in your evaluation do include benefits for medical emergencies
while traveling outside the United States (as shown on pages 6-7).

Here are summaries of the three Medigap plans compared in your evaluation. They are listed in
the order of their comprehensiveness.

1) Medigap Plan F. This is the most comprehensive Medigap plan, covering all of
Medicare’s gaps. If you get Plan F, then, you will have no cost-sharing for Medicare-
covered services. The potential long-term downside of Plan F is that it will no longer be
sold beginning in 2020, although people who already have this plan may keep it.

Some analysts think that as its number of policyholders gradually declines, Plan F's
premiums will rise more quickly. That won't happen anytime soon because more than
one-half of current Medigap policyholders have Plan F. In theory, if Plan F premiums
jumped sharply you could downgrade to Plan G with the same company, in most cases
without being medically underwritten. You can likely get a Plan F policy for $1,800 a
year or less.

2) Medigap Plan G. This plan’s benefits are identical to those of Plan F except that it does
not cover the Part B deductible, which in 2019 is $185. In some cases, people can save
money by choosing Plan G instead of Plan F because the premium savings are greater
than the amount of the Part B deductible. I’ve estimated that you can get Plan G for
$1,600 a year, or about $200 less than Plan F.

3) Medigap Plan N. This is a slightly less comprehensive plan than Plans F and G and it has
some small gaps (pages 6-7 show where these gaps are). People in relatively good
health who don’t go to their doctors frequently will likely save $200-$300 a year in this
plan compared to the higher-premium Plan F. Estimated annual premiums are $1,300.

These are not the only good Medigap plans, of course, and you might want to check pages 6-7
of the evaluation to see the benefit designs of all 10 Medigap plans.

The pricing of Medigap policies

It’s good to give some thought as to the company that you will buy your policy from and to
make a few calls to get current quotes. While it’s important to choose a company that has
relatively low premiums, you may also want to factor in a company’s financial strength and size.
As a rule, larger companies have slightly lower annual premium increases, according to a
government study a few years ago.

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