Page 3 - Cover Letter and Evaluation for Debbie Workman

if you do not go to your doctors frequently or have expensive medical treatments, you will likely
save money compared to the amount that you’ll pay in Plan F premiums.

The pricing of Medigap policies

If you decide to get a Medigap policy, 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 go with 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.

The state of Washington’s rules for Medigap enrollment give you more flexibility than do most
other states. In Washington, people who already have a Medigap policy (other than Plan A) can
switch to a different Medigap plan or to a different insurance company at any time of the year
without answering questions about their health.

But if they do not already have a Medigap policy or if the policy they have is Plan A, it could be
more difficult for them to get a policy. Thus Washington state’s rules provide a great deal of
flexibility for people who already have Medigap policies (again, except for Plan A) but not as
much for those enrolled in Advantage plans who may want to switch to Medigap policies. Also,
when you are in an Advantage plan, in most cases you will have to wait until Medicare’s annual
open enrollment period to change to a Medigap policy and Part D stand-alone plan.

The premium comparisons in Appendix A1 are from the State of Washington’s Office of the
Insurance Commissioner and include insurance companies’ toll-free telephone numbers.
Appendices A2 and A3 are from CSG Actuarial, a firm that provides quotes to insurance agents.
Some premiums in the CSG 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 close to current quotes.

CSG Actuarial’s premiums can be helpful in a couple of ways. First, they can serve as a starting
point to identify the companies that have lower premiums, and then you can contact those
companies for current quotes; second, the quotes from CSG Actuarial also show the insurance
companies’ financial ratings by A.M Best and (for the larger companies) Standard & Poor. They
do not show the companies’ phone numbers, which can be found in Appendix B1.

Some companies offer discounts of various kinds. As an example, a few companies will offer
small discounts for annual pre-payment of premiums or for automated monthly payments
debited to your bank account. Also, some companies offer “household discounts” ranging
between 3% and 10% when both spouses buy a policy. Since Bob already has a
UnitedHealthcare Medigap policy, you might want to check with UnitedHealthcare/AARP to see
if you would be eligible for a discount (if you are, he would be also). Attached to this letter is a
list of current quotes from AARP, although premiums could rise between now and February 1.

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