Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible for Florida Seniors
Whether you are just turning 65 and looking at your Medicare options for the first time, or you have been on Medicare for some time and just want to lower your cost while keeping the service and benefits you are used to, seniors in Florida face the same tough decisions as seniors anywhere in this country. The first choice is deciding between a Medicare Advantage Plan or Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement (Medigap). The second is making certain the choice you make does not end up costing you your savings in the long run. That’s where Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible comes in.
The table below outlines some of the different features of a Medicare Advantage Plan and using original Medicare with a Supplement:
For the reasons above, only 23.60% of seniors eligible for Medicare choose Medicare Advantage. If the choice between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare were so cut and dry based on the average monthly premium, we would expect to see a lot more seniors on Medicare Advantage. …What we hear most from seniors when we discuss the options available to them with original Medicare and Medigap coverage are words like; security, predictability, control, choices and flexibility.
Still, Florida residents face a problem with their Medicare Supplement costs not experienced anywhere else in the country. Simply put, Florida seniors pay much more for Medigap coverage than seniors in the rest of the country, almost twice as much. Even so, rather than choose a plan with some of the limits associated with Medicare Advantage, choosing a High Deductible Plan F can offer the best coverage, the most choices and flexibility and still keep costs down to a very affordable level.
The difference between Medigap Plan F and the Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible.
The table below shows the various Medicare Supplemental Plans available today. Plan F is by far the most popular, followed by Plan G (gaining ground across most of the U.S. and Plan N (where minimal co-pays keep premiums down).
Original Medicare Parts A & B cover 80% of your doctor and hospital expenses. The various Medicare Supplement Plans (designated by letter) cover all or a portion of the remaining 20%. Of all the Medicare Supplement Plans, only Plan F covers the entire 20% gap left by Original Medicare Parts A & B coverage. It is also the only plan to offer a High Deductible option.
The only difference between a standard Plan F and the Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible is that with the High Deductible option you must pay for the first $2,180 of covered medical expenses in any given year. After that $2,180 deductible is satisfied, remaining expenses are covered 100% just like the standard Plan F.
The maximum out of pocket annual expenditure is the key to the value of the Medicare supplement plan F high deductible. The annual or monthly insurance premium must be paid regardless of your health condition or services you need. If you have a high insurance premium, you are guaranteed to pay a high amount each year just to keep your policy. With a low insurance premium and high deductible, your Medicare costs will remain low and are typically capped near or below what would be your annual premium with a regular medicare Supplement Plan F. In other words, in the good years your costs are low, in the bad years your costs are only about as high as they would have been with a normal Medicare Supplement Plan F. Consider that the average annual medical claim is only about $500 and seniors seldom spend more than $2,000 per year, with most years you will save well over $1,000 per year compared to a standard Plan F. With a Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible, your guaranteed annual out-of-pcket maximum is close to or less than your regular Plan F premiums for seniors in Florida.
Medicare Supplement costs and availability vary by state and even by county. The unusually high costs for Plans F, G and N in Florida make the High Deductible Plan F a viable option for most seniors. Let’s take a look at some real life examples, using services covered by Medicare and some of the lowest cost Medigap insurers to see why the High Deductible Plan F makes sense for seniors in Florida.
Compare prices:
Palm Beach County
Age 69 male non-smoker in good health
Age 72 femail non-smoker in good health
To be fair, we could paste this blog post with prices of different age groups, different zip codes etc. and the results would change somewhat, but not the message. We can see that the big difference is in the Fixed Annual Expense. When you have a high premium, you have a high fixed annual expense regardless of your medical needs. When you have a low insurance premium, most years you will never even get close to the annual Total Maximum Out-of-Pocket expense. In fact, the average senior in Florida seldom has annual medical expenses above $600. This with the substantial lower premium of a High Deductible Plan F, most seniors will enjoy insurance coverage that protects them from high medical expense while enjoying a very low annual insurance cost.
On the other hand, Florida seniors in the standard medicare Supplement Plan F are assured of high expenses every year regardless of their health because the premiums are so high. Those with Medicare Supplement Plan F high deductible have Medigap Plan F coverage after they reach their deductible, and yet pay only a small fraction of the premium for regular Medigap Plan F.
If you are a senior in Florida and would like to find out how much you can save with a Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible, or would simply like to know the best prices for Medicare Supplement plans in your area, simply complete the Medicare Supplement Quote Form now. You will be glad you did!
The above prices are as of the date of this article and are based on the zip codes starting with 334*. However, in much of Florida, Medicare Supplement plan premiums are somewhat less than illustrated above.
Shield Insurance Solutions is independent. Our goal is to find the best insurance company, price and policy for you. We specialize in living benefit life insurance and Medicare Supplement insurance. We work with nearly 100 different insurance companies in order to find the right policy at the right price and value for you. We are transparent so you can make the most informed decision and have been in the financial services industry since 1984. Our life products include Medicare Supplement insurance / Medigap insurance, Whole Life, Universal Life and Term Insurance (all living benefit life insurance), mortgage protection insurance and final expense insurance. We are based in Jupiter and Palm Beach Florida, the treasure coast and licensed in almost every state including Virginia, Maryland, Oklahoma, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Florida, California, Illinois and expanding. If you are shopping for a life insurance quote, we can show you what many of the top insurance companies will offer. The price differences will amaze you. Visit www.ShieldInsuranceSolutions.com to get a free life insurance quote comparison, or call us at (800) 847-9680
Medicare Supplement Plan F High Deductible