If you haven’t seen one of my videos, my name is Brian Monahan. I’ve been working with people
going on to Medicare for the past 15 plus years. In these videos I try to help people understand
Medicare. I boil it down to its most simplistic form so that they don’t get confused with all the mailings
and all the internet stuff and the booklets that they get.
This is just going to be a four-part video that’s very simple and if you follow these steps this is the
only thing that you’ll most likely need. Let’s jump into the video. So the first thing that you have
to do is sign up for Medicare A and B. That’s your Medicare card so you do this through the Social
Security office. You do not do this through Medicare. You’ll either call your local Social Security
Administration office or you will apply online.
I always say, three or four months prior to your 65th birthday, or when you’re going on Medicare,
call your local Social Security office and make an appointment. This will be a phone appointment but they
can walk you through signing up for Medicare. Let’s just say that you signed up for your Medicare A and B
card and you did this through the Social Security office. After about four weeks you should receive your
Medicare A and B card. It will have your name on it, your Medicare number and your start dates for A and
B. That’s step one. That’s a big step. You’ll want to do this at least three months prior to your 65th
birthday but after you do this you’ll go on to step two.
Step two will be choosing a Medicare Advantage plan or choosing a Medigap plan, also known as
a Medicare supplement plan. So, once you have this card, then you’ll look at four different plans. This is my
opinion of course, but you will not want to look at all sorts of different plans. These four plans will be
three Medigap plans and a Medicare Advantage plan. Now I always say you’ll want to speak to an agent.
The reason being is you will not get anything cheaper by going directly to these companies than you
would with an agent. An agent cannot put any money on top of what the companies charge. So if the
company charges you a hundred dollars for a plan the agent has to charge you a hundred dollars. By law
they can’t put anything on top, so their information and their guidance is free to you.
You’ll want to look at Medicare Advantage plans if that’s what you want. If you know you do not
want a Medicare Advantage plan and you want a Medigap plan I would just look at Plan G, Plan N and
Plan High Deductible G. These are the most comprehensive cost-effective plans. Most
agents, these are the ones that they’re going to show you, this is my recommendation. There’s going to
be several different Medicare Advantage plans in your area. The difference between these plans is the
Medicare Advantage plans usually are less expensive up front but the maximum out of pocket will be
more. Also they come with a vision, dental and hearing plan, a drug plan and possibly some other
benefits like a gym membership and so forth if you choose a Medicare Advantage plan.
If you look at this chart you’re finished there! That’s all you have to do. Sign up for Medicare part
A and B, you get your Medicare Advantage and then you’re done. If you want to choose a Medigap plan
you will look at (in my opinion) Plan G, Plan N and Plan High Deductible G. You will choose which one of
them you want. You will not choose a company yet. A Plan G is a Plan G. Same thing with N and High
Deductible G. It doesn’t matter what company. They all have the same benefits. So if you get a Plan G in
Florida from AARP and someone else gets a plan G in California from Aetna and another person gets a
Plan G in Minnesota from Cigna that the benefits are all going to be the same.
The only thing that’s going to be different is the premium, the cost that the company’s going to
charge you each month, and the service that the company gives. So I would just look at Plan G, N and
High Deductible G. Choose which one of those that you want, “I like the benefits of Plan G” or “I like the
benefits of Plan N” and then go over which company you want to choose. Most likely it’ll be off of which
one has the best price or at least the company you recognize with the best price. After this, the Medigap
plans do not have a drug plan or vision, dental and hearing combined with them. Now some people think
this is a loss. Some people think it’s a benefit.
Medicare Advantage, when you choose that, if let’s say you choose an AARP Medicare
Advantage plan: you will get their hospital and doctor coverage from AARP. Vision, dental and hearing will
be AARP and your drug plan will be AARP. When you choose a Medigap plan whether you choose
AARP or Aetna or Cigna you can then choose a different company for your part D drug plan. Now once
again you’re not going to want to do this on your own. The Part D drug plans in your area, most likely
there’ll be 30 different plans, you have to punch in your drugs and look at these different plans. If you
want to do that you go to medicare.gov and once you go to medicare.gov this is just for your drugs.
After you choose a Medigap plan you’ll see this page, then you’ll go find plans. Now in the middle
you’ll continue to go through this page. Now I have videos on all these different things: how to choose a
Medigap plan, how to choose a Part D prescription drug plan, a Medicare Advantage, how to sign up for
Medicare part A and B. So if you want those specific videos they will be in the description box below you
can click on one of those videos and actually go through each one of these things but for this video I’m
just doing a broad explanation of what you need to do. So let’s say you go through here or your agent
does for you and they give you some choices for a Part D plan and you pick one now you’ve got your
Medigap plan you have your part D prescription drug plan and then you’re going to choose a vision, dental
and a hearing plan. There are many different companies for Part D drug plans including Wellcare and Aetna.
Now you do not have to get a vision, dental and hearing plan but you can choose one. I,
once again, would either call different companies and find out what the prices are or you can ask
your agent for some different companies and where you should go. Most of my clients, I tell them
ask your dentist, if you want to stay with your dentist, what he or she takes because dental is
probably the hardest Insurance to match up with your dentist. Other than that the vision and hearing is
not as difficult but those are the steps- that is it! You sign up for Medicare part A and B, then you choose
whether you want a Medicare Advantage or a Medigap plan. If you choose Medicare Advantage you’re
done! You don’t need to do anything else. If you choose a Medigap plan then you will choose a separate
Part D prescription drug plan and then you will choose a separate vision, dental and hearing plan. Then
your package is complete! The Medicare Part D enrollment fax number is 1-833-914-2016.
If you have any questions you can call my office. I hope this video helped. Of course I have
videos on all these different things so check out the description box below. I’ll see you in the next video!
Disclaimer: This video and blog post are for entertainment purposes only. If you want advice on Medicare or any of its plans, please speak to a licensed agent, whether it is me or another licensed agent. No advice should be taken from this video or blog post. If you don’t speak to me about your individual concerns, I can’t give you my 100% opinion. Brian Monahan and Medicare 365 are not responsible for any actions that you take without consulting with a licensed insurance agent.
