What’s the best Medicare Supplement company for 2022?
This is a pretty common question we get from people who are starting to shop for Medicare Supplements.
In this video, we’ll go through how to figure out which Medicare Supplement, also known as Medigap, company is the best choice for you for 2022.
Confused about your Medicare coverage options? Watch our free video: How to Find the Best Medicare Coverage Without Paying More Than You Need To…
Medicare Supplements work differently than most other health insurance products. Because of that, comparison shopping for Medicare Supplements is different from comparison shopping for other health insurance.
Financial Strength Ratings
Often, financial strength ratings are the first things that are mentioned when comparing insurance companies. With other types of insurance, those ratings can be very important. With Medicare Supplements, they are far less important. Here’s why:
First, the major Medicare Supplement companies all have comparably strong financial ratings. It’s worth the few seconds it takes to check an insurance company’s A.M. Best rating, but among the commonly sold Medigap companies, the differences in financial strength are not large enough to help in deciding where to purchase your Medicare Supplement.
Second, if the worst happens and your Medicare Supplement company goes bankrupt, Medicare protects you, the consumer, with a guaranteed issue right to purchase a Medicare Supplement from another insurance company without having to pass health underwriting. More details on that can be found here. https://www.medicare.gov/supplements-other-insurance/when-can-i-buy-medigap/guaranteed-issue-rights
Customer Service
A company’s customer service is another determining factor that is really important with most kinds of health insurance, and again, not so much with Medicare Supplements.
Here’s where we get into the major difference between Medicare Supplements and other types of health insurance.
Medicare Supplement companies don’t make claim decisions.
You may have heard horror stories or experienced frustration yourself trying to get a medical claim paid by an insurance company or trying to get through prior authorization to receive treatment or navigating a plan’s network. With Medicare Supplements, none of that exists.
There is no prior authorization with Medicare Supplements, and unless you have a Medicare Select Medicare Supplement, there are no networks. You are free to see any provider who accepts Medicare.
And the biggest difference is that if you have a Medicare Supplement, Medicare makes all your claim decisions. Your Medicare Supplement company, by law, can’t disagree with a claim decision made by Medicare.
If Medicare says your medical treatment is covered, Medicare will pay its part, and your Medicare Supplement will pay its part. And that is across the board with absolutely all Medicare Supplement companies.
If you hear someone say, “This Medicare Supplement company pays really well,” please know that every single Medicare Supplement company pays really well.
There are no star ratings based on consumer experience for Medicare Supplements, like there are for Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D plans. So, there are no 5 star or 1 star Medigap companies and no easy way to see what other consumers’ experience has been with a particular Medigap company.
In general, if you have a Medigap plan, you probably won’t need to contact customer service as often as you would if you had a Medicare Advantage plan.
That said, there are still some times you’ll need customer service. All Medicare Supplement companies have big websites and big call centers that usually keep you on hold for a while.
However, you can avoid those. If you purchase your Medicare Supplement through our office, we can act on your behalf for many service issues with your Medicare Supplement company. You call us, and then we wait on hold with the insurance company. That’s part of our service to our clients.
You might be wondering, “Why isn’t she listing the top 10 or top 5 Medicare Supplement insurance companies?”
State to State Differences
I’m not doing that because the best Medicare Supplement company for you is not going to be the same as the best company for the person who is watching this video in a different state.
It’s likely that you and the person in another state don’t even have all the same companies available to choose from.
Medigap coverage is standardized by law. Forty-seven states use the same coverage design. Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have different plan designs.
You choose the level of coverage you want. That coverage will be identical no matter which insurance company you purchase it from. For example, a Plan G will have exactly the same coverage from any company that offers Plan G in your state.
Although the coverage is standardized, pricing is all over the map. Some of that reflects different state laws that govern Medicare Supplements.
Some states have more guaranteed issue rights than others. Some states limit which pricing methods can be used by Medigap companies.
All the different laws and regulations mean that when we compare even identical Medicare Supplement coverage, let’s say Plan N for example, different companies will be more competitively priced in different states. Sometimes quite dramatically so.
Medicare Supplement company recommendations from family and friends who live in other states are nice, but you have to comparison shop with the realities of where you live. Often, even within the same state, Medicare Supplements will have different costs in different parts of the state. Comparison shop in your zip code for accurate premium prices.
Rate Increases
Another question that comes up is, “What about rate increases?”
Shopping for Medicare plans is not most people’s idea of fun, so it makes sense to not want to do it more often than necessary. No one wants to be switching plans often due to rate increases.
Medicare Supplements are highly regulated by the government. Your Medigap company can’t single you or anyone else out for a rate increase, no matter what happens with your health.
Here’s how Medicare Supplement rates go up:
Most Medicare Supplement companies have increases built into the premium based on age. You can see those increases on coverage charts before you apply.
Other increases have to be approved by the state department of insurance. If a Medigap company pays out more in claims than expected for a particular block of Medicare Supplement policy holders, which is usually a group of people who are in the same geographic region and purchased their policies at about the same time, that Medicare Supplement company can petition the state to allow it to raise rates on everyone in that block of business.
Because these rate increases are based on the future medical usage of a group of people and factors like inflation in health care costs, it’s difficult to impossible to predict accurately.
That said, in general, the more comprehensive plans, like Plan F and Plan G, have higher percentage increases every year than the less comprehensive plan, like Plan N and High Deductible Plan G. That can be taken into consideration when thinking about your future Medigap spending.
Looking at a Medicare Supplement company’s previous rate increases is of limited usefulness. If you see a company that comes into states with very low rates and then has significant increases after a few years, and that becomes a pattern in multiple states with that particular company, that can be somewhat helpful, but it doesn’t predict future rate increases.
There may come a time when the Medicare Supplement you purchase now will no longer be the best option for you. That’s ok. It’s pretty common.
When you receive a rate increase notification, it’s a good idea to give your broker a call and get some fresh quotes just to see if some other Medigap company might be more competitively priced.
What’s the best Medicare Supplement company for you in 2022?
It’s the one that offers the Medigap coverage level you want for the most competitive premium cost.
That isn’t necessarily the cheapest company. Use the information provided by each insurance company regarding planned rate increases on the coverage chart to help make this decision.
To find the right company for you, you need to comparison shop with the geography narrowed to your zip code.
There is no one best Medicare Supplement company.
Just like there’s no one best Medicare Supplement plan. Everyone is different and has unique Medicare coverage needs.
Questions? We can help!
You can do all the research and comparison shopping on your own, but you don’t have to. This is what we do for all of our clients as Medicare plan brokers.
We work with multiple companies and can impartially comparison shop with you to find the plan and the company that’s the best fit for your situation.
We do this completely free of charge to our clients. We’re able to do that because for every enrollment into a Medicare plan through our office, we are paid a commission by an insurance company.
The commissions are similar across plans and insurance companies, so we have no reason to push one company over another for our own gain.
We are free to find the plan and the company that fits each client’s medical and financial situation best.
The Medicare plan cost to you is the same whether you buy direct from an insurance company or purchase through a Medicare plan broker.
Once you are a client of ours, you have ongoing free access to expert help whenever you have a question about your coverage or when premiums change and you need to re-evaluate and possibly change plans.
If you have Medicare Supplement questions, please feel free to give our office a call at 877-312-1414 or or schedule a free, no obligation Medicare Plan Consultation.
We’re here to help you understand your options and find the best Medicare plan for you!
Leave a Reply