Hello,
Well, we made it through one of the coldest winters we’ve had in a long time. If you’re like us, you’re really looking forward to spring.
Cathy and I would like to thank you for the trust you’ve placed in us for your health insurance needs. We don’t take your trust for granted and we work hard to make sure you have good coverage with a good company. We also greatly appreciate the referrals. We are covering several things in this letter which I hope you will find helpful or interesting.
The bean counters in Washington DC are talking about making cuts in funding Medicare Advantage plans for next year. If that happens, you will be looking at a reduction of benefits again for 2027. I will keep you informed but you may want to call your congressman and senator and tell them to fully fund Medicare Advantage plans for 2027 and that you don’t like the cutbacks that came this year. Remind them that you’ll find out about your plan cutbacks for 2027 before it’s time to vote this fall.
For anyone looking for a safe place to put some money with no stock market risk and a guaranteed interest rate between 4.5% and 5.5% for periods of 2 – 10 years, we have some solid annuities to look at. If you have any questions or interest, call Chris.
For those with a Medicare Advantage plan, just a reminder that you have extra benefits (usually in-network) in addition to medical and prescription drug coverage. These include a free exam for dental, vision, hearing, and most plans have some over-the-counter. Most plans cover basic dental cleaning and exam, fluoride treatment, and X-rays twice a year and the majority of plans have at least $1,000 a year in comprehensive dental coverage as well. Most also include $150 to $300 per year for glasses and some hearing aid coverage which can have various copayments depending on what you need.
Regarding dental, we now have a plan with decent rates, and you can get up to $2,500 in coverage. The longer you have it, the more coverage you get towards comprehensive coverage up to a certain percent. If you’re interested, please give Cathy a call.
We also wanted to let you know about a change in the hospital indemnity plan we use. The company we use pays you $500 per day for each day you’re in the hospital, $400 for an ambulance trip, $750 for outpatient procedures, $150 for ER, and $50 a day for physical therapy. This plan will cover the majority of your most common major out-of-pocket costs for a monthly premium ranging between $55 and $70 a month. The new thing they’ve added this year is to make it guaranteed issue up to age 75. If you have any major health issues, it has a six-month pre-existing condition and after that any related claims will be fully covered. So, if you have any interest in this or any questions, call Chris.
Watch out for the bait and switch phone calls where they promise to give you “additional benefits to your Medicare” like a $200 a month grocery card. You give them your information and then they tell you “Sorry, you don’t qualify” but it’s too late. They have your information and sign you up for something else and you lose the current plan you have. Please call us if you have any doubts or questions. Another new one is calling and telling you that your Medicare card has been flagged or suspended – not true – call Medicare at 800-772-1213 to confirm.
Some of the latest SCAMS: Grandchild to Grandparent calls for an emergency are getting worse. AI now has the ability to mimic the child’s real voice. Be very careful of these. Technical Support scams for your phone or especially your computer or Internet are growing too. Scammers pop up warnings claiming your device is compromised and then you must pay for the urgent support. Once they have access, they can steal your information. Scammers also pretend to be from government departments like Social Security, Medicare, IRS, law enforcement / turnpike, or businesses like bank fraud departments or Amazon or Walmart etc. They threaten to freeze your accounts or arrest you. Government agencies almost never ever call you unless you initiated it first.
Red flags to look for include: it sounds urgent, threatens consequences, pressures you to act right now or its “too good to be true”. Never trust the caller ID because fake numbers can look official. Refuse unusual payment methods like gift cards to Walmart, crypto or prepaid cash cards. Another red flag is emotional manipulation like “help me, I’m family”. Always independently verify – like if someone claims to be a relative in trouble, call another family member using a known number or if a company or government agency contacts you, contact them using their official number on statement or card not the one the caller gives you. Always protect yourself by never giving out Social Security numbers, Medicare numbers, bank details, passwords or pins unless you initiated the call and confirmed who you’re talking to. Also establish a family “safe word” or “code phrase” known only to trusted relatives since they know to use the phrase or word and you know it’s really them. Also avoid clicking links or attachments in unsolicited texts and emails – these can be phishing attempts to get your data. And when in doubt get a trusted family member or friend to look at any suspicious activity. Sometimes these emails look so real that we get a second opinion on them.
Our family is doing great. The grandkids now ages 1, 2, 4 and 6 are so much fun. So, between work, grandkids and church, we’re busy but it’s all really good.
Take care,
Chris and Cathy
