I hope you are having a great summer so far. I want to thank all of you who have been giving me referrals. They are greatly appreciated and help my business immensely. I’m very thankful for the trust you have placed in me for your own insurance needs and that you trust me enough to refer me. Again, thank you. This newsletter is going to have a lot of information regarding scams and fraud. There’s so much of that going on right now. However, we will start with some good news on prescriptions.

Some GOOD NEWS – The inflation bill signed last year made some positive changes for Part D prescription drug coverage. Starting this year Part D is covering shingles vaccine along with other adult vaccines recommended by the CDC at no cost. Starting next year, in 2024, those who go through the donut hole before the end of the year and into the catastrophic 5% copay phase will NOT have to pay the 5% copayment for prescriptions for the rest of the year. Which means after your 25% copayment of retail drugs reaches your true out of pocket maximum, your copay will drop down to $0. Starting in 2025 Part D prescriptions copays will be limited to a $2,000 maximum out of pocket. After 2025, the Part D max limit of $2,000 will be indexed for inflation.

There are approximately 600,000 people in the state of Ohio receiving letters about redetermination for Medicaid status. Many people are losing their Medicaid coverage. If you or if you know someone who is losing their Medicaid status, please call me or have them call me. I can help.

Congress needs to get moving on shoring up Social Security and Medicare both. Social Security will be unable to pay full retiree benefits starting in 2034 according to the latest annual report. Which means people will be hit with a 23% decrease in benefits. Also, Medicare Part A will only be able to cover 100% of its bills until 2031. Lawmakers are considering raising the retirement age, increasing payroll taxes or a combination of the two and there’s also been talk about “means testing”. Means testing is where if you have a certain level of savings, you are required to spend those before they give you full benefits of your Social Security. But don’t worry, seniors are the largest and most active voting bloc.  Because of that, Congress will not let anything happen to your Social Security or Medicare regardless of what political party is in power. They are just going to wait until the last minute to do something as usual.

If someone gets your Medicare number, they can use it to get medical care or buy prescription drugs in your name. Check your explanation of benefits carefully to be sure all the charges on it are things that were done for you. Unfortunately, these days we need to be vigilant and check all our statements.

Called the “New Medicare Card” scam, the scammers are posing as employees of the Social Security Administration, Medicare, and even the Ohio Department of Insurance. They call their intended victims and say the person needs a new Medicare card or they need to turn in their paper card for a plastic card. The scammers then request the person’s personal information. Government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, Medicare, and the Ohio Department of Insurance do not randomly call Ohioans on Medicare.

How Ohioans on Medicare can protect themselves:

• Never give personal information, including Medicare, Social Security, bank account, and credit card numbers, to anyone who contacts you unsolicited by telephone, email, text, or in person, such as door-to-door sales.
• Know that Medicare will never call you to sell anything, visit your home, or enroll you over the phone unless you called first.
• Keep in mind that Medicare or Medicare health plans will only call and request personal information if you are a plan member, or you called and left a message.

Ohioans who suspect or have been victimized by a Medicare scam should contact the Ohio Senior Medicare Patrol at 800-488-6070 or proseniors.org.

Fraud and identity theft are major problems. More than 15 million people lost over $20 billion last year. Scammers are getting smarter and some are even using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to help defraud people. Kiplinger ‘s personal finance magazine recently had a huge article about how to protect and prevent fraud. Keeping your Social Security number safe is a major one. Do not carry your Social Security card in your wallet and do not give it out on forms unless it’s really needed. A strong way to prevent financial fraud is to freeze your credit. You have to contact all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). For a guide on how to do that go to kiplinger.com/links/freeze. Also, if you still have your old Medicare card that has your Social Security number on it be sure to destroy it soon.

Another item that has a high target value for thieves is your ATM or debit card. Personally, I never use one and I’ve spoken to bankers that personally never use one. Credit cards are safer and when there’s a dispute, they often take care of all of it. But if you love your debit card and are using it at the gas station for example be sure to look at the keypads. If the pad feels strange or any pieces are loose or misaligned, a card skimmer could be installed there.

To prevent criminals from hacking into your financial accounts, use strong unique passwords and two factor authentication when possible. Use a password and then have them send you an e-mail or text on your phone with the security number for you to enter before you can access your accounts online.

You also really need to watch out for fraudulent emails. I get these all the time and some of them are very tricky. There’s usually a strange letter in the e-mail address from the person sending it to you. They’re getting better at not making it obvious such as using zero for the letter O. These scam emails will encourage you to click on something and either start involving you in the scam or putting malware on your computer.

They are now starting to use AI to clone people’s voices and then call family members or friends and solicit money sounding like you on the phone. It’s going to be hard to trust anyone pretty soon unless you’re looking at them face to face (and not on a screen).

Another thing to watch out for is public charging stations. Devious people have figured out a way to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto your devices so take your own chargers to airports and hotels – don’t use the public ones.

After damaging weather, home repair contractors often go door-to-door to offer roofing, siding, and other repair services. While most contractors are reputable, there are some dishonest contractors who prey on consumers eager to quickly get their property and lives back in order.

10 things you can do to avoid contractor fraud:

1. Contact your insurance company to file a claim before hiring a contractor.
2. Make sure the contractor you hire is legitimate.
3. Know the warning signs of a bad business. 
4. Don’t pay in full upfront. 
5. Get an estimate from at least three different contractors.
6. Learn the difference between “licensed” and “registered.” 
7. Be cautious about signing an assignment of benefits.
8. Get a written contract. 
9. Obtain the contractor’s essential business information.
10. Educate yourself about the property damage recovery process and insurance. 

Contractor Fraud Awareness Week was May 22-26, and the Ohio Department of Insurance shared tips to help Ohioans protect themselves and their hard-earned money.

I have seen ads on TV for “A Place for Mom”. It is a service that helps you find local nursing home places to fit your needs and wants. My wife Cathy used it to help find a facility for her dad. She went to several different places they recommended, and she said they were all very nice compared to places she looked at that they had not recommended.

In my October 2022 newsletter I mentioned adding another phone number. This was due to a new Medicare rule requiring business calls to be recorded. Medicare has withdrawn this rule starting in October so I will be dropping the phone number in September. So, please do not call the 33O-298-5894 phone number.

Our family is doing well. Cathy has been very busy helping her brother with the farm, my business, and doing the monthly administrative work for everyone. Our two grandsons are a real joy and we found out we now have a third grandchild on the way due around Thanksgiving. We’re all very excited. Our son Nathan’s job is going very well, and his brother Andrew is busy this summer leading mission trips for his youth group at church. Cathy and I went on a Caribbean cruise in April and had a very nice time. Coming back wasn’t as much fun as we spent nearly 32 hours trying to get flights to get home. Air travel is sure not what it used to be. But we had a great time and would do it again.

I hope you find this newsletter helpful. Thanks again for the referrals and please keep sending them my way. Even with the advertising I am doing, they are still the primary source of business for me, so thank you. If you get a chance, stop by the Randolph fair and say hi. We will be in the merchants building August 22^nd – 27^th.

Have a great summer,

Chris and Cathy Boring

Hello,

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year’s.  Other than the extreme cold, ours was pretty good and we were able to spend a lot of time with family.  This letter is filled with a lot of reminders and things to consider for the new year.

For those of you with Anthem Blue Cross.  The new card you received for your over-the-counter catalog benefit is a Master Card.  This same card also has your Flex Dental/Vision/Hearing on it or the $50 a month grocery or utility benefit.  If you have not received the card by now, call member services and have them mail it again.

Reminder.  If and when you hear of “amazing” Medicare benefits with lots of free stuff, PLEASE remember to give me a call before you talk to anyone on the phone. I am familiar with all the plans in Ohio. There are plans out there that may have one or two benefits that are better than what you currently have, but not better than your plan overall. So please do not answer the phone or call any of the 1-800 numbers on TV. Every person you talk to is a salesperson trying to sell you and move you away from the plan you currently have. So just remember when in doubt call Chris.

Remember to use the benefits you have like dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter catalog (OTC) and grocery card if you have it. Call or email me if you are not sure. Those with Anthem can now order brand name as well as generic products for the OTC benefit online at MyBenefits.NationsBenefits.com.

What is REACH?  It is a new government pilot program that is supposed to increase services for underserved communities by giving better health care and also saving money thereby giving health care providers a percentage of the savings. It stands for Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH). It’s a pilot program starting in January of this year and ending in December of 2026.  It is supposed to only be for those on traditional Medicare. This program is new and from what I can find out not well defined on anything.   You are supposed to be notified by mail if you end up on one of these programs. Looking at medicare.gov/aco-search, it looks like these ACO programs are all over the country. They started under the Affordable Care Act and now they’re moving them into Medicare. The Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital, and Summa all have ACO programs, but it does not mean that you are in one.

The idea is to have your primary care doctor do as much as possible for you thereby saving money so you don’t have to go see specialists and you don’t get “unnecessary testing”. The few reports I have read said it’s really not saving them money and there is concern some people are not getting the quality of care that they should be getting. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about but just be aware of.  If you’re concerned just ask your primary care doctor if he or she is in this new ACO REACH program.

Is it a SCAM call?  Medicare is pushing for the insurance companies to call you about your health to see if they can provide you with any assistance.  At the same time, they are allowing some unethical insurance people to call you any time they want.  It is hard to know the difference sometimes.  If the calls are directly from the insurance company, you are OK.  If they are from someone claiming to be a “third party” to your insurance company, they may be okay but if they start asking you for your date-of-birth or Medicare number — they are most likely scammers trying to switch you to their insurance company. NEVER give out that kind of information.  If you are not sure, call me.  In case you didn’t know, Anthem changed their name to “Elevance Health” so you may get calls from either caller ID name.

For those of you with IRA’s who are under age 72 by 12/31/2022, the age for Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) is now age 73 for 2023.  Also, those of you who have IRA’s and are only taking the RMD or nothing at all may want to consider withdrawing money and paying the taxes on it over the next couple of years. We are at some of the lowest income tax rates in our lifetime and the current tax rate structure is scheduled to go back up again in 2025 unless Congress extends it.  The government is looking for money and I don’t anticipate that they will extend it although it is too early to tell. It might be to your advantage to pull out money and pay the tax.  Just keep your income under the 22% or 24% tax rate. Our lowest tax brackets right now are 10% and 12%.

People forget that less than 10 years ago our lowest tax rates were 10% and 15%. In the year 2000, the lowest tax brackets were 15% and 27.5%. John F. Kennedy lowered the maximum tax rate down from 90% to 70% and Ronald Reagan lowered it down from 70% to 40%. So having much higher tax brackets is not unprecedented for our country.  In 2001, a single person making over $27,000 was in the 27.5% tax bracket and married couples making more than $45,200 were also in a 27.5% tax bracket. So as I said, by taking money out of your IRA now and paying tax on it with the low rates we currently have may be better than leaving it to your kids in the form of an IRA. They would pull the money out and add it to their current income which could put them in a much higher tax bracket.  This could end up making the IRS your primary beneficiary. Of course, you should talk to your tax professional before making any moves because of the taxability of your Social Security.

New limits for Extra Help. The new income limits are out for people to qualify for extra help with their prescriptions. I have a detailed chart on my website at boringinsurance.com. In a nutshell, people with incomes under $1,850 a month for a single person or $2,500 for a couple should apply at www.ssa.gov/extrahelp or call Medicare. You also need to have assets under $17,000 for singles and under $33,500 for couples.

Turn your copays to zero. I have an insurance plan that will turn most of your major copays to $0 if you want to purchase it. It’s a guaranteed issue for people 64 1/2 through 67.  At age 68 and older, there are health questions that may disqualify you from the plan. For the guaranteed age group, the plan is about $52 a month and turns your copays for hospital stays, emergency room/urgent care, ambulance, outpatient surgery, and outpatient therapy to $0.  Call me if you would like more information.

Remember to use the mail order to save the most on your prescription drugs. I would also like to remind you that you do not have to use your prescription drug card if other options are cheaper such as paying cash or by using GoodRX.com.  Singlecare.com is another good way to save money on prescriptions. Many times it’s cheaper than GoodRX.com.

Consider this, it is a good idea to carry a list of the prescriptions that you take.  Don’t list the name brand but list the drugs you’re actually taking. This can be very useful in emergencies.

If you would like to review some of my old newsletters or would like general information on life insurance or annuities remember to visit my website BoringInsurance.com.

Car thefts skyrocketed. The main reason is for catalytic converters. They can be sold on the market for $1,000 or more. Thieves are more likely to hit high sitting trucks and SUV’s because they can get under them quickly and easily. Hybrids are also popular because they have high concentrations of expensive metals. Check Carfax for a list of the vehicles most likely to have their converters stolen. Top models include Equinox, Silverado, F-series, Accord, CR-V, Camry, and Prius.

Also, if you’re worried about scams and people using your information you could put a freeze on your credit accounts with the three major credit agencies so no one can fraudulently open a bank account or credit card in your name. This can be done for free.

Scams against seniors continues to increase.  While scams originating with social media contact are significant, the largest losses were reported to have started with a phone call. I tell people if you don’t recognize the number on your caller ID don’t answer it. If it’s something important the person will leave a message. That’s what I do. Google “AARP scam reports” to see real reported scams and sign up for alerts for new scams in the area.

Things have slowed down for Cathy and I over the last few weeks – Finally. We were able to spend a lot of time with two of the cutest grandkids in the world (not that I’m biased). Cathy is helping me with my business while also caring for aging parents and working on the family farm. My oldest son Nathan is busy with his job, raising my two grandsons, helping me with Christian Service Brigade, and teaching Sunday school among other things. My son Andrew is also very busy working with the kids as a youth pastor and taking his seminary classes as well. Overall, we have all been very blessed. I hope you have a great and healthy new year. Thank you so much for all the referrals you have sent me. They are the biggest part of my business. I’m very thankful for the trust you have in me to make those referrals.

Take care,

Chris

Hello,                                                                                                                              June 2022

I hope things have been going well for you and that you have been able to get out enjoy the warm weather. It was long overdue. I want to thank all of those who have sent referrals my way. It means a lot and it really helps my business. Well, there’s a lot to cover so let’s get right to it.

Some good news on your Medicare premium. It sounds like they are not going to raise your Part B premium at all next year and there is a good possibility it will actually go down. Put that together with a large Social Security increase next year due to inflation and most people should end up with a pretty good raise next year.

I have a new prescription drug place for you to check. For those who are in the donut hole or about to get in the donut hole this may save you some money on those expensive prescriptions. Go to https://www.pharmstore.com/new-customer  and enter your prescriptions and they will automatically show you what the prices are or you can call them at 1.800.281.8347 – Press 2 (New Client).  Shipping takes 2-4 weeks, and you pay for it automatically out of your checking account. Like all these discount prescription places you won’t be able to save money on some prescriptions but hopefully you will be able to on others.

The FBI estimates that the seniors lose more than 3 billion a year to scammers. The scams mostly involve romance, online purchases, timeshares and travel, job offers and investments. A common one today is an overpayment scheme where somebody overpays you for something you are selling and then asks for a refund to try and get information from you.  If you are buying things online, take the name of the company you are buying from, put it into the search engine and type the word scam or reviews or complaints after it to see what other people are saying. The best way to keep your information safe is using strong original passwords for different accounts and making sure you have two factor authentication on your accounts. Lastly, another really good thing to do is to do a gut check by waiting before you purchase or invest in something and talk to a family member or friend.

Here is a brief refresher of the different end of life documents that you may need. Keep in mind this is a brief and incomplete description of them.

Health Care POA    A Health Care Power of Attorney allows someone you appoint to make decisions for you regarding your health care should you become unable to make these decisions. Healthcare providers will more readily recognize your power of attorney if it is a separate document expressly addressing health care matters. A general power of attorney will not usually work.

DNR – Do Not Resuscitate   A DNR must be completed by your doctor and states that you do not want any of the various methods used to revive people whose hearts have stopped or who have stopped breathing.

Living Will   It documents your wishes regarding life sustaining treatment and can be completed by you at any time. A DNR provides better protection if you are sure you do not want CPR or other life prolonging interventions compared to a living will. It is probably good to have both as well as a health care power of attorney.

Financial POA  This document is used to appoint someone to act on your behalf regarding personal, financial, and business matters. Due to the rising rate of elder abuse, many financial institutions are reluctant to accept these documents. Be sure the person you name is trustworthy. You can build in checks and balances to ensure they do exactly what you want if you become incapacitated. To minimize problems, you may want to consider showing your bank, brokerage house and other institutions your POA document as soon as it is drafted to be sure it is acceptable to them.

Living Trust   This can provide detailed guidelines on how your property should be managed if you become incapacitated. It remains in force after you die and allows the trustee to transfer your property to your beneficiaries without having to go through probate. Naming different individuals as your living trust trustee and as your POA helps assure that neither person abuses their authority. Many people no longer need a living trust because their assets can be “transferred on death” or TOD if they have a title to them or they are at an account like a bank or investment house.

This is a very brief and incomplete explanation of each of these documents. My intent is to bring it to your attention and give you an idea what each one does. You can get a more complete description from the Ohio Bar Association at www.ohiobar.org. It is also a good idea to see an attorney.

Updated Extra Help limits for 2022   To qualify for extra help for prescription drugs your income needs to be below $1,719 per month for an individual or $2,309 for a couple and your assets need to be below $15,510 for an individual $30,950 for a couple. If your income and assets are close to or below those limits and you do not have “Extra Help” from Medicare, then you need to contact Medicare or me and fill out the simple form to request the extra help.

My wife (Cathy) and I are doing well. She is now a licensed agent like me, and she is enjoying learning the business although she still puts a lot of time in at the family farm. Nathan (my son) and his family are doing well, and his two boys are growing like weeds. Things are also going well for my other son Andrew and his wife. He is very busy with work and taking seminary classes for his masters degree.

Thanks again to those of you able to send me referrals. They are greatly appreciated.

Take care and have a great summer!             

Chris

Hello, 

     I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. Looks like winter’s finally settling in.  I don’t know about you but I’m already ready for spring. Thank you so much to those of you who sent me referrals.  I had a very busy Annual Election Period (AEP) this fall and it was due mostly to your referrals. So, thank you very much. They keep me in business.

     I would like to remind you that even though I only talk about a few different Medicare companies I examine all of them and I am licensed with all the major companies. So, if you hear of a company that sounds really good and you think you might be interested, just give me a call.

     I also want to let you know that although AEP is over, we are now starting a new time period called Open Enrollment Period (OEP) where those people with a Medicare Advantage plan can make one switch to another Medicare Advantage plan or back to original Medicare if they want to. They can do this in January, February, or March. The OEP is for people who made a switch in the fall and discovered it’s not what they expected.  So, if you made a switch and want to go back to the plan you had either due to a doctor not being in network or some prescription coverage not being as good as you thought or for any other reason, just let me know.  As long as the paperwork is done by the end of March, the new plan can start April 1st.  Please keep this in mind if you have a friend or family member in that same situation.

     Prescription Savings. For most of you this is a reminder, but I want to let you know that you do not have to use your prescription drug card when you go to the pharmacy. You can ask them what the cash price is or use a GoodRX card or some other discount prescription card.  This is because your insurance card is not always the cheapest way to go. There are even price differences for the same prescription at the different “preferred pharmacies”.  If you’re really trying to save money on prescriptions, it does pay to occasionally call several different pharmacies and find out what their costs are for your prescriptions with your insurance card, find out what the cash price is, and then also look them up on GoodRX, RX Saver, and GeniusRX.  You’ve heard me talk about GoodRX before because it saves people money. There are also a few other cards out there, one being RxSaver (it uses Drug Mart ) that is frequently a little bit cheaper than GoodRX.  If you’re on any Tier 3 or 4 drugs, you should definitely do a lot of price shopping on those. At the GeniusRX website, you can get new prescriptions or refills if you can’t wait for your own doctor.  You can actually talk to a doctor online there.  Just go to geniusrx.com or you can call them at 

800-964-9654.  Another way some people save on prescriptions is to talk to the doctor and see if the pill can be cut in half.  If the doctor can double the milligram prescription, it’s usually the same price for the prescription.  Cutting the pill in half is like buy one month get the second month free. I also have people getting their drugs out of Canada. They use canadadrugsdirect.com so you can check that one out as well.  Don’t forget to give a 90 or 100 day mail order a try for at least one or two of your prescriptions. It will definitely save you some money on Tier 1 and Tier 2 drugs.  For anyone interested, Walmart does have its own brand of insulin for $45 for a 6 pack of vials.  Of course, you have to check with your doctor but this might help those of you who hit the Donut hole near the end of the year.

     Medicare has a new drug regulation out now on disposing of old prescriptions. Medicare wants you to take your old prescriptions to a take back site.  There’s no way Medicare is going to enforce correct drug disposal but they are now strongly encouraging it. Most of your CVS stores and some of your Giant Eagle and Walmart stores have take back sites where you can drop off old drugs.  To find other collection sites you can go to bit.ly/take-back-sites or call 800-882-9539.

     For those looking to save some money on cable and Internet bills, Kiplinger magazine recommends shopping around at broadbandnow.com.  This site makes it easy to compare plans, prices and customer ratings for internet providers. You can also call during a weekday afternoon when they’re not too busy and ask for the cancellation department. They suggest being nice and instead of complaining about the high price just say “I would really like to stay with your company but my new rate is out of my price range.  Is there anything you could do for me?”  They recommend that you do not take the first offer they give you but to push back a little bit. If they can’t give you a better price, ask them if there’s any extra perks they could give you like maybe six months of free HBO or something like that.

     Scams. There are a ton of scams out there so continue being careful. The FBI estimates that seniors lose more than $3 billion a year to scammers. The top four most common scam topics are travel and timeshares, online shopping, romance and investments. Another common one is people overpaying you for something whether it’s on Craigslist or a job or anything.  Anyone who “accidentally” overpays you for something should be an immediate red flag.  This is because the scammer then asks you to pay that back quickly so that they have time to cancel your original overpayment and you end up losing money.  If you’re looking to purchase something online from a company you’re not familiar with, type the company name in the search engine and then type in scams or reviews or complaints to see how legitimate the company is.

      To help protect yourself from scams and people hacking into your phone or computer, first of all be sure to use strong original passwords for each different account. Make sure you have two factor authentication on your accounts. Also, do not let yourself be rushed into making a decision. One of the best protections we have is a gut check with a family member or friend.  So, before you make a purchase or send money, ask someone you trust what they think. If you don’t have anyone to ask you can call AARP helpline at 877-908-3360 and they can give you advice as well. To research more on your own, you can just search “latest senior scams” and find many sites that will list recent scams.

     Since I was so busy this AEP, I didn’t get a chance to review benefits with a lot of people. So, I have enclosed the extra paper as a review of your benefits along with contact information to help you use those benefits.  Those of you with a Medicare supplement there is no paper since your benefits have not changed.

     My family and I are doing very well. My wife, Cathy, left her job this fall to help me out with my business and also help out her dad on the farm. My son Andrew is doing very well at his youth pastor job at Mission View Bible church and his wife, Allie, likes her new job at PNC Bank. The big news is I am a grandpa again! My son Nathan and his wife LaRee had their second son in October. God is good as it was another healthy boy and they named him Azariah.  Big brother Elijah will be turning 2 in February.  Nathan has also started a new job and seems to be doing well and likes it. So overall my family and I are very blessed.  Also, for those interested our church is doing another Sportman’s Dinner Raffle on Saturday January 29^th at 5:00.  Tickets will be sold online at protagechapel.com and the raffle can be viewed there as well if you are not comfortable going to a public place like that.

     We updated the mailing list so if you know someone who should have received a letter but didn’t, please have them call me.  If you want to change the way you receive your letter (email or paper) just let me know.

     Thank you again for your referrals and please keep them coming. I really appreciate the trust you have in me to take care of your medical needs. Please keep in mind that if a need ever arises regarding life insurance or IRA or 401K rollovers I can help there as well. Stay warm and have a great new year.

Sincerely,

Chris Boring