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Medicare Part C Is Misunderstood, Here Are The Facts

Austin Smith

Published: November 4, 2024 10:07 am

Last Updated: November 8, 2024 7:13 am

Key Points:

• Medicare Advantage (Part C) adds dental, vision, and better coverage for about $160 a month through providers like Humana (NYSE: HUM)
• Your total Medicare bill will run around $200-300 monthly, taken straight from Social Security
• Despite annual enrollment periods, changing plans is optional if current coverage meets your needs
• Medicare is just one piece of your retirement puzzle. Find a qualified financial advisor at Smart Asset here to help you navigate Medicare decisions and optimize your retirement strategy. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Doug McIntyre: You know, I’m over 65, you’re over 65. We’re kind of keeping track of Medicare, Medicaid. So there’s new information on part C, how does this work?

[00:00:10] Lee Jackson: Well, for, for our viewers that don’t know, or, you know, some that are getting close to that, really needing to know, you know, 95 or 90 days before you turn 65, you can apply for Medicare and because you’ve paid for it your entire life, the Medicare part a and part B.

[00:00:30] Lee Jackson: Is technically very low price to free, but it doesn’t include a lot. And this is where we want our viewers and the people that read 24 seven to get a thorough understanding of part C, because you see all these advertisements.

[00:00:46] Doug McIntyre: Yeah, it

[00:00:46] Lee Jackson: did. It just, and for the, for the people that don’t understand, they’re like, well, do I call this guy or do I have to change every year?

[00:00:53] Lee Jackson: And it’s like, no. You don’t, but what you do have to do is make an informed decision by looking at a couple of different plans. And that can be Aetna (NYSE: AET), that could be Humana, that could be numerous other companies that do this as kind of a part C, uh, participant, which generally gets you more medical aid, some dental aid, some vision and things of that nature, and typically, you know, I mean, current pricing for.

[00:01:26] Lee Jackson: All sorts of medical plans is ridiculously expensive and it is a break for seniors when they do hit 65. And typically your deduction on a Part C plan, let’s say it’s Humana because that’s what I use, it’s about 160 a month. But, and here’s another good thing for our viewers, you don’t have to do anything.

[00:01:46] Lee Jackson: Once you get the plan you like, whether it be Humana, Aetna, UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH), whomever, once it’s set up, that money is all automatically drawn out. Of your social security distribution, which means you don’t have to send them a check. You don’t have to write everything. And every year, and this is the confusing part, because it always starts about September.

[00:02:07] Lee Jackson: Well, the year is going to end and you can change and you don’t have to change. If you like your plan, you can stay with it. Yeah. It may go up a little bit in price, but typically it doesn’t.

[00:02:18] Doug McIntyre: Now what’s an example of one thing that you pick up if you use supplemental that you don’t have? If you’ve just got the government’s base plan, what’s it

[00:02:27] Lee Jackson: can be all sorts of things from primary care to emergency care, to, you know, ambulance charges.

[00:02:34] Lee Jackson: If you have to take a ride in an ambulance to a drug costs, in many cases, it helps with drug costs, but there’s a whole plethora and it varies from plan to plan, but there’s, there’s, it’s definitely a must have. And for most seniors, it’s very affordable. And again, um, you just can call one of the representatives cause you can see plenty of numbers and they’re more than willing to talk to you and beat you into their plan, but typically they all work good.

[00:03:03] Lee Jackson: I’ve had the Humana for a couple of years and it’s been fine. And the guy that I talked to a Humana, if I have questions, when I give him a ring, he’ll call me back and say, like when we moved. Here’s a good example. When we moved here from Louisiana to Mississippi, well, I, you know, I didn’t, the plans are different from state to state.

[00:03:22] Lee Jackson: And that’s another thing that you need to acknowledge. So I said, Hey, can you send me a list of doctors in the Tupelo area that are accepting Humana, uh, you know, as the, and, and typically, typically it’s really your primary, uh, insurance, the part C. And he was really kind and he sent it in a couple of minutes, maybe 30 minutes, and it helped me find a doctor here.

[00:03:48] Doug McIntyre: So it’s for something like what you’re doing, it’s a hundred, 200 a month.

[00:03:54] Lee Jackson: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean my, the total drawdown from my payment, A, B and C is yeah, a couple hundred, 300 bucks, something like that. But again, it’s all taken out.