Speaker 1: And our phone lines they are open to you right now.
Speaker 1: Love to get your question this morning for our retirement
Speaker 1: planning professionals from Coss Financial. We're going to be talking
Speaker 1: this week about Medicare and some other things as well.
Speaker 1: But keep in mind if you have a question, it
Speaker 1: could be anything retirement related. That's a great thing about
Speaker 1: having the folks from Coss Financial on each and every week.
Speaker 1: It's a prime opportunity to ask any question you may
Speaker 1: have and they are here to provide those answers. Again,
Speaker 1: all I got to just pick up pone gives call
Speaker 1: six h eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six
Speaker 1: oh eight three two one thirteen ten. Speaking of learning
Speaker 1: more about the folks at Coss Financial, their website, it's
Speaker 1: a fantastic resource. Cossfinancial dot com. That's Coss Klaas Financial
Speaker 1: dot com. Not only can you learn about Coss Financial
Speaker 1: their separate divisions, you get to know the team there.
Speaker 1: You can also sign up for the weekly market Paul's
Speaker 1: newsletter that available to you at Cossfinancial dot com. Speak
Speaker 1: of other things available to you as well, they're telephone
Speaker 1: number six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
Speaker 1: Don't forget that first appointment at cost Financial. It is complimentary.
Speaker 1: It will be free to you again. The telephone number
Speaker 1: four the office six O eight four four two five
Speaker 1: six three seven. And joining us this morning are our
Speaker 1: retirement planning professionals CJ. Closs and Eric Schwartz. CJ. How
Speaker 1: you doing today?
Speaker 2: I'm doing great. Good morning, Sean.
Speaker 1: Great to talk with you.
Speaker 3: Eric.
Speaker 1: How have you been?
Speaker 4: Not too bad? It's a little snowy out there today,
Speaker 4: but not too bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it's it's a weird one. I'm so ready
Speaker 1: for I think we all have. Of course, today is
Speaker 1: the first day of spring. Think we're all ready for
Speaker 1: warmer weather. And we've got an important conversation ahead, and
Speaker 1: of course questions about medicare and exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: And I know folks are paying a lot of attention
Speaker 1: in certain areas and other folks have kind of ignored
Speaker 1: some of it, and that's an important conversation to have.
Speaker 1: So we'll get to that in just a moment. But
Speaker 1: before we get to this week's topic and conversation, as
Speaker 1: well as your call, let's actually take a look back
Speaker 1: at last week's program. Of course, the class quiz question
Speaker 1: a week, we do one each and every week. This
Speaker 1: week will be no exception. We'll have your chance to
Speaker 1: win a twenty five dollars gift card to Texas Roadhouse
Speaker 1: provided by our friends at Coloss Financial. Little tip listen
Speaker 1: close to the program. Just about every show, the question
Speaker 1: and answer comes up during the program. And speaking of
Speaker 1: taking a look back at last week's claus Quiz question
Speaker 1: of the Week, Eric, let's get the question and answer
Speaker 1: there as well.
Speaker 4: Absolutely so, thank you to all of our listeners last
Speaker 4: week for tuning in, and congratulations to our winner, who
Speaker 4: was Holly from Madison. And the question last week was
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty five, what is the total amount that
Speaker 4: you can contribute into your employer's retirement plan if you're
Speaker 4: under age fifty? So the choices were twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 4: or twenty three thousand, five hundred dollars and Holly knew
Speaker 4: that the correct answer was twenty three thousand, five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Congratulations Holly. You two can be like Holly. Just be
Speaker 1: close tench to the program again not only to get
Speaker 1: some great information, but you got to lig up on
Speaker 1: everybody when it comes to the class Quiz question the
Speaker 1: week because again both the question and answer come up
Speaker 1: during the program if you got a question speaking of
Speaker 1: love to get you on the show this morning, gets
Speaker 1: you on the air six eight three two one thirteen ten.
Speaker 1: That's six eight three two one thirteen ten, Get you
Speaker 1: on the air with Aeric and CJ from Class Financial.
Speaker 1: And today we're going to be talking about Medicare. And
Speaker 1: I've got to admit and I hear a lot about
Speaker 1: Medicare over the years, but the political folks often are
Speaker 1: talking about it, and of course not quite yet sixty
Speaker 1: five and haven't paid a ton of attention, what do
Speaker 1: what do folks need to know? Then, CJ when it
Speaker 1: comes to Medicare.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, Sean. You know, most of our information
Speaker 2: about this, if we're not yet sixty five, is often
Speaker 2: driven by what we hear through political discourse. And so unfortunately,
Speaker 2: most of what you hear regarding Medicare from major news
Speaker 2: outlets or even just we'll call it from political candidates
Speaker 2: is what's wrong with the program and how it's a
Speaker 2: large unfunded liability of the US federal government. And certainly,
Speaker 2: while these conversations are interesting, and we all probably have
Speaker 2: our own opinions about the US federal government getting involved
Speaker 2: in providing citizens with healthcare solutions. We are going to
Speaker 2: avoid that part of the more political political discussion for today.
Speaker 2: So well, we understand that a lot of people have
Speaker 2: strong opinions about that. That's not the point of our
Speaker 2: discussion today. Instead, we're going to focus the remainder of
Speaker 2: our show on explaining to how Medicare works and why
Speaker 2: it's so important for US citizens to understand the program
Speaker 2: as they approach sixty five. So I don't mean to
Speaker 2: be disrespectful, but do your best to set your opinion aside,
Speaker 2: because as it stands today, Medicare is the law of
Speaker 2: the land, and so you're going to have to deal
Speaker 2: with it whether you like it, whether you love it,
Speaker 2: or whether you hate it. Now quick disclaimers, we start
Speaker 2: talking about Medicare today. While many of our advisors at
Speaker 2: Class Financial are insurance licensed, we do not currently sell
Speaker 2: insurance products to our clients, and therefore, the good news
Speaker 2: is because many of us are licensed, like I am,
Speaker 2: I can speak to this from a position of authority
Speaker 2: and understanding while avoiding the conflict of interest of thinking
Speaker 2: about selling any of this stuff. Okay, let's get started
Speaker 2: with some of the basics. You know, beginning with What
Speaker 2: is the definition of Medicare? According to medicare dot gov,
Speaker 2: Medicare is a federal health insurance program in the United
Speaker 2: States for people sixty five or older. Simple as that,
Speaker 2: you may be eligible to get Medicare if you have
Speaker 2: a disability and stage renal disease or als, even if
Speaker 2: you're not yet sixty five. Some people get Medicare automatically,
Speaker 2: while others have to actively sign up, and it depends
Speaker 2: on if you start getting retirement or disability benefits from
Speaker 2: Social Security before you turn sixty five. Of course, many
Speaker 2: people want to know what Social Security has to do
Speaker 2: with Medicare, and I'll be frank with you, this can
Speaker 2: be an area of confusion since Medicare typically becomes available
Speaker 2: at sixty five, while Social Security can be drawn as
Speaker 2: early as sixty two and as late as seventy or
Speaker 2: somewhere in between. Those is your full retirement age between
Speaker 2: sixty six and sixty seven. So we often run into
Speaker 2: people saying, O, wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about.
Speaker 2: What does me signing up for Medicare have to do
Speaker 2: with Social Security? How to intertwined? And the reality is
Speaker 2: they're both kind of like government managed programs that have
Speaker 2: interactions between one another, so that's what we're referencing here.
Speaker 2: They are different ages, but they have interactions. So let's
Speaker 2: talk about those interactions. According to Medicare dot gov, if
Speaker 2: you apply to start receiving retirement benefits from Social Security
Speaker 2: at least four months before you turn sixty five, you
Speaker 2: will automatically get Part A and Part B of Medicare
Speaker 2: when you turn sixty five. So hear that again. If
Speaker 2: you've already signed up to receive your soci Security retirement
Speaker 2: benefits four months before you turn sixty five, then the
Speaker 2: good news is it's automatic when you turn sixty five
Speaker 2: that you're going to get Medicare Part A and Part B. Now, notably,
Speaker 2: you will still need to make important decisions about how
Speaker 2: you get your coverage, including adding drug coverage and supplements
Speaker 2: or what are known as metagap programs that will time
Speaker 2: talk about later. But the good news is that if
Speaker 2: you've started Social Security, then there's an automatic feature unless
Speaker 2: you opt out, which we're going to talk about that
Speaker 2: in a moment. We get yeah, go ahead, you'll.
Speaker 1: Get to that in just a moment. A lot of
Speaker 1: really good information from CJ and Eric. We'll continue our
Speaker 1: conversation mention. The phone lines are open and Randy called in. Randy,
Speaker 1: this is the first time I've seen some of these
Speaker 1: words typed out in order like this. Hopefully this is
Speaker 1: a unique one. Randy, welcome to the program. You have
Speaker 1: a question for CJ and Eric.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know if you can answer it or not.
Speaker 5: It's regarding our real estate tax referred exchange. And what
Speaker 5: my thought process is is I'm selling an income property
Speaker 5: buying another property that is currently vacant but would be
Speaker 5: producing income once I buy it and get it fixed
Speaker 5: up and start renting it out. Would that be considered
Speaker 5: a tax reford exchange because the second property is more expensive,
Speaker 5: but it currently is not rented out. So is it
Speaker 5: a like to like exchange?
Speaker 2: Oh man, such a great question, Randy. I'll give my
Speaker 2: two cents on these answer. Yeah, no, really great question.
Speaker 2: First off, thanks for the question, and everybody who's listening
Speaker 2: right now, you know, be more like Randy call in
Speaker 2: and ask these questions because I love getting stumped, and Randy,
Speaker 2: you might have stumped me on this one. So just
Speaker 2: to make sure everybody's on the same page, Randy is
Speaker 2: talking about a ten thirty one exchange. This has to
Speaker 2: do with real estate where you have a rental property,
Speaker 2: you've depreciated out a bunch of your original purchase. It's
Speaker 2: called depreciated basis, and then you don't want to necessarily
Speaker 2: sell that and realize it's called a depreciation recapture plus
Speaker 2: any capital gain on top of that, because there's a
Speaker 2: lot of taxes associated, So you do a ten thirty
Speaker 2: one exchange to a like property. That's what Randy is
Speaker 2: asking about. What I'd say, Randy is, I don't know.
Speaker 2: This is not the nuances of does it qualify for
Speaker 2: a like to like exchange? And I think this has
Speaker 2: to be done within like ninety days. There's a time
Speaker 2: limit on it and there so to answer your question,
Speaker 2: I don't know you would want to talk to your
Speaker 2: CPA or accountant to see if it qualifies. But let
Speaker 2: me pause, Eric, do you have any opinion on this?
Speaker 4: No, I was gonna I was gonna say the same thing.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: Speaking to your accounting on this is probably going to
Speaker 4: get you the best information, especially when it comes to
Speaker 4: the definition of what is a like property.
Speaker 1: That is uh, And I love these questions. I saw
Speaker 1: I saw Randy's question pop up guys that I don't
Speaker 1: think we've ever had anything a good one. It is
Speaker 1: a good.
Speaker 2: One, don't I love that, Randy Things were smart enough
Speaker 2: to on the fly like understand that nuance. But by
Speaker 2: the way, I'm not making fun of you, Randy. I
Speaker 2: love the question. It's just I'm not I could probably
Speaker 2: look it up and get you a better definition, but
Speaker 2: I don't know the information off the top of my head.
Speaker 1: Really good call, really good question. You two can be
Speaker 1: like Randy. If you've got a question for CJ and Eric,
Speaker 1: we'd love to have you joined us this morning. Telephen
Speaker 1: number six of eight three two one thirteen ten. That's
Speaker 1: six O eight three two one thirteen ten. We are
Speaker 1: talking this week about Medicare. If you've got a question
Speaker 1: about anything, though, you can definitely join the program and
Speaker 1: talk about some interesting stuff there. As we're hearing CJ
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about some of the some of
Speaker 1: the numbers and some of the ages. You know, kind
Speaker 1: of have that basic understanding as well of what Medicare
Speaker 1: is and what age people are typically eligible. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about some kind of a better understanding of some of
Speaker 1: those core components of Medicare, and it'll put that to.
Speaker 4: Eric, absolutely, So let's kind of start at the beginning.
Speaker 4: It's something CJ just touched on, but I want to
Speaker 4: really drive home. So to become eligible for Medicare, you
Speaker 4: basically there's basically four ways that we that we see
Speaker 4: when we're working with folks. So by far the most
Speaker 4: common is reaching age sixty five, so talking to retirees
Speaker 4: are soon to be retirees age sixty five is kind
Speaker 4: of like the promised Land. They want to get to
Speaker 4: that affordable health insurance. The other way you can qualify
Speaker 4: is by being disabled and receiving Social Security Disability insurance payments.
Speaker 4: And then the final two ways that CJ also mentioned
Speaker 4: earlier are if you have end stage renal disease or
Speaker 4: if you have als. So, in addition to the list
Speaker 4: of kind of how you become eligible for Medicare, you
Speaker 4: must also generally be a US citizen or a lawfully
Speaker 4: admitted permanent resident who's lived in the US for at
Speaker 4: least five years. And then beyond that, if you ander
Speaker 4: your spouse have worked and paid Medicare taxes for a
Speaker 4: certain amount of time, usually ten years, you'll likely qualify
Speaker 4: for a premium free Medicare Part A, which is which
Speaker 4: is your hospital insurance?
Speaker 1: Talking this morning with CJ. Closs and Eric Swartz. Fantastic
Speaker 1: information from our retirement planning professionals. If you've got a question,
Speaker 1: love to have you joined us this mort in six
Speaker 1: oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six oh
Speaker 1: eight three two one thirteen ten, and Pat joins us. Pat,
Speaker 1: welcome to the program. You're on the air with CJ.
Speaker 1: Closs and Eric Schwartz of Class Fiel.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I have a question.
Speaker 5: I am.
Speaker 3: I'm sixty six years old and I'm self employed, and
Speaker 3: we see benefits for Social Security. I bet a care
Speaker 3: of course, so the additional income that I want to say,
Speaker 3: what's the best way to invest that money? I know
Speaker 3: people say we give an IRA, but and I feel
Speaker 3: like you can text on that IRA if you keep
Speaker 3: with drawings from it. I already see the text on
Speaker 3: the income quarterly.
Speaker 2: Hmm, great question. I think I understand your question. Again,
Speaker 2: I like to just repose this to the audience so
Speaker 2: they make sure they understand the question. So what I
Speaker 2: heard you say is that you're sixty six self employed,
Speaker 2: You're receiving Social Security benefits and on Medicare, but you're wondering,
Speaker 2: if you're earning income, what's the best way to save
Speaker 2: for the future. Because your question as well, given that
Speaker 2: I'm self employed, I'm paying you know, quarterly taxes on this,
Speaker 2: and why would I want to take after tax money
Speaker 2: and put it into a retirement account and then pull
Speaker 2: it out later and pay taxes. Am I summarizing that accurately?
Speaker 3: Yes, just exactly what I'm ask.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, here's the good news. What you're missing on
Speaker 2: that component is that if you do an IRA contribution,
Speaker 2: And by the way, I'm not saying this is what
Speaker 2: I would suggest, I would actually need to talk to
Speaker 2: you and determine if I even suggest this. But good
Speaker 2: news is one thing you're misunderstanding is that if you
Speaker 2: do an IRA contribution, you will get to deduct that
Speaker 2: at the end of the year and you'll get a
Speaker 2: refund of your quarterly estimates. Because basically what's happening is
Speaker 2: they're saying you shouldn't have paid as much tax because
Speaker 2: say you are. I'm going to use big numbers. I
Speaker 2: earn one hundred thousand dollars, I put you know, eight
Speaker 2: thousand dollars into an IRA if I'm paying quarterly estimates
Speaker 2: based on one hundred thousand. That's actually wrong. I should
Speaker 2: have paid quarterly estimates based on the ninety two thousands,
Speaker 2: so they'll refund me the taxes that were overpaid. Therefore,
Speaker 2: it's the equivalent of a pre tax contribution retirement account.
Speaker 2: Now to your original point, you're still going to have
Speaker 2: to pay taxes in the future when you pull that out, right,
Speaker 2: So it's not you're not avoiding taxes. You're just pushing
Speaker 2: out the taxes into the future. And the reason you
Speaker 2: might do that is because when you're retired and no
Speaker 2: longer self employed, your tax bracket might be lower. Now,
Speaker 2: am I suggesting this, No, I'm just telling you how
Speaker 2: it works and explaining to you the way that you
Speaker 2: know you'll actually get a deduction, YadA, YadA. But what
Speaker 2: my advice would be on what you should do is
Speaker 2: really more of a nuanced conversation. So I might suggest
Speaker 2: you talk to an advisor at some point and see
Speaker 2: if that's even a good.
Speaker 1: IDEA really good question this morning, Pat, And also, I
Speaker 1: know we've talked about some of this stuff in great
Speaker 1: depth on some of the previous shows. A great opportunity
Speaker 1: to check out the website Classfinancial Dot com subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast. I've got a complete listing as well online.
Speaker 1: Speaking of getting some advice, telephone number for Coss Financial
Speaker 1: six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
Speaker 1: No charge for that initial get to know you appointment
Speaker 1: tach Loss Financial. It will be complementary to you again.
Speaker 1: Their number six oh eight four four two five six
Speaker 1: three seven. We're going to continue our conversation with CJ
Speaker 1: and Eric. We've also still got time if you've got
Speaker 1: a question, love to have you join us this morning
Speaker 1: six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six
Speaker 1: oh eight three two one thirteen ten. We'll continue our
Speaker 1: conversation with Eric and CJ and take your call next
Speaker 1: as Money in Motion with Coss Financial continues right here
Speaker 1: on thirteen ten. Wiba Boking this morning with our retirement
Speaker 1: planning professionals CJ. Closs and Eric Schwartz. Of course they
Speaker 1: come to us from Class Financial. The website Class financial
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Class k l aa S Financial dot com.
Speaker 1: Great website or telephone number six oh eight four four
Speaker 1: two five six three seven. No charge for that initial
Speaker 1: get to know you appointment at Coss Financial. It will
Speaker 1: be complementary to you again. Their number six oh eight
Speaker 1: four four two, five, six three seven talking this week
Speaker 1: about Medicare, and as we kind of we're getting we've
Speaker 1: got some great groundwork late, got some great details as well.
Speaker 1: Are there any other things we need to know about
Speaker 1: how Medicare works?
Speaker 4: Eric, Yeah, Sean, there's unfortunately quite a bit more. But
Speaker 4: when I think a lot of times people will hear
Speaker 4: people talk about letters associated with Medicare, and that causes
Speaker 4: a lot of confusion for clients. So let's kind of
Speaker 4: talk about what those letters mean and kind of how
Speaker 4: they build a health insurance plan for folks over sixty five.
Speaker 4: So Medicare Part A that is the hospital insurance aspect
Speaker 4: of it. So it's covering inpatient care and hospitals, skilled nursing,
Speaker 4: facility care, hospice care, and maybe some level of home healthcare.
Speaker 4: And as we mentioned earlier, this is typically at no
Speaker 4: cost if you and or your spouse have paid Medicare
Speaker 4: taxes for at least ten years. So when I say
Speaker 4: it's no cost, I mean you've paid it.
Speaker 1: Over the years.
Speaker 4: So that's what covers the cost. Medicare Part B this
Speaker 4: is your this is your medical insurance, okay, so that
Speaker 4: covers your services from doctors other healthcare providers. Covers outpatient care,
Speaker 4: home health care, durable medical equipment, and another equipment in
Speaker 4: preventive services that you might need no. Medicare Part B
Speaker 4: involves a monthly premium and an annual deductible. So the
Speaker 4: standard monthly Part B premium for twenty twenty five is
Speaker 4: one hundred and eighty five dollars, and for folks who
Speaker 4: are on Social Security, this is generally just deducted from
Speaker 4: your monthly benefit payments, so a lot of people don't
Speaker 4: even notice this premium is coming out. You are able
Speaker 4: to pay it from your checking account or some other
Speaker 4: method if you are not yet on but Social Security
Speaker 4: retirement benefits. Now that one hundred and eighty five dollars
Speaker 4: monthly premium, depending on what your income is, that can
Speaker 4: actually be higher, so it's a little bit confusing, but
Speaker 4: essentially the Medicare is going to look back two years
Speaker 4: that your income to determine if your monthly premium will
Speaker 4: be higher than one hundred and eighty five dollars. But
Speaker 4: that is the base in twenty twenty five. Now, the
Speaker 4: annual deductible that I mentioned earlier for Medicare Part B,
Speaker 4: it's two hundred and fifty seven dollars, which means that
Speaker 4: you have to pay that amount before Medicare will begin
Speaker 4: paying its share of covered services. Now, I'm sure folks
Speaker 4: listening are who are not on Medicare may say, you know,
Speaker 4: two hundred and fifty seven dollars, that's pretty nice deductible
Speaker 4: on health insurance. But that is, you know, that is
Speaker 4: part of why I mentioned earlier. Folks are generally pretty
Speaker 4: excited to get to sixty five for the for the
Speaker 4: health coverage. Lastly, related to Part B, you may have
Speaker 4: noticed that I mentioned after that two hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: seven dollars deductible Medicare will begin paying its share of
Speaker 4: covered services. So Medicare typically pays eighty percent of the
Speaker 4: approved amount for covered services. So this means that folks
Speaker 4: who are receiving Medicare are responded for the remaining twenty
Speaker 4: percent of those costs. So this twenty percent that's known
Speaker 4: as coinsurance, and that's why people will often pick up
Speaker 4: Medicare supplements or a Medicare advantage plan. And we're going
Speaker 4: to talk about those more here here in a moment,
Speaker 4: but those are generally what are picking up those those
Speaker 4: extra costs no Medicare Part D that is your drug coverage,
Speaker 4: So that's going to help cover the cost of prescription drugs,
Speaker 4: including many recommended shots or vaccines. One problem we often
Speaker 4: see with Medicare Part D is there's a lot of
Speaker 4: confusion caused by the various names people use when talking
Speaker 4: about it. So if you may hear Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit,
Speaker 4: you may hear Medicare RX or just RX plans. You
Speaker 4: may hear prescription drug plans, or Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans. Essentially,
Speaker 4: all these terms relate to Medicare programs that help cover
Speaker 4: the cost of prescription drugs. So while part D is
Speaker 4: the standard term, you should not be surprised to hear
Speaker 4: some of these other terms as well. Now, if you
Speaker 4: join a Medicare Part D drug plan, you do that
Speaker 4: in addition to Medicare Parts A and B, or you
Speaker 4: can get it by joining a Medicare Advantage plan with
Speaker 4: drug coverage. So plans that offer Medicare drug coverage are
Speaker 4: run by private insurance companies that follow very strict rules
Speaker 4: set by Medicare, so they are all standardized plans, but
Speaker 4: they are operated by private insurance companies. And finally, as
Speaker 4: you approach Medicare eligibility age, which for most people's age
Speaker 4: sixty five. As we mentioned earlier, you want to be
Speaker 4: careful not to get hit by something known as the
Speaker 4: late enrollment penalty related to creditable coverage. Without going into
Speaker 4: too much detail here, you can essentially end up with
Speaker 4: a sizable Medicare Part D penalty if after your initial
Speaker 4: enrollment period you go sixty three or more consecutive days
Speaker 4: without either Medicare Parts decoverage or corret what's called the
Speaker 4: creditible Prescription Drug Coverage plan. So watch out for that
Speaker 4: as you are approaching Medicare.
Speaker 1: Is there's a lot to this and one of the
Speaker 1: great things about this program a lot of great information,
Speaker 1: a lot of important information, and sometimes, you know, driving around,
Speaker 1: maybe you don't get a chance to take notes or
Speaker 1: maybe you want to hear something back or share this
Speaker 1: information the podcast. It's available to you at cossfinancial dot com.
Speaker 1: That's Claus k l a A S Financial dot com.
Speaker 1: They're tell forh number six, SOH eight four four two
Speaker 1: five six three seven, hold on to that telephon number.
Speaker 1: Coming up. In the next segment, we'll talk a little
Speaker 1: bit more about Medicare. We'll also do the COSS Quiz
Speaker 1: question of the week as Money in Motion with Cost
Speaker 1: Financial continues next right here on thirteen ten, WIB talking
Speaker 1: with our retirement planning for professional CJ Closs and Eric Schwartz.
Speaker 1: Of course, they come to us from Class Financial the
Speaker 1: website colss financial dot com. That's Class K L A
Speaker 1: A S Financial dot com. They're telling for number six.
Speaker 1: Soh eight four, four, two, five, six three seven talking
Speaker 1: this week about Medicare, and we've covered a lot of
Speaker 1: great CJ, is there anything else that we should know?
Speaker 2: Well to steal a term from my colleague, unfortunately, yes,
Speaker 2: beyond what's called original Medicare, which is parts A and B,
Speaker 2: along with the Medicare Part D, which is not part
Speaker 2: of original Medicare, but is rather prescription drug coverage provided
Speaker 2: by private insurance companies. So beyond those kind of core elements,
Speaker 2: there are a few other components of Medicare to understand.
Speaker 2: And most of you out there, if you know about Medicare,
Speaker 2: you should be going yeah, yeah, yeah, what about Medicare
Speaker 2: supplements and metagap plans. Well that's what we're going to
Speaker 2: talk about next. So Medicare supplements also known as metagap,
Speaker 2: is extra insurance you can buy from a private company
Speaker 2: that helps pay your share of costs and original Medicare.
Speaker 2: For those with a keen ear, you should have already
Speaker 2: known what is meant by your share since that was
Speaker 2: reference in eric section about kind of the co insurance,
Speaker 2: So your share refers to the twenty percent co insurance,
Speaker 2: which can really add up, especially if you require frequent
Speaker 2: or expensive medical services. This is the primary reason why
Speaker 2: most people consider supplemental coverage like Medicare supplements also known
Speaker 2: as Medicap plans. So just when you hear Medicare supplement
Speaker 2: or metagap, those are the same thing. Notably, policies are
Speaker 2: standardized and in most states named by letters A through N.
Speaker 2: The most common metagap plan used to be Plan F,
Speaker 2: but it's no longer available to newly eligible Medicare beneficiaries
Speaker 2: on or after January first of twenty twenty. Currently, as
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty five, the most common metagap or Medicare
Speaker 2: advantage or Medicare supplement plan offered by private insurance companies
Speaker 2: are Plans G and Plan N. Plan G is the
Speaker 2: most popular metigap plan since it offers comprehensive coverage covering
Speaker 2: most of the gaps in original Medicare. People tend to
Speaker 2: choose this metagap Part G plan for its extensive coverage
Speaker 2: and relatively predictable out of pocket costs. Plan N, which
Speaker 2: is the second most popular metagap plan, offers a balance
Speaker 2: between coverage and cost. While it covers many of the
Speaker 2: same benefits as Plan G, it involves some co payments
Speaker 2: for certain office and er visits, which typically means the
Speaker 2: monthly premium for Plan N is lower than for Plan G.
Speaker 2: Which all of this leads us to the final kind
Speaker 2: of core component of Medicare for you to be aware of,
Speaker 2: which is known as Medicare Part C or Medicare Advantage. Now,
Speaker 2: I just want to pause. I hope everybody is either
Speaker 2: taking notes or you say to yourself, I need to
Speaker 2: go listen to that podcast again, because there's a lot
Speaker 2: of details here. You're noticing each of these core components
Speaker 2: has like multiple names, and this is one of the
Speaker 2: biggest reasons why Medicare is so confusing. It's not because
Speaker 2: the planets or the program itself is overly complex. It's
Speaker 2: because each one of the components has like nine names
Speaker 2: that people will use for well, I don't really have
Speaker 2: a fix for you as much as go back and
Speaker 2: listen to this again. So Medicare Part C, which is
Speaker 2: also known as Medicare advantage. Here's the concept to understand.
Speaker 2: When it comes to Medicare Parts C. Americans like choice
Speaker 2: and therefore, during open enrollment in the fall of every
Speaker 2: year or upon a qualifying event, you have two main
Speaker 2: ways to access Medicare coverage. So this is the whole
Speaker 2: point of Medicare advantage. Like, what is this thing Medicare advantage.
Speaker 2: It's basically a secondary choice that takes you off of
Speaker 2: original Medicare. So option number one is known as original Medicare,
Speaker 2: which is everything we talked about previously, right, Parts A
Speaker 2: and B in a meticap plan and a typical Medicare
Speaker 2: Part D prescription plan. Option two is Medicare Part C,
Speaker 2: which is also known as Medicare advantage. This is a
Speaker 2: Medicare approved plan from a private company that offers an
Speaker 2: alternative to original Medicare for your health and drug coverage.
Speaker 2: These are known as bundled plans since they include Part A,
Speaker 2: Part B, and usually Part D. In many cases, you
Speaker 2: can only use doctors who are in plans network, So
Speaker 2: the sounds more like private health insurance, doesn't it. It's like, oh,
Speaker 2: there's a network now. These plans often have different out
Speaker 2: of pocket costs than original Medicare. But these plans also
Speaker 2: often after other benefits like dental and vision, and they
Speaker 2: may include separate premiums, but they're usually cheaper than Medicare
Speaker 2: Medicare supplements. So here's the point of all of this.
Speaker 2: We are not for or against any structure of this.
Speaker 2: We actually love the choice. We love that our older
Speaker 2: clients get to Medicare. We generally love the benefits that
Speaker 2: Medicare provides, and we love the choice that is available
Speaker 2: to you. Unfortunately, there is so much complexity to Medicare
Speaker 2: and so many different names that are used and ways
Speaker 2: that these things can go wrong that we have to
Speaker 2: get quite involved in being watchdogs on behalf of our
Speaker 2: clients so Eric can attest. We unfortunately spend way too
Speaker 2: much time in our meetings asking about what do you want,
Speaker 2: what do you have, what are you paying? Why do
Speaker 2: you have that?
Speaker 1: You need to talk to somebody.
Speaker 2: Again. While we are insurance licensed, we don't sell this stuff,
Speaker 2: so we often have to work with Medicare specialists to
Speaker 2: actually refer our clients out to them to find out
Speaker 2: what's best. If there's one big takeaway from the show today,
Speaker 2: medicare is great but complicated and therefore just can't suggest
Speaker 2: enough find somebody who can advocate on your behalf.
Speaker 1: Really great job explaining a very complicated subject this week,
Speaker 1: that is for sure, And if you do want to
Speaker 1: listen back, as mentioned, a great opportunity to head on
Speaker 1: over to Classfinancial dot com that's closs klaasfinancial dot com.
Speaker 1: Do a single program, play back or subscribe to the podcast,
Speaker 1: which I would recommend again available to you at cossfinancial
Speaker 1: dot com. That's coss k l aas Financial dot com.
Speaker 1: Telephon number for the office right here in Madison six
Speaker 1: oh eight four four two five six three seven. Don't
Speaker 1: forget that first appointment. No charge will be complimentary to
Speaker 1: you again the telephone number six oh eight four four
Speaker 1: two five six three seven. Speaking of a telephone number,
Speaker 1: hold on to it because it's time now for the
Speaker 1: class quiz question of the week. It works like this.
Speaker 1: In just a moment, I'll ask you the class quiz
Speaker 1: question the week. You will then have thirty minutes from
Speaker 1: the en today's program to call the Class Financial Office
Speaker 1: right here in Madison at six oh eight four four
Speaker 1: two five, six three seven. If you are the first
Speaker 1: car correct answer when this week's prize, which is a
Speaker 1: twenty five dollars gift card to Texas Roadhouse. This week's
Speaker 1: class quiz question the week is this. According to Medicare
Speaker 1: dot gov. Medicare is a federal health insurance program in
Speaker 1: the United States for people what age or older? Multiple
Speaker 1: choice Here is it sixty two, sixty five or sixty seven?
Speaker 1: Telephone number six oh eight four four two five six
Speaker 1: three seven, first go out, correct ancel when this week's prize.
Speaker 1: Don't forget as well. That's Class Financials Office here in Madison.
Speaker 1: No charge for that initial gets to know your appointment
Speaker 1: Techlass Financial their number six oh eight four four two
Speaker 1: five six three seven. CJ Eric. It's always great chatting
Speaker 1: with you. We'll do it all again in a week.
Speaker 2: Thanks Sean.
Speaker 1: Thanks Sean, see you guys. Doctor Marty Greer comes your
Speaker 1: way next right here on thirteen ten. Del Bill you
Speaker 1: Ivey