I had a chat with a fellow today that was looking to enroll in a supplement plan, specifically Medigap plan D. After a few minutes of conversation I learned that he only has Medicare Part A and Part B and was waiting on someone to send him information on Medigap plan D.
I found this quite fascinating on a lot of different levels.
- Medicare supplement plan D is not very popular
- Most people have never heard of plan D
- Most carriers in Georgia don’t even offer plan D
- Medigap plan D is not competitive in Georgia
- He got his information from a phone call to Social Security (who was sending him details)
- Medicare supplement plan D was only $39 per month
When he quoted the premium I knew something was wrong.
The man is 79 years old.
A quick check of the few carriers that offer plan D told me what I already knew. Plan D for his age and zip code start at $200 per month and go up.
I decided he must be confused. He was probably thinking about a Medicare Part D drug plan.
This seemed to upset him because his response was “I don’t take no danged drugs”.
OK . . . .
So I told him I was looking at premiums for Medigap plan D and the premiums were a lot higher than $39 . . . more like $200 and up.
This frustrated him a bit more. He wanted to know if I was with Social Security.
No, I am an independent insurance agent specializing in Medicare products.
“I figured as much. You are just a con man trying to rip me off. Social Security will sell me plan D that covers everything not covered by Medicare for $39”.
You learn something new every day.
Unless you are this man who believe Social Security would never give him bum information.
Seriously, I don’t believe Social Security misled him, but I do believe he misunderstood. It does make me wonder what he will do when he gets the information from Social Security. Will he understand what he has or will he believe they told him the truth and this Medicare agent from Atlanta was just feeding him a line?
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