NEBRASKA MEDIGAP POLICIES AVAILABLE IN 2012

NEBRASKA MEDIGAP POLICIES AVAILABLE IN 2012

by George Jacobs, author of Managing Your Medicare, published by Self-Counsel Press


I am doing an extensive analysis of the Medigap (Medicare supplement) policies currently available to Medicare beneficiaries. This is because the structure of new policies available to beneficiaries changed in June of 2010, and by now there is enough information to give some guidance on both the availability and prices of the newly structured policies. And, note that the number of companies offering Medigap policies in Nebraska has increased significantly in the last two years.

There is no need to go into explaining the new structure; this is all spelled out in Managing Your Medicare, on page 157. But what I have available here is information, for those age 65, which is when most beneficiaries get a Medigap policy, on the number of policies available, the lowest priced one available, the highest priced one available, and the median price. Even better, this information is given for each policy type. Also, there is a quick comparison of the median price of each policy type to type “A”, the “basic” policy, so you can easily determine roughly how much more or less the policy type you are looking at compares to the basic one, or indeed, to any other policy type. All this is harder to explain than it is to show. (And you might want to know that the prices for these run about 20% more for a beneficiary age 70.)

A word of caution, though. This data was collected from the Nebraska Department of Insurance website, www.doi.ne.gov/ship/medsup/medsup.pdf. Unlike many state’s similar websites, this one gives the information in a composite manner, and for example, does not separate non-smoking rates from smokers’ rates, or male rates from female rates, or rates in one of the areas in the state from another (although it does separate by age). Rather, it gives the full range of what a particular policy would cost; for example, a Medigap basic, or Policy A, would cost, from International Insurance Co., $1,050 to $1,930 a year. To do the comparisons on the next page, I have somewhat arbitrarily just taken the average of the high and low for each company’s prices for each letter type policy that they offer.

Again, remember that for each policy type, the benefits are exactly the same no matter who sells it, and you should aggressively look for the best price. You will note significant differences in prices for the same policy type; and some of this may be due to restrictions, for example, a policy may not cover a pre-existing condition for a period of time, or a policy may be “issued age” rated, rather that “attained age,” and may be a better buy in the long run, and so forth. The Department of Insurance’s “Comparison Guide” has well-done explanations of these differences, and you should check it out as well as the information in Managing Your Medicare. But a good deal of the variation appears just to be different prices for the same benefits. And, of course, use these dollar amounts as general guides rather than exact “matches,” but they are a good guide to what company’s policies you will want to look more carefully at. The dollar amounts shown below are the rounded annual cost of the policies.

Medigap Policies –– Nebraska –– Age 65

Policy A:  The lowest average price available is $905, the highest is $2,272, and the midpoint is $1,273.  This is the “basic” policy. Some 40 different policies are available.

Policy B:  The lowest average price available is $1,064, the highest is $2,587, and the midpoint is $1,613.  On the whole, these cost about 27% more than Policy A. 16 different policies are available.

Policy C:  The lowest average price available is $1,326, the highest is $2,940, and the midpoint is $1,763.  On the whole, these cost about 38% more than Policy A. 23 different policies are available.

Policy D:  The lowest average price available is $1,241, the highest is $2,433, and the midpoint is $1,502.  On the whole, these cost about 18% more than Policy A. 14 different policies are available.

Policy F:  The lowest average price available is $1,234, the highest is $2,769 and the midpoint is $1,809.  On the whole, these cost about 42% more than Policy A. 38 different policies are available.  These cover all Medigap benefits and are popular.

Policy F – High Deductible:  The lowest average price available is $352 the highest is $903, and the midpoint is $604.  On the whole, these cost about 53% less than Policy A. 10 different policies are available.  The deductible in 2012 is $2,070.

Policy G:  The lowest average price available is $1,070, the highest is $2,400, and the midpoint is $1,469.  On the whole, these cost about 15% more than Policy A. 24 different policies are available.

Policy K:  The lowest average price available is $696, the highest is $1,197, and the midpoint is $911.  On the whole, these cost about 28% less than Policy A. 5 different policies are available.  This is the 50% catastrophic policy. The catastrophic level for this policy in 2012 is $4,660.

Policy L:  The lowest average price available is $1,013, the highest is $1,681, and the midpoint is $1,278.  On the whole, these cost about the same as Policy A. 8 different policies are available.  This is the 75% catastrophic policy. The catastrophic level for this policy in 2012 is $2,330.

Policy M:  The lowest average price available is $1,118, the highest is $1,537, and the midpoint is $1,283.  On the whole, these cost about the same as Policy A. 9 different policies are available.  This policy is very new.

Policy N:  The lowest average price available is $999, the highest is $2,128, and the midpoint is $1,230.  On the whole, these cost about 3% less than Policy A. 25 different policies are available.  This policy is very new.

If you email me at gjacobs23@windstream.net, I can send you an Excel spreadsheet giving more specific details on policies available in Nebraska.