Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / Bad News and Really Great News

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Bad News and Really Great News · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

0:00
Suze: Hi, everybody. Suze O here. You're listening to the Women
0:03
Suze: and Money podcast. Now, normally right here, there is a
0:07
Suze: promo for the sponsor of the Women and Money podcast. However,
0:11
Suze: I want you to listen to this podcast all the
0:15
Suze: way through, this particular one.
0:18
Suze: The first part are things you really need to know,
0:21
Suze: especially if you are older, that I don't think is
0:24
Suze: very great news. The second part is really great, great
0:30
Suze: news and something I hope all of you take advantage of.
0:34
Suze: So make sure you listen all the way through. Are
0:39
Suze: you ready? Let's begin.
0:49
Suze: October 4th, 2026. Hi everybody, Suze O here and welcome
0:55
Suze: to the Women in Money podcast and everybody smart enough
0:59
Suze: to listen. I am recording this podcast on October 1st
1:05
Suze: because we are about to leave to go to LA
1:09
Suze: on October 4th. I'll be giving the closing keynote at
1:14
Suze: the Alex Theater in Glendale, California.
1:17
Suze: And hopefully if you want, I'm sure there's still some
1:20
Suze: tickets left. If not, oh, just come in, but go
1:23
Suze: to SuzeOrman.com/empower and if you can't be there, just scroll
1:30
Suze: down and that is where you can sign up for
1:34
Suze: a free stream and watch it all. So, I don't know,
1:39
Suze: that might be a whole lot of fun.
1:41
Suze: However, after my talk, I am doing a meet and
1:45
Suze: greet and just know for those of you who will
1:48
Suze: be there, they're calling it a book signing, but you
1:51
Suze: do not have to buy a book to come and
1:53
Suze: greet me or take a picture with me or do whatever. So,
1:59
Suze: I'm kind of excited to see what happens.
2:01
Suze: There from there on October 5th we make our way
2:06
Suze: to Istanbul for three days. Then on October 9th we
2:11
Suze: will be in Kenya. October 12th we will be in Paris,
2:16
Suze: and who knows after that, but we should be back
2:20
Suze: after about October 22nd just so you know, all right.
2:27
Suze: Now, today, I have to tell you, is a very
2:31
Suze: interesting day. Get out your notebooks, because today is Suze School,
2:35
Suze: and I have two things I want to talk to
2:39
Suze: you about. The first part of this Suze School is
2:44
Suze: something that you need to know that isn't great news.
2:48
Suze: I'm just gonna tell you that right now for many,
2:51
Suze: many of you.
2:53
Suze: The second part, however, is absolutely incredible news, and I
3:01
Suze: know if you're smart, you're gonna love what I have
3:05
Suze: to tell you for the second part of this podcast.
3:10
Suze: Do you remember last week I gave you a master
3:12
Suze: class on Medicare and I briefly talked about Medicare Advantage
3:18
Suze: and I said, as I've always said...
3:22
Suze: Please, if you can get Medicare and Medigap insurance and
3:28
Suze: stay away from Medicare Advantage. Well, of course, many of
3:32
Suze: you wrote me, and what did you do? "You said, Suze,
3:34
Suze: why don't you like Medicare Advantage? It has worked so
3:38
Suze: well for me." And I wrote you back, and you
3:40
Suze: know who all of you are, and I said, Have
3:43
Suze: you ever tried to make a claim?
3:46
Suze: And you said, "no." I said, have you ever been
3:49
Suze: sick or had to really use it?
3:51
Suze: And you said "no." I said, well, one day when
3:56
Suze: you need it, you're going to find out why I
3:58
Suze: don't like it, but there is another reason I don't
4:01
Suze: like it, and here it is.
4:04
Suze: Bloomberg reported on October 1st, and that is the day
4:10
Suze: I'm recording this, so it's just happened today, that major
4:14
Suze: health insurers are cutting back their Medicare Advantage offerings for 2027.
4:21
Suze: What does that mean? It means some plans are going
4:23
Suze: to disappear. Some insurers are leaving certain counties altogether.
4:29
Suze: It means benefits can change, networks can change, and some
4:33
Suze: people who have a Medicare Advantage plan today may discover
4:39
Suze: that the plan that they have relied on, all those
4:41
Suze: people that wrote me, they've relied upon it, simply will
4:45
Suze: not be the same plan available to them next year
4:50
Suze: or worse yet, it may not be available at all.
4:56
Suze: But why, Suze?
4:57
Suze: Are you wondering why is this happening?
5:00
Suze: Listen, you all need to remember something. You know, insurance
5:04
Suze: companies are not my favorite thing, but that is besides
5:06
Suze: the point. Insurance companies, however, are businesses, and they have shareholders. Oh,
5:14
Suze: they have expenses, they have to make money, and Medicare
5:18
Suze: Advantage has become more challenging for some of the insurers,
5:23
Suze: as medical costs, you know, inflation just hasn't hit your
5:27
Suze: food or your gasoline.
5:29
Suze: Right? It has also hit medical costs, and when medical
5:34
Suze: costs go up and all of you are using more
5:37
Suze: health care, when your prescription drugs and what they cost
5:41
Suze: have increased, and the government has changed how some Medicare
5:47
Suze: Advantage payments are calculated.
5:51
Suze: Guess what happens? Uh-huh.
5:54
Suze: Insurance companies are looking at the plans and the geographic areas, everybody,
6:00
Suze: that are not producing the financial results that they want.
6:05
Suze: They're not caring about you. They're not caring if you're
6:07
Suze: gonna get sick and you're in one of those geographic locations,
6:11
Suze: but when they find a geographic location that's costing them
6:15
Suze: too much money, what are they doing? They are pulling back.
6:19
Suze: Now I don't want you to hear this and panic.
6:22
Suze: I know how some of you panic. You write me panicked.
6:25
Suze: It's not that Medicare Advantage is disappearing, because it is not.
6:31
Suze: There will still be Medicare Advantage plans, I'm sure, available
6:36
Suze: throughout most of the country.
6:38
Suze: But everybody, I'm telling you this is a wake up
6:41
Suze: call because there is something I have told you for years.
6:46
Suze: You cannot put your financial life on autopilot, haven't I
6:49
Suze: told you that? And you cannot put your Medicare coverage
6:53
Suze: on autopilot either. So last week didn't I say every
6:57
Suze: single year you need to look because here's what happens
7:00
Suze: you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, OK.
7:03
Suze: You like your doctor, you like your hospital, you love
7:07
Suze: your benefits, even though maybe you haven't used them yet,
7:09
Suze: but that's besides the point.
7:11
Suze: Maybe you like that you're paying a very low premium,
7:15
Suze: and there are some of you, which is why you
7:17
Suze: love it, you are not paying any premium at all
7:21
Suze: for the Medicare Advantage plan, and you think to yourself, "OK,
7:26
Suze: I'm done. I don't need to look at this anymore.
7:29
Suze: It's hardly costing me anything. Maybe it's not costing me
7:32
Suze: anything at all."
7:34
Suze: But you're not dumb, because the plan can change. Your
7:39
Suze: doctor can leave the network, your hospital, are you writing
7:43
Suze: this down? Your hospital can leave the network, your prescription
7:48
Suze: drug can move to another tier.
7:51
Suze: Your copay can change. Your deductible can change. Your maximum
7:56
Suze: out of pocket amount can change. Your dental benefits can change.
8:01
Suze: Your vision benefits can change, your hearing benefits can change,
8:04
Suze: and the entire plan can disappear from your area. Are
8:08
Suze: you hearing me? So if you are enrolled in Medicare Advantage,
8:14
Suze: you should receive an annual notice of change. You need
8:18
Suze: to look for it.
8:20
Suze: And if you get it, I want you to actually
8:24
Suze: read it. Oh, how novel is that.
8:26
Suze: You're going to open it up and read it. I
8:29
Suze: am begging you not to throw it away. Don't look
8:31
Suze: at it and say, Oh, Medicare stuff, I'll deal with
8:34
Suze: that later. Uh, uh, you have to deal with it now.
8:37
Suze: Now I am repeating what I said to you last week,
8:40
Suze: but because of what happened today, this deserves repeating. And
8:46
Suze: the reason is again because Medicare open enrollment, as I
8:50
Suze: told you before, runs from October 15th through December 7th.
8:55
Suze: And this year I want every single one of you
8:58
Suze: who is on Medicare Advantage, especially to compare your coverage,
9:05
Suze: especially if you love your current plan, because you need
9:09
Suze: to know whether the things you love about the plan
9:13
Suze: that you have today are still going to be there
9:18
Suze: in 2027, if at all.
9:22
Suze: I know I did this last week, but here's what
9:26
Suze: I really need you to do. I need you to
9:29
Suze: make sure if you don't have your Suze notebooks open now,
9:32
Suze: you really do.
9:34
Suze: And in your notebook, or even just on a piece
9:37
Suze: of paper, I want you to write down every doctor
9:42
Suze: you regularly see.
9:45
Suze: Can you write down every specialist you see?
9:49
Suze: Can you write down the hospital you would want to
9:52
Suze: go to if something serious happened, and then I need
9:58
Suze: you to write down every prescription you take.
10:03
Suze: Now you are going to compare that list with the
10:06
Suze: plan you will have in 2027 and just ask yourself
10:11
Suze: and look at it, are those doctors still in network?
10:15
Suze: Are those specialists still in network? Is that hospital still
10:19
Suze: in network? Are your drugs still covered?
10:23
Suze: And what are they going to cost? Because I do
10:25
Suze: not want you choosing health insurance, simply because somebody tells
10:29
Suze: you it's a $0 premium.
10:34
Suze: A $0 premium does not mean $0 health care. You
10:41
Suze: can save a few dollars maybe on a premium, but
10:44
Suze: you can also spend thousands more when you actually need Medicare.
10:50
Suze: Do you know how many thousands of people on Medicare Advantage,
10:56
Suze: wrote me and told me stories that are like are
10:59
Suze: you kidding me so don't just ask what is the
11:03
Suze: premium ask what could this cost me if I get sick.
11:08
Suze: Again, look at your deductible, your co-pays, your co-insurance, your
11:12
Suze: prescription costs, and look at the maximum amount you could
11:17
Suze: potentially have to pay out of pocket.
11:20
Suze: Now, there's another issue here that you have to understand.
11:26
Suze: Some of you may hear all of this and think, "Oh, Suze,
11:29
Suze: forget Medicare Advantage. I'll go back to original Medicare and
11:32
Suze: buy a Medigap policy."
11:35
Suze: I went over this last week, but I'm gonna do
11:37
Suze: it one more time, cause too many of you wrote
11:40
Suze: me saying, oh, you're gonna think about doing that.
11:45
Suze: Now, this can be seriously a totally wise decision for
11:49
Suze: some people, but you cannot assume that you can always
11:54
Suze: switch from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare and automatically
12:00
Suze: buy whatever Mediap policy you want. So there are specific
12:05
Suze: periods when you have guaranteed issue rights.
12:08
Suze: There are also circumstances when a Medicare Advantage plan leaves
12:12
Suze: Medicare or stops covering your area that can give you
12:16
Suze: certain federal protections, and some states have additional protections, but
12:22
Suze: depending on your circumstances, everybody, your ability to buy Mediap
12:27
Suze: later may be very different from your ability to buy
12:31
Suze: it when you are first eligible.
12:34
Suze: So, do not cancel one form of coverage until you
12:37
Suze: know exactly what you can replace it with. Never give
12:40
Suze: up something until you know what you are getting. This
12:45
Suze: implies to your money, it applies to insurance, and it
12:50
Suze: certainly applies to Medicare. Now, why am I spending so
12:54
Suze: much time on this today again?
12:57
Suze: Because the insurance companies are doing exactly what I tell
13:00
Suze: you to do with your own finances. They're looking at
13:04
Suze: the numbers, they're deciding what works for them financially, and
13:09
Suze: they are making changes. You need to do exactly the
13:13
Suze: same thing. They are looking after their financial interests. You
13:18
Suze: need to look after yours.
13:20
Suze: Back to the insurance companies for a second because this
13:24
Suze: is what I want to leave you with. Next year,
13:27
Suze: as some of the largest Medicare Advantage providers are cutting
13:33
Suze: benefits and discontinuing some of the plans, if you have
13:38
Suze: United Health Group, about 390,000 people are part of plans
13:45
Suze: that are shutting down.
13:48
Suze: From Humana, a spokesman from them said, that will cut
13:53
Suze: plans covering about 600,000 people.
13:59
Suze: CVS Health Corp, Aetna, Centen Corp are also shrinking their
14:05
Suze: Medicare Advantage options, according to Wall Street analysts who review
14:11
Suze: government data published this week.
14:15
Suze: Obviously, other options have to be offered to you, but
14:20
Suze: don't wait. You need to find out if you are
14:24
Suze: in one of the areas, if you're with one of
14:27
Suze: those companies, that possibly this is going to affect you.
14:34
Suze: That's why I said this isn't great news, cause I'm
14:37
Suze: sure there are many of you seriously, because of how
14:39
Suze: many of you listen to the Women in Money podcast,
14:43
Suze: that this possibly could affect. But for all of you
14:48
Suze: who haven't yet chosen, you're not 65 yet.
14:54
Suze: Can you just hear what I just said?
14:57
Suze: And can you do what I've asked all of you
14:59
Suze: to do if at all possible? Choose Medicare over Medicare Advantage.
15:07
Suze: Now, are you all ready for the good news? I've
15:09
Suze: been waiting for this for some time. Do you remember
15:12
Suze: a few weeks ago I was talking about interest rates
15:14
Suze: and what interest rates do, and they're going up and
15:17
Suze: what happened with the Fed funds rate and all of
15:19
Suze: that fun stuff. Do you remember me saying to you,
15:23
Suze: I don't want you locking in any money right now
15:28
Suze: in a certificate of deposit or certificates at credit unions
15:33
Suze: for that matter.
15:35
Suze: Now there was method to my madness, and the method
15:39
Suze: was very simple.
15:41
Suze: I had a feeling interest rates were going to go up,
15:45
Suze: and that why lock in two or three weeks ago
15:48
Suze: when you could probably get a significantly higher rate right now.
15:54
Suze: And to that end, I started to work with Alliant
15:59
Suze: Credit Union, who you know, sponsors this podcast. I do
16:03
Suze: not make any money if you do something with them,
16:06
Suze: if you don't, they simply sponsor the podcast.
16:11
Suze: And I said, everybody's looking to lock in a great rate.
16:17
Suze: And I was talking to Mike Dobbins, the CEO, and
16:19
Suze: I was saying, Mike, what can you do? You don't
16:22
Suze: have to do it for everybody, but is there something
16:25
Suze: that you can do special just for Suze listeners? You know,
16:32
Suze: those that go to MyAlliant.com, not that go to Alliant.
16:37
Suze: Anywhere else they don't go to your other sites, but
16:41
Suze: they're my people, and the reason we know they're my
16:44
Suze: people is they go to MyAlliant.com.
16:48
Suze: And he came back to me. And he said, "Suze....
16:53
Suze: From the day that you're all hearing this, October 4th
16:59
Suze: all the way through October 31st, 2026.
17:06
Suze: If your people and your people, only, this is exclusive
17:10
Suze: just for your people, Suze. If your people want one
17:15
Suze: of the highest rates out there, if not the highest
17:19
Suze: rate out there,
17:21
Suze: We are willing to offer just to your people 4.45
17:27
Suze: APY for a 12 month certificate, and for those of
17:33
Suze: you who have larger sums of money, $75,000 or more,
17:38
Suze: it's 4.5 APY."
17:44
Suze: Now, look around.
17:47
Suze: Check it all out. As I'm recording this, those rates
17:50
Suze: are actually a little bit higher than the one-year Treasury.
17:56
Suze: So, treasuries are sliding back a little bit here.
18:01
Suze: Will interest rates continue to go up farther than they're
18:05
Suze: going right now, maybe.
18:08
Suze: But chances are I don't think so. There's so much
18:14
Suze: speculation in the next two meetings. Are they going to
18:17
Suze: raise rates? What are they going to do? And I
18:20
Suze: have found that rather than waiting to see, can something
18:24
Suze: get better than this.
18:27
Suze: I would take advantage of it right now. You have
18:30
Suze: till October 31st, 11:59 p.m. Central time to not only
18:37
Suze: open your account at MyAliant.com but to fund it. Now
18:43
Suze: this isn't just about new money. If you have money
18:47
Suze: sitting in the Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account at Alliant Credit Union.
18:54
Suze: You already did it every single month and then you
18:56
Suze: got your $100 or whatever it is if you even
18:59
Suze: did that program, you can absolutely take money from there,
19:05
Suze: which is I think at 3.10 right now and switch
19:08
Suze: it over to a 12 month certificate for 4.45% or 4.5%
19:14
Suze: APY depending on the amount of money.
19:18
Suze: If you have a certificate that is coming due sometime
19:23
Suze: within this time frame today all the way through October
19:29
Suze: 31st when it actually matures, you can take that money
19:35
Suze: and also take advantage of this 12 month certificate.
19:40
Suze: For those of you who have money that are sitting
19:43
Suze: in a money market account at 3.5%, and you are
19:47
Suze: just waiting, you're waiting to see what happens with interest rates,
19:52
Suze: I don't think you should wait anymore, because what are
19:55
Suze: they gonna do? They're gonna go to 4.6, 4.7, I
19:58
Suze: don't think so, but they could.
20:01
Suze: So, if you want to wait, just don't wait with
20:04
Suze: all of your money. Remember, it's a minimum of $1,000
20:11
Suze: to do this. It is NCUA insured up to $250,000.
20:17
Suze: It's with one of the greatest and largest online credit unions.
20:22
Suze: The portfolio is safe. They are not offering it to
20:27
Suze: their other members. I hope their other members don't get
20:30
Suze: mad at them. In fact, I think if you go
20:33
Suze: on and you look, their current rate, last time I
20:36
Suze: looked was 4.10. There is a big difference between 4.10
20:41
Suze: APY and 4.45% APY or 4.5% APY.
20:49
Suze: Take advantage of it. I am telling you, if you
20:54
Suze: don't need this money for 12 months, if you want
20:58
Suze: to lock in what I consider one of the highest
21:01
Suze: rates currently.
21:03
Suze: And you want to take advantage of it. It's really
21:06
Suze: just that simple. The reason that you see me excited
21:10
Suze: about this is I know what it took for them
21:12
Suze: to do this. I know what it took for them
21:15
Suze: to say, Suzie, this is exclusive to Suzie fans, to
21:21
Suze: those that listen to you.
21:24
Suze: So they're honoring you in their own way. They're also
21:28
Suze: honoring me by honoring you.
21:31
Suze: It's there for you for the taking if you want. Again,
21:34
Suze: I'm just gonna repeat, if you wanna wait, do half
21:37
Suze: now and wait to see what happens. You don't have
21:40
Suze: to be an all or nothing investor.
21:44
Robert: Hey, Suze, it's Robert, and I just need to jump
21:45
Robert: in real quick and remind everyone that this offer is
21:48
Robert: only good for Suze podcast followers. You either have to
21:52
Robert: go to MyAlliant.com or if you have a certificate already
21:56
Robert: and you want this offer, you have to call and
21:59
Robert: say you are a Suze Saver. The number to call
22:02
Robert: is 800-328-1935. That's 800-328-1935. Again, tell them you're a Suze
22:10
Robert: Saver and the kind folks at Alliant, they're gonna take
22:13
Robert: care of you. Thanks, Suze.
22:14
Suze: All right.
22:16
Suze: That was the good news. I actually think that's pretty
22:19
Suze: great news.
22:21
Suze: We are gone now all the way through October 22nd,
22:28
Suze: but we have recorded brand new Suze Schools and KT Asks
22:33
Suze: Suze editions for you all the way through that time.
22:39
Suze: So wish us luck.
22:41
Suze: We're doing this entire trip with one carry-on each. That
22:46
Suze: is it. That's it. Think we can do it? We
22:50
Suze: can cause KT is the absolute best packer in life.
22:56
Suze: I can't believe how much she can get in a suitcase. Me,
22:59
Suze: not so much. I'm like, let's go.
23:01
Suze: All right, so until we get back, please stay tuned,
23:06
Suze: take advantage of Myalliant.com. That's the only place you can
23:09
Suze: go to get this, and no, there's only one thing
23:13
Suze: that I want you to remember when it comes to
23:15
Suze: your money, and it is this people first, then money,
23:19
Suze: then things. Now you stay safe. Bye bye.