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Let’s Talk About Medicare: Your Choice Matters with Steve Grossman · Marci talks money (and life)

• Marci (00:15) Hello, I am MoneyMarci. Welcome. I'm thrilled to welcome today's guest, Steve Grossman. Steve is the founder of Grossman Medicare Solutions and a licensed independent Medicare insurance agent serving individuals and families throughout Michigan. Before entering the Medicare insurance business, Steve spent more than forty years in professional sales and client service. Through his career, his approach has been simple - Listen first, understand what someone actually needs, explain the available choices clearly, and help them make an informed decision. Outside of work, Steve loves to golf, play tennis, listen to all kinds of music, and enjoy Michigan's beautiful outdoors, especially walking with his Labrador retriever, Ruby. Welcome Steve. Steve Grossman (01:06) Well thank you, Marci. Great to be here. Marci (01:08) I'm excited to have you here because Medicare is a financial reality that a majority of us are going to have to make important decisions on. So I'm really excited for what we're gonna talk about. But before we get started, I want to give my listeners a heads up. One, because of the type of discussion we are having, I'm gonna let it run as long as it runs or until, you know, it's time for dinner. This is financial information being discussed with financial professionals, but this is not financial advice. We don't know your situation. The rules, the ratios, the options change regularly. So when it's time for you to make your Medicare decisions, use this as a starting point for questions you should ask or traps you should be aware of, but not as financial advice for yourself. Steve Grossman (02:01) I think you hit it right on the head there. Marci (02:04) Okay, so tell me, how did you get here? Medicare is, pretty niche. Steve Grossman (02:09) Well, I'm of Medicare age, so I went through the process, right, myself and realized how difficult it can be to make the right decision. And as you mentioned, I'd spent forty years selling solutions to small companies, big companies. And one of the things that I prided myself on was to learn about my client, what their problems were, what they wanted, and what I tried to do is fulfill their needs by providing multiple options and let them make the decision, right? Of course, when I started to look at Medicare solutions for myself, that was pretty much what I had to do and did a lot of research on my own, but you know, came to the conclusion that this is really hard and a lot of folks out there that don't have any idea about insurance don't really understand the process or what some of the pitfalls are. And I kind of felt like as I sort of ended my professional selling career in high tech, that I wanted to do this to help individuals like myself learn about Medicare and help them make the right decisions for them. Marci (03:32) Now, the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is about two weeks. With Medicare if you make mistakes, some of your mistakes are financial mistakes for the rest of your life. Steve Grossman (03:42) They are, there are penalties, there are deadlines, so it's really important to know what those are and act accordingly. Marci (03:51) And while I mentioned earlier that they change regularly, what are we looking at right now? What are the initial time frames that you have to be making the decisions? Steve Grossman (04:01) Well, so when you turn sixty-five, you have the ability to go on to Medicare. And you can apply for Medicare through Social Security office. You can do it online, by phone, or actually walk in. You have a seven month window and it works like this. You have three months prior to your birth month and three months after your birth month to apply for Medicare. So I talk to folks that are getting ready to turn 65 sometimes a year in advance, so they can understand what their options are before they apply for Medicare. So you have that window. And if you don't apply for it during that window, then you can incur penalties going forward. There are exceptions. For instance, if you're working and you have what's called credible coverage, so if you're if you continue to work after 65, you can continue to take the healthcare coverage that's supplied by your employer and not have to sign up for Medicare as long as it's what's called credible coverage, which basically any employer that's offering a healthcare insurance, you know, like from the major carriers like Blue Cross, Aetna, United Healthcare, that's pretty much considered credible coverage. So you don't have to sign up for Medicare. But when you leave that job or when you retire, you have a window in which to sign up for Medicare after you turn 65 and not incur any kind of penalties. Marci (05:38) So you said 'may'. I'm assuming that's if you're working and otherwise have insurance or are there other reasons you wouldn't want to sign up at sixty five? Steve Grossman (05:47) Typically if your spouse has insurance and you're covered under your spouse's insurance, you have an option. You don't need to sign up for Medicare, but you know that's one. if receive, you know, benefits from the military, veterans benefits. so there are some exceptions. Marci (06:09) Do you need to notify them that you're not going to be taking it? Steve Grossman (06:13) You don't need to. As long as you can prove after you're sixty five and you apply for Medicare, you have to prove to them, there's a form. I don't have the number in front of me, but there is a form that you would fill out and you'd have to have your employer sign off that you've had insurance coverage through this you know, after sixty five. Marci (06:37) Whether it's through yours or through your spouse's, you just have that form available. Steve Grossman (06:40) Correct. Absolutely Marci (06:42) Okay. What kind of penalties are we talking about? I don't have insurance. I didn't sign up at sixty five. Steve Grossman (06:47) Yeah, it's basically like a one percent penalty which can be you know thirty, forty dollars a month additional cost then if you didn't have the penalty. So it can add up and it stays with you for the rest of your life if you have Medicare. So it's important that again, that you know this and that you plan accordingly. Marci (07:13) We talked a bit before and I haven't gone to a Medicare seminar in years, so my first thing was the doughnut hole, which is you have coverage for certain things until a threshold where you don't for a while and then you have coverage again. You said that's no more. Steve Grossman (07:30) There's no more donut hole. That was eliminated. Marci (07:32) Okay, but you still need additional health care when you're on Medicare. Steve Grossman (07:35) Yeah, would you like me to kinda go through sort of the basic Medicare. So there are four parts to Medicare. There's parts A, B, C and D. Okay. A and B is considered original Medicare. And A is your basically your hospitalization. B is your I would say just doctors, you know, Doctor visits, C is what's called Medicare Advantage, and D is your drug coverage. Okay. So with Medicare with parts A and B, so just so you know, A, it there's no cost, there's no monthly premium for A, which is hospitalization. You're paying that all along in your payroll deductions that you see your Medicare tax on your paycheck and B which there is a premium for that so anybody that's on Medicare has to pay a part B premium it's income related so what happens is the Medicare goes back two years looks at your adjusted gross income from two years prior determine what your part B premium will cost you. Now just kind of looking through my chart here because there's you know multiple costs it just depends again whether you file single or jointly. So for instance the base cost for the Part B premium for 2026 is if you file as a single, if you make a hundred and nine thousand dollars or less, you're gonna pay your Part B premium is two hundred and two dollars and ninety cents. pay that monthly. that can come out of your Social Security check if you're getting Social Security. If not, Medicare will bill you on a quarterly basis for that amount, $202.90 times three. If you file jointly, then your adjusted gross income is two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars. and that's the same premium the $202.90. And then it tiers up after that. So for instance, I'll just use a single example because it's basically double. If you make anywhere from a hundred and nine thousand and one to a hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars your Part B premium is two hundred and eighty-four, and then it goes up from there to four hundred and five, all the way up to six hundred. If you make anywhere over a half a million dollars, you're gonna pay your Part B premium is gonna be six hundred and eighty-nine dollars and ninety cents. Marci (10:02) And if you sign up for Medicare, you are automatically in A and B? Steve Grossman (10:06) Well you can sign up for part A and not have part B. Which again if you're working, you can do that. Like so I was doing that. I just signed up for part A because I wanted to get into the system, right? And made it a little bit easier when I got off my employer coverage and went on to Medicare. I already had a number, I just had to send the form in. But because part A, there is no cost to part A, it's really it's once you sign up for part B, that's when you'll be paying that monthly premium. And so that's A and B. Now just keep in mind that with part A, it covers essentially your hospitalization. Every time you go into the hospital, you have to pay a deductible. And there's no cap on how much you can spend in a year. So if you went into the hospital ten times, five times, whatever it is, every time you went in, if you went in for a different reason, you'd have to pay that part A deductible. Okay, with part B, which is basically think of doctor visits, just you know, outpatient procedures. it only covers 80% of that cost. So let's say if you had an outpatient procedure that cost $1,000, you would be responsible for $200 of that, right? Again, no maximum out-of-pocket limit, right? You just keep on paying. So while Medicare is a great plan, there's a lot of gaps to it, to the original Medicare, Parts A and Part B. So what happened was you know again the government regulates Medicare regulations for fraud and waste. but obviously when I would talk about these gaps it permits you know a lot of financial exposure, right? So there are options to that. And the one option is part C, which is called Medicare Advantage. And basically it's government regulated but it's provided by private insurance. So for instance, part C replaces part A and B, but it also includes a drug plan. For the most part. There are some plans that don't, and those are exceptions, but for the most part, 99% of people that are on Medicare Advantage have a drug plan, and it also includes optional benefits like vision, dental, hearing, health club memberships. The idea is that, and I like to tell this to my clients, is that the insurance companies the government, this is just my own opinion. They don't want to be in the healthcare business, right? Even though they are. So they pay the private insurance companies, and I'll just use like Blue Cross as an example, because everybody's familiar with Blue Cross, right? They pay them X amount of dollars every month to manage your health care, right? So they want to keep you healthy. Because if they keep you healthy and keep you out of the hospital, keep you away from the doctors as much as possible, they make more money, right? So they provide these extra benefits. Now Medicare Advantage is not for everybody, and we can talk about that because there's another to having Medicare parts A and B, and that's having what's called the Medicare supplement plan. The supplement basically covers all the gaps that Medicare doesn't cover. It picks up the twenty percent that Medicare doesn't cover and it also picks up for the most part all of the additional expenses that you would incur if you went into the hospital. So part A covers so much, but the Medicare supplement plan covers the remainder. And there's a cost to that. And we can talk about kind of you know, what makes most sense for people and that's sort of the big dilemma or question when I talk to my clients or you know, people that are beginning to move to Medicare, is a what makes the most sense for them. Again, we talk about the original part A and B and the Medicare supplement. It also does not include a drug plan. So you have to get a separate drug plan, which they're out there and many, many, many people them. They don't cover dental, vision or hearing. There's really no other extra benefits that you would get with the Medicare Advantage Plan. So you then you have to kind of weigh your options. What makes the most sense for you? And you know, we can talk about that. I don't know if you have any specific questions you want to ask me about the difference of why one would choose one over the other, but Marci (14:41) Well I am. I assume someone comes to you and you'll say, Okay, these are what each plan does and kind of walk them through I guess what do you expect your medical situation to be. Steve Grossman (14:51) Yeah, right. So basically I like to do a kind of an audit, right? A needs analysis, I guess. It's kind of what I called it when I was in the high tech sales world. Basically the kind of the questions that you need to ask are is who are your doctors? What prescription drugs do you take? Do you travel a lot? Do you just you know, questions of freedom. Do you for instance with a Medicare Advantage plan, they come in a couple different flavors, basically a HMO, health maintenance organization, or a PPO. Very much like your if you have insurance coverage now through your employer. I had PPO, right? So I had a co-pay. If it was within a network with a PPO. You want to stay within an outgroup because your costs are less. But there were additional factors that you would take into account. One of the things again kind of bouncing around a little bit with a Medicare Advantage plan Most of the plans have zero premium. So you're not paying, obviously you've got your Part B premium. That's automatic no matter what. You have to pay your Part B premium. But the individual carriers offer plans which have a zero premium. So you're not paying anything on a monthly basis, but you have the co-pays, maybe additional charges if you go out of network, etc. What's great about a Medicare Advantage plan is that they also have a maximum out of pocket expense. So I know that if now all the plans are a bit different and they all offer different features than the other. I know that God forbid if I had to, if I had something that I had to go to the hospital and I know that my maximum out of pocket I'm going to spend is whatever the limit is on that plan. They vary anywhere from let's say $4,500 to $10,000 depending on the plan, depending whether you're in network or not. So I know that the worst, most I'm gonna spend in one year if I get very, very ill, is X amount of dollars. I know that going in. And I'm kind of jumping back and forth to these different plans. With original Medicare and a Medicare supplement plan, you're obviously you're paying your Part B premium again, no matter what plan you choose, you're gonna have that. But with a Medicare supplement plan, those are not zero premium. You have to pay a monthly fee for that. So typically they run anywhere from I'm gonna say $150 to $200 a month. So I know that I'm budgeting that amount of money, but that's pretty much after I meet a $280 deductible, once I pay that that deductible, then there I have no other cost, right? So it's predictable. But if I'm a healthy person and you know I don't use the healthcare system that much, then a Medicare Advantage plan might be the better plan. Let's say if I travel a lot, again I'm kind of bouncing around here, but with a Medicare supplement plan or Medigap is another term for it. I can go to any doctor that accepts Medicare throughout the country. So if I travel a lot, then I don't have to worry about whether or not they accept my plan or not. I can go anywhere. And with a Medicare Advantage or Part C plan, you enroll basically by your zip code. So for instance, if I have a Medicare Advantage plan, I've enrolled through my basically where I live, and I see a primary care physician. I have to I basically determine who my primary care physician is. And they kind of manage your care. When I go to see my primary care physician, it doesn't cost me anything. I can go see him her and it's a zero cost. But if I travel, if I let's say I spend six months of the year in Florida, then the Medicare Advantage plan may not be the right plan for you because if you have medical issues or challenges and you need to see a doctor frequently, they may not take your insurance. And then if I have a PPO, well I'm out of the network, I can pay and I'll pay more. So those are many of the questions that I like to ask when I meet with somebody to determine what makes the most sense for them, right? Marci (19:19) Let me back up. So part A is hospital. It's no cost Steve Grossman (19:23) Correct. Marci (19:24) and you could start taking that or being included in that at age 65, even if you are still on other health insurance. Steve Grossman (19:31) Correct. Marci (19:32) Part B is your doctor's and outpatient. And if you don't have other insurance, you're required to take that at 65. Otherwise there will be a form to fill out or penalties. Steve Grossman (19:44) Correct. Marci (19:44) And instead of those two plans you could do C which is Advantage and has different Steve Grossman (19:49) Medicare Advantage, correct. Marci (19:50) types of insurance plans that may be a part of it. Is D the supplemental or is that something else? Steve Grossman (19:58) So D is the drug plan and it's included with the Medicare Advantage. Part C is basically A, B, and D combined. Drug coverage is part of or Part D is part of the Medicare Advantage plan. Whereas a part D with the Medicare supplement plan, you'd have to get that separately. So you again, those are available. many of the insurance companies offer that, but that's a separate plan and you can get that at a zero premium and then you basically follow the Medicare rules for drug coverage. Marci (20:31) Okay. So if I came to you that would help me make all my decisions and would you be able to help me if I decided I wanted advantage or decided I wanted a supplement, you'd be able to help me figure that. Steve Grossman (20:42) Absolutely, Right. I'm an independent agent, so I work with pretty much most of the major carriers here in town, Blue Cross, Aetna, Priority, HAP, Humana. I'm sure I'm missing somebody, but so what I what I would do is just get your information, understand what's important to you, and then put the right plan in place or at least give you some options to say, okay, this makes sense or this makes sense or you know, if you're going to be seeing a physical therapist a lot, then maybe this plan has a better benefit for physical therapy than this plan does. How much of a consumer are you of your healthcare? And that really determines what coverage, what is the best coverage for you. Marci (21:29) Now, you know, once you go on Medicare, that's probably gonna be your insurance for the rest of your life. Do you get to change your plans every year? Steve Grossman (21:35) Yes you do. The plans change. You'll start seeing the commercials coming out here very shortly, if not already, right? Because you have what's called the open enrollment period or the annual election period, which runs from October fifteenth through December seventh, which allows you to change your plan. if you're on Medicare today October the first, the government requires that Medicare or the carrier send out their coverage for the following year. And sometimes the coverage changes. it always does change to some extent. The drugs that you take may not be covered this next year as it was the previous year. So once you know all that, then you have the opportunity to change plans. Right. Now with the Medicare Advantage plan, you can do that. You can you have that open enrollment period and you can make the change. It's a little bit different with a Medicare supplement plan because supplement plans work a little bit differently because it's all private insurance, but the private they're standardized plans, but when you're originally eligible for Medicare or you have an event such as you retire after 65, you have a what's called a guaranteed issue. So if you have any pre-existing conditions, as long as you're within the guaranteed issue window for you signing up, then it doesn't matter. Preexisting conditions don't matter with a Medicare supplement plan. But if you change after you're, let's say you're on a Medicare Advantage plan or you're on original Medicare parts A and B and you for whatever reason you maybe didn't have good representation, didn't understand what your options were, and say it's two or three years down the road and you decide that you want to go onto a Medicare supplement plan, then there's underwriting. So if you have some health issues, then you're gonna get rated differently. You'll probably you'll pay more money or you can be rejected. You don't have that issue with Medicare Advantage. So you can change Medicare Advantage plans every year during this open enrollment period there's no penalty and there's no issue with pre existing if you had a pre existing condition or you have a current condition, you can go from one Medicare advantage plan to the other. Some clients decide, well, I wanna go with the Medicare Advantage plan now, but I decide maybe I'll go to a Medicare supplement plan three years from now. You can do that, but cost you more money and you're gonna get underwrited. So if you have any health issues it could definitely be more costly. So if you're gonna go to a Medicare supplement plan, you really wanna do it within your guaranteed issue timeframe. Marci (24:17) Which is just the first time that you join. Steve Grossman (24:19) Correct. Correct. Marci (24:20) So your first time you sign up, when you turn sixty five, you have that window three months each side of the your birth month. Let's say I work till I'm sixty seven so then do I have three months each side of my retirement date or how does that work? Steve Grossman (24:40) Basically you have like a sixty three day window. The window is short, right? You have time to sign up but not a lot of time. It's it's a short window. if you're on Cobra, Cobra's considered credible coverage so once you go off Cobra you can sign up for Medicare and you're not penalized, but you the window is somewhat short. Marci (25:01) What if you're self employed or you've got health insurance through the marketplace? Does that count as credible coverage Steve Grossman (25:09) It counts as credible coverage, but if you're on the marketplace then they're gonna kick you off and you're gonna go to Medicare. And it's probably Medicare's gonna be cheaper. That's the thing, less expensive. That's one of the things I tell like my clients when I talk to them, they go, Well, I've got current coverage. I go, Well, how aren't you paying for that coverage? Because if you make less than a hundred and nine thousand dollars and you're paying more than two hundred and two dollars for your coverage, then you're better off going on Medicare because you're gonna get pretty much the same benefits or this the same coverage but with greater benefits, right? You're gonna get a health club membership. You're gonna get dental, vision and hearing included, right? Marci (25:55) Okay, well boy, I'm getting excited. I can't wait till I turn sixty five and all that money I'll save. Steve Grossman (26:00) Right. I have an example of a client that was paying they were single and they had individual coverage and individual coverage are paying seventeen hundred dollars a month for health care, right? I mean if you talk to people that don't have employer coverage, It's so expensive. So I was talking to this person and I'm saying, well, here's your option. You can go with the Medicare Advantage Plan, zero premium, or you can do a Medicare supplement plan that's gonna cost you a hundred and eighty dollars a month and you're gonna have you know that's all pretty much it's gonna cost you. there's a few other little costs, but really that's gonna be it. Well, when you're coming from spending $1,700 a month to you know paying your Part B premium and then your Medicare supplement premium, I mean you're saving so much money. And it's like, my god. And then you know, then they can decide. I'm pretty sure this person's probably gonna come to me in about three years and say, you know, I'm spending a lot of money on my Medicare supplement plan. Can we go to a Medicare Advantaged Plan? But again, it's just it's just different reality for them. Marci (27:14) Right, and I assume if the renewal period comes, you're already on Medicare, the renewal period comes, you're not paying attention and you don't choose anything at renewal. Does it just continue in the plans that you have or does it kick you out? Steve Grossman (27:26) It will continue in this plan that you have, unless the plan is no longer available. And then sometimes they do what's called crosswalk where they'll put you in the plan that's closest to the plan that you currently have. Other times maybe they might eliminate plans. A lot of the insurance companies have eliminated plans completely because they're not profitable for them. It's kind of all done by county and a lot of it, let's say for instance in a particular county, they had a shortage of doctors, right? Or there's no hospital anymore that will accept their insurance company. So everybody has to travel far or they gotta go out of network ~ so they drop the plan. So that's why it's really important if you're on Medicare that you're gonna get your benefit statement for the coming year. Beginning in the next few weeks that you look at it and you see what's changed. Another thing too is on the drug side, because we talked about the drug plans, right? So each of these carriers, they have what's called a formulary. If anybody was in the manufacturing world, it's kind of like a bill of material, right? It's like what drugs, what class of drugs do they cover? There's like basically five tiers of drugs. You've got you know your generics to your very expensive drugs that you always see on TV, and they get very expensive, very expensive. So some insurance companies decide, well we're not gonna cover that drug anymore. They are required to cover within the formulary cover drugs within that class. So if certain brand name is not available, there's another brand that's in that class of drug, but it might not be the brand that you've been taking. And there are some for instance, if your doctor requires that you take a specific drug that's not in the formulary, they it can make some exceptions. but for the most part it works pretty good I mean I'm of Medicare age, right? I take a high blood pressure pill and I take a cholesterol pill and those are all generic drugs and I don't pay a penny for it. I get a ninety day supply, it comes to me, and most of the people that I talk to, they have that's kind of their condition. So the drugs I mean they're a big concern obviously if you have certain challenges, right? They could be expensive. However, the drug plans, the way that drug plans are work out today within Medicare, your out of pocket exposure, at least for coming up for is right now is once you pay twenty one hundred dollars in drug cost, then all the drugs are free from there going forward. 2027 it's going up to twenty four hundred dollars. So again, those are per the drugs, you know, like you see all these for kind of really special treatments or conditions that if you have to pay it on your own you could be paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for drug coverage. Marci (30:19) And for this it's just an annual cap out of pocket and after that the drugs are free. Okay. Steve Grossman (30:25) Correct, correct. Marci (30:26) I love those caps. I hate the fact when I have to hit them, but it's nice after I do. Steve Grossman (30:31) Right. And one of the thing too that I've been going to a bunch of meetings with the carriers because they're rolling out their plans for 2027 in conjunction with open enrollment, which starts in you know, about a month or a little less than a month, is that we talked kinda about with the Medicare advantage and you have your maximum out of pocket expenses, right? So like like I said, some of these plans range anywhere from Forty five hundred to ten thousand dollars for what your maximum out of pocket costs are. And the statistic was that less than five percent of the Medicare population reaches their maximum out of pocket costs. and the majority of the folks on Medicare, their maximum out of pocket costs is about three hundred dollars a year. So that's why it's kinda really important to understand what your healthcare needs are, what your lifestyle needs are, for consuming healthcare and then determined accordingly because again, the Medicare supplement plan, it's covering everything, but you're paying if it's like say two hundred dollars a month for a Medicare supplement plan, you're paying $2,400 a year out of pocket, and you may not even use that money. Now it's again, what is insurance, right? It's avoidance of risk. So some people are very comfortable, and if they can afford it, it's like they get it and they go, I don't care. It's like I can afford it, and I'm gonna be covered for anything going you know over and above what I'm paying, that $2,400. And some people aren't in that position and it's like, it's not like they wing it, but they can say, At least I know that my total exposure is going to be five thousand dollars, eight thousand again depending on the plan. also because there are so many options within the Medicare Advantage world that a lot of it just really depends on how much you do consume. Because if for instance a lot of these everybody offers a zero premium plan and they may be a little bit higher in copays, in these other services that you would need. But if you're a high consumer of healthcare, it may make sense to get on a Medicare Advantage plan that has a a higher a premium, right? Maybe anywhere from forty to a hundred dollars a month. But the normal healthcare cost that you would pay well that you would get like copays and ancillary things like that may be lower with a higher premium. So, you know, it all just kind of balances out. It's like I go to the doctor, you know, eight times a month, it may be cheaper for me to go with a Medicare Advantage plan that has a premium, a smaller premium versus a zero premium. So that's kinda how it all works, right? Marci (33:15) Right. And so Medicare Advantage is gonna have a lower premium than staying on A and B with a supplemental plan, but the problem is if all of a sudden you are diagnosed with something significant, getting back onto A and B with supplemental plan could be a challenge. Steve Grossman (33:36) Correct. It could be. So again, though it's there's no they're great plan, Medicare is great. It's great, it really is. it's one thing that the government seems to to at least it's a good benefit. If we've been paying in the system, you know, our whole life, right? And I've been a consumer of Medicare now for about four years. And you know, perfect example, I had a knee replacement last October. I got the bill from it was done at Corewell. I got the bill and they charged my insurance carrier fifty-five thousand dollars for my it was an outpatient knee replacement and I paid three hundred and fifty dollars. That was my out of pocket cost for outpatient surgery. I have a Medicare advantage, And I have a zero premium plan. and I'm in pretty good health. So it works for me, this plan. But I know a lot of people that have the Medicare supplement plan and they're quite happy with it, and they're fine paying the premium. The one thing though is as you get older, like anything else with insurance, the premium on a Medicare supplement plan goes up. Like the first four years or so, it's pretty much stays stable. But as you get older, it goes up. And you'll see you know anywhere from a you know a ten to twenty percent increase on a yearly basis, depending on your age. So again, those are things to consider. The nice thing too about it though is that you can if you decide that I'm gonna go to a Medicare Advantage plan, when I'm on a supplement plan, there's no penalty to do that. There's no underwriting, so I can do that. So you have that flexibility. Marci (35:19) And that's a good reason to be seeing people like you, especially independent, insurance advisors on Medicare, so that you can make the best decision based on the information you have. And it's never gonna be a perfect decision because unfortunately we never know when we're going to have a significant medical event. But you do the best you can and someone like you has the right questions to answer and can help someone be aware of all the various things to consider. Steve Grossman (35:49) Exactly, exactly. I'm not a captive agent, I don't represent just one plan, I represent many plans. Which is helpful because I have a computer software program that I basically I enter in the zip code the person lives in, their doctors and their medications, and it comes back, spits out, here are eight programs, eight different carriers, Aetna, Humana, HAP, Priority, the whole bit. And it lists the explanation of benefits. So we can compare side by side. Okay, this one again, there may be a $35 or $30 copay for physical therapy, and plan X offers has a $50 copay for physical therapy, but plan X may offer a better flex card, which is basically an over the counter card that they provide to you that you can go into your drugstore and you can get, over the counter stuff, right? They may offer a better benefit versus the plan that offers a better benefit for physical therapy, but their band aid supplement is less. It just is a lot to think about, compare, but all the data's there, so you can make a decision. And then I will say though that the you know the carriers, they're all carriers and they all have very high star ratings. And then another thing too, the carriers are ranked by star ratings. Most of the carriers, you know, have that four, four and a half star rating, which I think's pretty good. Marci (37:17) So other than that first time you sign up and making sure that you get your dates and sign up at appropriate times so you're not with that lifelong penalty, what other types of Medicare mistakes should people be aware of? Steve Grossman (37:31) just you know, realize that if you sign up for a Medicare supplement plan that you need to get a drug plan, right? That doesn't come automatically. So that's important. Whereas in a Medicare Advantage plan it's included, So that's a separate plan, right? Medic part D for supplement. If you go original Medicare A and B with a supplement, you need a part D plan. That's important. Realize also that you need to get if you want optional dental, vision and hearing plan, whereas the Medicare advantage plans have that provided to you. You want to make sure that if you go on the Medicare Advantage route that your doctors are in the network, the drugs that you take are covered by that plan. So again, it's just sort of dotting the I's and crossing the Ts to make sure that you got the best coverage for your situation. Marci (38:30) I am going through all the questions that I have for you and we have covered so much of it. I'm gonna take a detour and so you were in sales before. Steve Grossman (38:40) Yes. Marci (38:42) but did you did you talk about money in your family growing up or as sales, were you an entrepreneur? What was it that ended you in sales? Steve Grossman (38:52) Sometimes you just get routed to a place that you don't even know you're going, right? So what got me into sales is when I graduated college I had a marketing degree from Michigan State and I interviewed with a company on campus and it was in the computer industry. And they were focused on computerizing auto parts stores. So if you can picture an auto part store in the late seventies, early eighties, thousands of parts, no computers, everything was done by hand card system. And it just so happened that a friend of mine when I was going to high school, his dad owned an auto parts store. So I worked in an auto parts store for a couple of summers. And they basically hired me on the spot the computer company because you knew auto parts. Again, I was a stock boy, I was a pretty young kid, but I got into that and I they hired me and I I did great. I was very successful and that sort of launched my sales career. But I was always kind of an entrepreneur. I worked as a kid, I was a paper boy. I worked in retail, I worked in the shoe store and a clothing store. I was a bus boy for a very short period of time, but I realized I didn't like that work. So I've always worked, right? We grew up I would say I didn't want for anything, but we it was a middle class kind of family. My dad was in sales, he was a home improvement sales man. I know I didn't wanna do that, we just so happened that I went to work in the computer industry in the early eighties when things were booming and that's kinda launched my career. Marci (40:33) Okay. And then from sales to the insurance, were there other side tracks along the way? Steve Grossman (40:38) I mean there were a few diversions. I started my own company, to basically utilize the skills that I learned in the IT world to help companies do IT selection so they're looking for a computer system or they were looking for a software solution. Because I had worked in so many different industries. I had a little consulting company that I started and did some of that for a while. and then I got hired by one of my clients and I did some work for them for a while but kind of moved back into software consulting world and then sort of did that until I decided to do Medicare for kind of my next gig and what I hope to do until I decide to, hang it up, which I have no plans to do that. As my wife said, you're gonna work till you die. So But if I'm gonna do that I wanna do something I like to do and I wanna help people. And at this point in my life I do wanna give back, I wanna help people, people have been helpful to me and I wanna help people. And by doing this work, I feel like I am helping people because I have some knowledge that they don't have and if I can pass that along, makes me feel good and feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. Marci (41:56) So you've always been a people person problem solver. Steve Grossman (42:00) Yes, I have. Can't say I have solved all the problems, but I'd give it a try. Marci (42:05) Okay. And here's the question I've been asking to my guests all season. What is wealth to you? Steve Grossman (42:12) There's only one meaning to me and it's health. Because if you don't have your health, you can't do the things that can make you wealthy or to help other people. They say if you have your health, you have everything. So especially as now I'm in my late sixties, and we've seen a lot of my parents' generation go because and some of them lasted a long time, some of them weren't very healthy and didn't take care of themselves. so for me really it's about health. Health and family, right? And that's to me that's the most important. Marci (42:45) That's so important. And here you are now in the health industry, so Steve Grossman (42:48) I am I yes, right, exactly. Marci (42:51) Okay, Steve, do you have anything else you'd like to mention that maybe we haven't covered? Steve Grossman (42:56) I would just tell folks that are getting to that Medicare age is to do your due diligence, right? I would suggest really that you work with agents, independent agents, and you can do this on your own but it's a lot of work. One thing I would like to mention too is that there's no cost to clients to work with me. I get compensated by the insurance carriers. So I would really encourage to talk to those folks that are looking to go on to Medicare to work with a insurance professional to help them determine what is the best fit for them. A good insurance agent is not gonna tell you that you should go on this plan. They're gonna lay out the options for you, hopefully give you multiple options, and then you decide what makes the most sense for you. And also again realize that there's no permanent consequence. If you make a decision that you're not happy with you can change. So you're not locked in, but do not delay Medicare because again you'll pay a penalty for it and that's something that you don't want to do. Marci (44:07) Absolutely. What was it, thirty dollars a month for the rest of your life? Steve Grossman (44:12) There's a couple different penalties. There's a Part D penalty, there's a Medicare penalty and so it can add up and get expensive and there's no reason why it really needs to be so definitely, follow the rules and you'll be okay. Marci (44:24) Well Steve, thank you so much for being my guest today. This is such an important topic. Steve Grossman (44:29) Thank you, Marci. I appreciate the time and people can go to my website and it's they have any questions there's a form they can fill out, submit questions and I'll be happy to get back to them. Marci (44:40) Thank you. We appreciate you taking the time to join us. To my listeners, I will be sharing a link to Steve's information in the show notes. Please check him out. He has a lot of interesting information. Even if you're over 65, even if you're already on Medicare, you may want to make sure in the upcoming enrollment period that you are on the right plan for yourself. Steve Grossman (45:03) Absolutely. Marci (45:03) And don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review, and stay tuned. I'll see you next time. This has been MoneyMarci on Marci Talks Money (and Life). You got this.