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Medicare Part B Premium Costs

When turning 65, individuals need to understand the Medicare Part B Premium costs.

Individual Medicare recipients pay a premium each month for Part B. If you receive either Social Security, Railroad Retirement Board, or Office of Personnel Management benefits, your Part B premium is automatically deducted from your benefit payment.  If you do not get these benefit payments, you will receive a bill and can submit your payment from there.

Most people will pay the standard premium amount. However, if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount, you may have to pay an adjustment.  In fact, this amount is determined by what is on your IRS tax return from 2 years ago.  This fee is called an Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA). IRMAA is an extra charge that Medicare adds to your premium.

Click here for the Medicare.gov income requirements and information.

Click here to request a no obligation Medicare quote.

If you have questions regarding Medicare Part B costs or are ready to investigate plan options, please either call the office at 203-796-5403 or email us at admin@croweandassociates.com.  We are Medicare specialists and will be happy to help you navigate the both the options and process.

Medicare Part B Penalty

Crowe and Associates wants to make sure that you are aware that there is  a Medicare Part B Penalty.  In most cases, if you don’t sign up for Part B when you’re first eligible, you will have to pay a late enrollment Medicare Part B penalty. Medicare will be charge you this penalty for as long as you have Part B. Your monthly premium for Part B may go up 10% for each full 12-month period that you could have had Part B, but didn’t sign up for it.

Click here to access Medicare.gov for more information regarding the Part B penalty.

How do you calculate your premium penalty? Let’s say you turned 65 in 2009, and you delayed signing up for Part B until 2016.  If you did not have employer insurance that allows you to delay enrollment. Your monthly premium would be 70 percent higher for as long as you have Medicare (7 years x 10 percent). Since the Medicare Part B premium in 2016 is $121.80, your monthly premium with the penalty would be $207.06 ($121.80 x 0.7 + $121.80).

Note:  Although Medicare calculates the penalty you pay by using the standard Part B Premium. Your Part B premium amount is based on your income.  Medicare then adds the penalty amount to your actual premium amount.

To learn more about avoiding the Medicare Part B penalty, or how to navigate the Medicare enrollment process, call the office at 203-796-5403 or email us at admin@croweandassociates.com.  We are leading Medicare specialists and are here to help.  There is never a fee for our advice.

Click here for a free Medicare quote.

Who Should Enroll in Medicare Part B?

Deciding when and if you should enroll in Medicare Part B can be a daunting task.  Getting or maintaining the best coverage depends on your understanding of Medicare enrollment requirements as well as your current situation.

If you or your spouse are still working and receiving employer or union coverage, maintaining that coverage may be the best option.  You have 8 months to sign up for Part B without a penalty.  If you or your spouse (or family member if you’re disabled) are still working and you have insurance through that employer or union, contact your employer or union benefits administrator to find out how your insurance works with Medicare.

Your military or veteran status also plays a role in deciding the right coverage for you.

Click here to visit the Medicare.gov site to learn details.

Click here for a short video to help you understand some of the deciding factors regarding when to enroll.

If you are ready to enroll in Medicare Part B, need more information or have questions, please call the office at 203-796-5403 or email admin@croweandassociates.com for an appointment.  We are Medicare specialists and will be happy to help you navigate the process.

Click here for a free personalized Medicare quote.

Single Premium Life Policies

The primary benefit of life insurance is to leverage money to create an estate.  This benefit can provide for survivors or to leave something to an organization or charity. Single premium life policies  (sometimes called SPL) are a type of life insurance.   In this type of policy you pay a lump sum of money into a new policy in return for an instant death benefit.  This policy is guaranteed to remain paid-up until death. There are many different versions of single pay policies available. These policies offer a wide range of investment options as well as withdrawal provisions.

With single-premium life policies –

The cash you invest applies immediately.  In Fact, this enables the policy full funding. The size of the death benefit depends on the amount invested, insurance company used, type of underwriting, age and health of the insured.  With these policies, a younger person is normally has a longer life expectancy.   This gives the funds you pay for the premium more time to grow before the insurer expects to pay out the  death benefit. The larger the amount of money you initially contribute to your policy, the greater your death benefit will be.  For example, a 65-year-old female might use a $25,000 single premium to provide a $55,000 income-tax free death benefit to her survivors/beneficiaries.  Whereas a 50-year-old male’s $100,000 single premium might give a $400,000 death benefit.

Many companies have provisions in the policies which allow for a partial withdrawl of cash value in the event that you need money. Other policies guaranteed a full refund of cash value at a certain point (often 6 years ).  A policy can always be surrendered for cash value but policies surrendered prior to maturing may have surrender charges.  Single premium plans should not be used with money that you may need to spend or to live off of.  If you have a lump sum of cash that you don’t need right now and you want guaranteed life insurance protection for your family or your favorite charity, single-premium life insurance can be an ideal solution.

However you choose to use a single-premium life insurance policy, remember to consider your personal financial situation.  You also want to think about other retirement vehicles already in use.   This way you can select and shape your policy to best match your needs.

Always Care Dental Insurance

Crowe and Associates is now able to offer  Always Care Dental Insurance and vision coverage. Always Csre offers clients several different levels of coverage as well as one of the nation’s largest provider networks.

The Cleaning Plus Vision plan helps cover the cost of dental exams and cleanings. It also covers annual vision exams and material allowances for each person covered by the plan. Click here for an overview of the Cleaning Plus Vision Plan.

The Preventive/Basic plan gives individuals immediate access to all covered services with no waiting periods and $1,000 annual maximum for each person covered. Click here for an overview of the Preventative Basic Plan.

The new Increasing Max plan rewards individuals with an increasing annual maximum benefit as well as no increase in premium. There are no application fees as well as no administrative fees. Click here for an overview of the Increasing Max plan.

The Ultimate Max plan gives you a $2,000 annual maximum for each person covered by your plan.  Additionally, there are no application fees and no administrative fees. Click here for an overview of the Ultimate Max plan.. (Currently not available in Connecticut)

Click here for a no obligation quote.  In addition to dental insurance, we are able to quote and write medical, life, auto, home, commercial  and annuity policies.   To discuss your individual needs in detail, please call the office at 203-796-5403 or email us at admin@croweandassociates.com.

Medicare Seminars in Connecticut

Crowe and Associates is offering Medicare Seminars in Connecticut.  We are an independent agency contracted with all Medicare companies in the state of Connecticut.  We conduct seminars to educate consumers on Medicare Advantage plans (also called Part C or Managed Medicare), stand alone part D RX plans and Medicare supplement plans (Also called Medigap plans).  Meetings run about 1 hour with the primary goal focusing on four main areas:

1)Explain how Original Medicare works as well as coverage provided by Medicare A and B.  It’s important to understand how Medicare benefits work so that you can make the most informed, best decision for you and your family members.

2)Detailing the difference between a Medicare Advantage and a Medicare Supplement plan.  They are distinctly different plans. Understanding the difference between them allows the Medicare beneficiary to make a more educated decision.

3)Explaining the strengths and weakness of both Advantage and Supplement plans.   How a Medicare beneficiary should use their own situation to determine which is better for them. (There is not a “best plan” or “best option”.)  Personal health/medical needs will be the biggest determination when it comes to finding the right plan.

4)Once the right type of plan has been determined (Medicare Advantage vs. Medicare Supplement) we will then provide a review of the company offerings for 2016.  It’s important to learn the differences between the companies that offer Medicare plans.  Understanding the details between companies and plans is vital to having proper coverage.

The primary goal:

will be for attendees to leave the meeting with the confidence to pick a plan that suits them best.  If interested in attending a meeting, please call our office at 203-796-5403 or email admin@croweandassociates.com.

Crowe and Associates is a full service brokerage offering clients not only Medicare, but regular health, dental and life insurance.  We also offer property and casualty insurance as well as investment advice.  We do not charge any fees.  If you have questions or need additional information, please give us a call at 203-796-5403.

United Healthcare Medicare Complete Connecticut:

United Healthcare Medicare Complete Connecticut plans are a series of Medicare Advantage plans offered by United Healthcare.  Medicare Advantage plans are also called Part C plans or Managed Medicare Plans.  United Healthcare offers 3 Medicare complete plans in Connecticut for 2016. They are Medicare Complete plans 1,2 and 3.  Each plan has a different monthly premium and benefits.  All three have Rx coverage included in the benefits.

Plan 1 is a $99 a month plan with the lowest copays of the three plans.   This plan has additional extras such as vision, dental and hearing benefits. Plan 2 is a $29 a month plan with slightly higher copays than Plan 1 and comes with vision, dental, hearing and Silver Sneakers benefits.  In Plan 3 there is a $0 month premium with the highest copays of the three plans and requires a specialist referral.  It has the additional vision, hearing and Silver Sneakers benefits. Silver Sneakers is available on the United Healthcare Medicare Complete Plan 1 but there would be additional monthly premium to add it.  Full plan summaries are available in the links below for more detailed benefit descriptions.

United Healthcare Medicare Complete plans

Participating providers can be accessed in both CT as well as NY as in network providers.  The plans also come with the Passport program which allows members to access doctors in other states as in network providers (Assuming the participate with United in the other states.) UHC does have some benefits at a 20% co-insurance level which can lead to substantial out of pocket for some procedures.  We include both a summary of benefits and an application for all plans in the links below.

Feel free to either call our office at 203-796-5403 or send an email to admin@croweandassociates.com with any questions.

United Healthcare Plan 1 Summary 2016

 Plan 2 Summary 2016 United Healthcare

 Plan 3 Summary 2016 United Healthcare

New Low Cost Plan G Medicare Supplement In Connecticut

Combined Life has released a new low cost plan G Medicare Supplement in Connecticut.  This plan has a monthly premium of $202.42.  The premium makes this plan the lowest cost plan G in the state.  To better understand how this plan works compared to a Plan F supplement, we will take a look at the benefits provided by both

The Plan F Medicare supplement covers 100% of Medical expenses approved but not covered by Medicare.  In other words, plan F pays the entire 20% of co-insurance as well as the deductibles not covered by original Medicare.  Plan G works exactly the same as plan F.  The only exception is the part B deductible. Because the Part B deductible is $166.00 each year and is not covered by Medicare Supplement plan G.  Other than that, the plans have the exact same benefits.  Due to the fact that the lowest cost plan F Medicare Supplement price is $234.00 a month in Connecticut.  Plan G comes out at a lower overall cost even when the $166 deductible is added in.

Connecticut is a unique Medicare state because they do not allow underwriting.   The Medicare Supplement rates are the same regardless of the client’s age.  As a result, a person in CT can change from one Supplement plan to another without any medical underwriting any month they would like.  In fact,  insurance companies are not able to invoke a pre-existing condition clause either.

If you have any questions, you can either call our office at 203-796-5403 or email us at Edward@croweandassociates.com to learn more.  Let us help you find the right plan for both your health and budget needs.

Combined Life Medicare Supplement Rates CT 2016

Combined Life Medicare Supplement Application 2016 CT

When is The Medicare Advantage Dis-enrollment Period (MADP)

New Humana Medicare Plans 2016

New Humana Medicare Plans 2016 –  There are some new Humana Medicare plans that clients can purchase in 2016. The new plans have many great options for members to choose from.  Humana offers Medicare Advantage plans both with and without drug plans in multiple states.  Please note that in some states such as NY, they only offer a stand alone PDP plan while in others they offer both the PDP and Medicare Advantage plans.  They have multiple MAPD plan types with HMO and PPO plans in various states.  Click the link below to review Humana Medicare plans 2016 in all states. The link will also provide PDP Rx summaries.  Please call our office with any additional questions about plan designs, or benefits.

Click for Humana benefit summaries for all states 2016

Humana Medicare is also looking to fill a market void in the Long Island NY region.

This new HMO plan offers to it’s members:

• $37 monthly premium.
• $5 PCP co-pays.
• $30 specialist co-pays.
• $6,7000 Maximum out of pocket (MOOP) cost.
• This plan also includes a Silver Sneakers membership.
• It also provides preventive dental coverage.
• There is also a vision allowance of $200 toward the purchase of new glasses.
• They provide members hearing aid coverage.
• In addition this plan offers optional supplemental benefits (OSB), if you so choose.
• Travel options are built in to allow for in-network benefits in select Florida counties.

The network has been expanded to include the following:

• North Shore Lone Island Jewish Hospitals as in-network participants.
• Both Pro-Health providers as well as surgical centers are in-network participants.
• In addition, the network includes Advanced Urology.