Medicare on Disability, Simplified (With Guest Danielle Kunkle Roberts)

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 27 of Winning Isn't Easy: Social Security ®. In this episode, we'll dive into Medicare on Disability, Simplified (With Guest Danielle Kunkle Roberts).

For individuals receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), becoming eligible for Medicare is a significant milestone, but it can also introduce new questions and challenges. From understanding the mandatory waiting period to choosing the right coverage options, navigating Medicare while managing a disability can be overwhelming. In this episode of Winning Isn't Easy, attorney Nancy Cavey is joined by Medicare expert and Boomer Benefits co-founder Danielle Kunkle Roberts to explain how Medicare works for people who qualify through disability. Together, they discuss the timeline between SSDI approval and Medicare eligibility, the coverage decisions beneficiaries must make, common misconceptions and costly mistakes, and practical strategies for selecting coverage that best meets their healthcare and financial needs. This episode provides guidance for anyone seeking to better understand Medicare's role in disability planning.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

One - Where Medicare Enters the Picture 

Two - Making Sense of Your Options 

Three - Making It All More Manageable 

Whether you're a claimant, or simply seeking valuable insights into the disability claims landscape, this episode provides essential guidance to help you succeed in your journey. Don't miss it.


Listen to Our Sister Podcast:

We have a sister podcast - Winning Isn't Easy: Long-Term Disability ®. Give it a listen: https://wiedisabilitypodcast.buzzsprout.com


Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

LINK TO YOUR RIGHTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY: https://mailchi.mp/caveylaw/your-rights-to-social-security-disability-benefits

FREE CONSULT LINK: https://caveylaw.com/contact-us/


Need Help Today?:

Need help with your Social Security Disability claim? Have questions? Please feel welcome to reach out to use for a FREE consultation. Just mention you listened to our podcast.

Review, like, and give us a thumbs up wherever you are listening to Winning Isn't Easy. We love to see your feedback about our podcast, and it helps us grow and improve.

Please remember that the content shared is for informational purposes only, and should not replace personalized legal advice or guidance from qualified professionals.

Transcript

Nancy Cavey [00:00:15 - 00:01:14]

Healthcare coverage shapes how people manage illness, plan their finances, and navigate major life transitions. But what happens when Medicare enters the picture? Today, We're going to be unpacking the world of Medicare and from that confusing gap between the SSDI approval and eligibility to complex coverage decisions that follows and what it means for people already facing serious health challenges. So welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy: Social Security Disability Benefits, the podcast where we break down everything you need to know about navigating the Social Security system. I'm your host, Nancy Cavey. Now before we get started, I've got to give you a legal disclaimer. This podcast isn't legal advice. The Florida Bar Association says I have to tell you that. And now that I've said that, nothing will ever prevent me from giving you an easy-to-understand overview of the Social Security disability claims process, the games that the Social Security Administration will play, and what you need to know to get the disability benefits you deserve.

Nancy Cavey [00:01:15 - 00:02:06]

So off we go. Now I have to tell you, I am very excited about our guest today. I'm joined by Danielle Roberts, who is a Medicare expert and co-founder of Boomer Benefits. She spent nearly 2 decades helping people make sense of the complicated Medicare system. Her work focuses on individuals who qualify for Medicare under the age of 65 as a result of disability. And as we know, this is a group of individuals who face unique challenges when it comes to timing, coverage and cost. And we're going to be talking about how Medicare actually works in the context of disability coverage, where people tend to get tripped up, and how to make more informed decisions so that you are protecting your family. And this is a topic I get tons of questions about, but I am not an expert, so I brought you today the expert.

Nancy Cavey [00:02:06 - 00:02:13]

So Danielle, can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you to focus on Medicare education? Sure.

Danielle Roberts [00:02:14 - 00:02:38]

Hello, and thanks for having me, Nancy. I'm really excited to talk with you today about this really important topic. So I have been an insurance agent for 21 years. And I guess this would be back around 2005 or '06, we were doing a lot of group health insurance and people would always ask me, oh, thank you for helping me get my health insurance set up. Do you know anything about Medicare? Because mom or dad is turning 65.

Nancy Cavey [00:02:38 - 00:02:39]

Mm-hmm.

Danielle Roberts [00:02:39 - 00:03:26]

Turning 65 and we haven't been able to figure— for a while we just said we don't know anything about that, but the question came up so often that we started looking into, well, if so many people need help with Medicare, maybe there's a business opportunity there. Let's go see, you know, what it's all about. And of course we found that it's an absolute mess. Medicare is a national health system. There are 4 parts, there are 10 supplement options, and now there are literally thousands of options for Medicare Advantage and Part D. And when someone has spent their whole life having their employers choose their health insurance from them, it can be really upsetting to be thrown into this national healthcare system and be told to figure it out all on your own. And so, as time went on, we just became more and more of experts in the Medicare field. And we slowly phased out of other types of business.

Danielle Roberts [00:03:27 - 00:04:08]

So, Boomer Benefits today, I have almost 200 employees that work for me in my Fort Worth office. The bulk of them are insurance agents that we have trained and educated to help consumers with Medicare, helping them explain how Medicare works, where are the gaps in coverage, what type of supplemental policies we can provide to fill in those gaps. There's a lot of education that goes into it, of course, because people who get on Medicare and figure it out, they move on. And now there's the next crop of people coming up who make a lot of the same mistakes as the people before them have made. And so it's a really great career being able to help people with something that is confusing and make it easy and understandable for them.

Nancy Cavey [00:04:08 - 00:04:52]

Well, thank you. And just for our audience, I had a case where my client was awarded Social Security disability benefits and became Medicare eligible, and the date of her Medicare eligibility was really important because it had ramifications for prescription medication, and I was in a panic. She was in a panic, and I called you, and, and you offered to help. And so it was like, I've got a great resource, a person who understands these issues, and I don't have to explain them. So, um, my pleasure. Yeah, so we're going to talk about 3 things today. We're going to talk about where Medicare enters the picture. We're going to talk about making sense of your options.

Nancy Cavey [00:04:52 - 00:05:14]

And then number 3, we're going to talk about making this all more manageable. So when we come back after this break, please bring a piece of paper and a pen because I think that Danielle is going to be providing us with a lot of really important information, and I think notes are going to be really important as you consider what your options are. So let's take a quick break and we're going to come back.

Speaker C [00:05:15 - 00:05:36]

Are you considering filing for Social Security Disability, or has your claim been denied already? Either way, you require a copy of Your Rights to Social Security Disability Benefits. Which will cover everything you need to know about the Social Security Disability claims process. Request your free copy of the book at kvlaw.com today.

Nancy Cavey [00:05:40 - 00:06:42]

Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy. Now I want to talk about the timeline that happens when somebody is found eligible for Social Security Disability benefits and then they become Medicare eligible. As the audience knows or doesn't know, in the Social Security world, you have a 5-month waiting period before you start getting your Social Security disability benefits, and then 24 months you become eligible for Medicare. So that's a crucial time frame where potentially for 29 months you are going to be without coverage unless, of course, you're covered under a group policy or you're out in the marketplace. So please educate us and tell us what does this timeline look like and what's the practical advice for folks about what they should be doing about health insurance coverage?

Danielle Roberts [00:06:42 - 00:08:21]

Sure, and I think this is the natural time when questions come up, right? So as soon as someone leaves active employment, where they've been getting their health insurance, the questions pop up about, you know, how do I get health insurance now? I've actually seen this from a unique perspective this last year when one of my own employees had a health event that caused them to trigger needing to go on long-term disability, which we provide for our employees. And it's a natural question, right? His sister was calling us to say, you know, what does he do about health insurance from here? And then later, when they get on Social Security Disability, That's when the Medicare questions start to pop up. So before you're eligible for Medicare, if you've just been approved for long-term disability and you don't have the SSDI yet, maybe the LTD is through your company, you have that company insurance. There may be COBRA that you can use after a certain period of time. There's always option to go to the National Healthcare Exchange, and that is healthcare.gov, and you can get insurance that way. Once you have the SSDI in place and you've been awarded that, this is the time when you want to start researching your Medicare options because after that 24th month, that is when your original Medicare will come into play and it's a good window of time that you can use to get educated and start learning about how Medicare Parts A and B are going to cover you. And then there's also a certain group of people who may qualify for Social Security Disability due to 2 specific health concerns. One is end-stage renal disease and the other is ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Danielle Roberts [00:08:22 - 00:08:41]

This is a little bit different where you can actually have the disability trigger immediate Medicare based on specific health conditions. So those are the classes that you're going to see, your 24-month timeline and then 2 health conditions where upon diagnosis you have a shorter or no waiting period.

Nancy Cavey [00:08:42 - 00:09:15]

So I want you to please talk about exploring the options and help us figure out, you know, how does a person go think about the options? When should they start thinking about the options? And now I've got my options and I'm just, you know, buried with all these. I'm confused. How do you suggest people start the planning, if you will, and then sort this through so that when they actually become eligible, they know what they're doing?

Danielle Roberts [00:09:16 - 00:10:05]

Yeah, great question. So when it comes to Medicare itself and determining what type of product is going to be best for you, of course, knowledge is power. We recommend that people start researching these options 6 months or so ahead of time before you become eligible for Medicare. And when you do become eligible for Medicare, the good part about that is Medicare is great coverage. So unless you have access to really stellar group health insurance through a spouse or something, when you get to Medicare, that coverage is going to be great. And Medicare itself, original parts A and B, is solid coverage. What you need to know about it is that it doesn't cover everything. So unlike health insurance that you may have had through an employer in the past where you have say, a deductible and then a stop loss.

Danielle Roberts [00:10:06 - 00:10:59]

With Medicare on the outpatient side, it's only going to cover about 80% of what you need. So the options in terms of researching options really come into play with what are you going to add to your Medicare coverage that is going to round out that coverage and make it no nasty surprises in your mailbox when you come off, say, a hospital stay or something like that. And We're very fortunate to live in the day and age that we do when there are so many ways to access that information. So today, as opposed to say before internet age back, you know, in the '70s, '80s, and earlier, people would get a handbook in the mail from Medicare and you had to read that handbook and hopefully figure it out. Maybe you could call 1-800-MEDICARE and ask some questions. But now today you can look into all of this pretty easily online. depending on which type of learner you are. If you're a reader, there are books about Medicare.

Danielle Roberts [00:11:00 - 00:11:35]

If you learn best by watching a video, you can go to YouTube. Boomer Benefits has a channel. Lots of Medicare companies have a channel. You could spend many, many days learning about Medicare there, which is not the most fun, but it is helpful and will get the job done. And that's where you're going to start to explore, uh, 2 main options. Medicare typically will have Either you enroll in what's called a Medicare Supplement or a Medigap plan that sort of covers that other 20% and gives you options for coverage that way. We've all probably heard now about Medicare Advantage plans. That's the other main option.

Danielle Roberts [00:11:36 - 00:12:06]

So with any Original Medicare enrollment, once you get to that 24th month and that's been done, you get your Original Medicare. Now you're basically deciding between 2 main types of insurance, which are Medigap or Medicare Advantage plans, and that's the bulk of what you would be researching online. Of course, you're going to look at how does Original Medicare work and how does it cover me, and any good agent is going to explain those basics to you. But beyond that, you're going to be deciding between 2 main types of coverage.

Nancy Cavey [00:12:06 - 00:13:00]

So you made a point of talking about how you had an employee who had to go on long-term disability insurance, and of course we also do long-term disability work, and that becomes an issue When our clients are still with the employer, they're still covered under the employer's group insurance, but there's going to come a period of time in which they're going to go off of that insurance. And so I always tell my clients, well, the option is if you can get on a spouse's plan, please do it. But you're also, you know, potentially going to go out in the market and look around. But they're not yet there. To me, they're kind of in this limbo land. They have continued group insurance. We know it's going to end at some point. We know it's going to be COBRA'd, which is going to be very expensive.

Nancy Cavey [00:13:01 - 00:13:35]

And most disability carriers require them to apply for their Social Security disability benefits for offset reasons. But again, can you talk more about what the thought process should be when you have somebody who is on long-term disability, employer-provided, you know it's going to end at some time. There's that anxiety that, you know, what's going to happen to my insurance? I need it because I have to prove that I'm disabled, but I need it because I need treatment. So give me your insights about that.

Danielle Roberts [00:13:36 - 00:14:10]

Yeah, in any type of health insurance, a lot of what you want to consider is access to providers. So usually somebody that has a health condition, perhaps one that has led to a disability or an injury, they're treating somewhere with a group that are going to be really important to them. So I think the first question you always want to look at is, you know, which insurance can I get that's going to let me continue to see the providers that I'm seeing? If that's your group health insurance that you're able to continue for a while, great. If you were to go on COBRA, That is essentially the same. You still have access to the same doctors in that network.

Nancy Cavey [00:14:11 - 00:14:12]

But you can't afford it.

Danielle Roberts [00:14:12 - 00:15:10]

Yeah, I was gonna say, if it's too expensive, which it is for a lot of people, then the next thing that people typically would do if they're not eligible for Medicare yet is to go to healthcare.gov, and you can enter your information in there. It will take you through a series of questions to determine whether you're eligible for certain types of subsidies, and then it's going to eventually give you a list of health insurance plans that you can purchase through the private market. So you would want to compare at that point whether that price is better than, say, what it would cost you for COBRA. There may be plans on there that would be cheaper, but possibly to get the cheaper premium, you've got to go with a higher deductible. Can you afford that in the event that you needed to meet your deductible? Of course, on that website, let's say you find a plan in your area with Blue Cross Blue Shield. You can access their provider directory and then you can search to see, Hey, I think I found this health plan, sounds pretty good on the surface, I can afford it, but does it provide access to those providers that are so important to me?

Nancy Cavey [00:15:11 - 00:15:16]

Could you speak a moment to the subsidy issue? Because this is the first time I've ever heard that there might be subsidies.

Danielle Roberts [00:15:17 - 00:16:16]

Yes. So the way that healthcare.gov rolls out plans is all based on the Affordable Care Act. And so one of the questions when you're applying for a plan on healthcare.gov is, is your income? And if your income is below a certain level, you can qualify for a certain subsidy that reduces the cost of that health insurance. And so it's really easy to see whether or not you would qualify for that because when you go to healthcare.gov and punch in your zip code and start answering the income questions, it will tell you, here's the plans and what they will cost. And you'll be able to see, you know, if that is being discounted by a subsidy that's provided to you from the federal government. And this, of course, can change every year as your income may change. So if your income goes down, perhaps you qualify the next year for a better subsidy. And it's worth looking at because that insurance may cost different for one person versus another based on their income and their qualification for an ACA subsidy.

Nancy Cavey [00:16:16 - 00:16:31]

All right, I'm going to drill down even more because I'm fascinated by this idea of subsidies. Um, would the income be Would long-term disability be considered income for the purposes of subsidies? And how about your spouse's income?

Danielle Roberts [00:16:32 - 00:16:42]

I actually don't know because since I specialize in Medicare, I don't do any of the under-65 insurance. So that would be a great question for an agent that specializes in ACA plans. Okay.

Nancy Cavey [00:16:43 - 00:16:43]

All right.

Danielle Roberts [00:16:43 - 00:16:45]

Well, thank you for that.

Nancy Cavey [00:16:45 - 00:17:56]

This is really fantastic information. We're going to take a quick break and then we're going to come back and talk more about making sense of your Medicare options. So let's take a quick break, please. Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy. Let's talk about making sense of options, because obviously as soon as somebody stops working and they apply for their LTD benefits or their Social Security disability benefits, the financial pressure, you know, just increases. They don't have an income, they need medical treatment, and I want you to talk about the misconceptions that people have about Medicare and disability benefits? Because I'm sure, like, like I, you get those questions. So what do you tell your clients about the difference between Medicare and disability benefits?

Danielle Roberts [00:17:56 - 00:18:52]

This is really important because long-term disability that you may have through a former employer type of insurance and SSDI that you get through Social Security, they're not the same thing. So I think a lot of people who get on long-term disability through their employer plan think that they automatically— somehow Medicare is going to magically appear their card in their mailbox. And it's important for people to know that first you have to qualify for the SSDI, which you know very well, Nancy, is a whole process that is— may take time. And then even once you get the SSDI, there's still a 24-month wait for the Medicare. So I think the biggest misconception that we see is that Medicare is automatic, in which it's not. And then Medicare, as soon as you get your SSDI, you can get Medicare tomorrow. And they are unaware of that window of time, that 2-year period before they can actually qualify for Medicare.

Nancy Cavey [00:18:52 - 00:19:33]

Yeah, that's really important because in the context of a Social Security case, you know, we are claiming that a person is disabled as of a certain date. It's called the onset of disability. And many times people will wait too long. I mean, they'll wait, they'll wait years before they apply for Social Security benefits, and that creates another issue with last date insured. But we can only go back 1 year from the date of the application. And, and so that we've got— maybe we can go back 1 year. Depending on where you live in the United States, it can take 2, 2 and a half years to get a hearing. So most of the time my clients are eligible for Medicare right away, but there are times when they aren't.

Nancy Cavey [00:19:34 - 00:19:47]

So we're still dealing— I call it the gap, if you will. It's the gap of coverage. Any other, any other thoughts that we haven't talked about, about filling that coverage that you'd want to add?

Danielle Roberts [00:19:48 - 00:20:00]

So outside of, say, a true health insurance plan that you would buy through the ACA, on healthcare.gov or from COBRA, like you're continuing that.

Nancy Cavey [00:20:00 - 00:20:00]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:20:00 - 00:20:22]

In, in terms of that gap, there are a couple of other things that come to mind. One is the Medi-Share concept. So there is a type of coverage out there that you can basically join with a whole big group of other people who are all paying into one big pot and they are sharing the coverage of healthcare services.

Nancy Cavey [00:20:22 - 00:20:22]

It's like a pool.

Danielle Roberts [00:20:23 - 00:21:15]

It's, yes, it's like a pool of people. And it may sound a little iffy, but when you look into it, there are many people that swear by it being coverage that is affordable, that has paid for them when they've needed it to. So you could certainly look into Medi-Share and find out if that would be a cheaper option for you than perhaps COBRA or an ACA plan. That's one option. There's also another type of insurance called indemnity coverage, and there's lots of health insurance companies out there that offer this type of coverage. And it's not insurance in the sense that the type of plan that you would get that's going to cover you up until X millions of dollars on your plan. An indemnity policy is more paying you for each type of service that you have. So if you had an indemnity health plan and you went to the hospital, perhaps the plan pays you $300 a day for those 6 days that you were in the hospital.

Danielle Roberts [00:21:16 - 00:21:52]

If you have a surgery, it will have a payment for you. And so that type of coverage can often be less expensive than, say, true traditional insurance. But you want to really make sure you read the fine print and ask a lot of questions to the agent that you work with to get that policy to find out how does it pay in this situation, how does it pay in this situation, and find out for sure, is there anything that it won't pay for because you have a disability? Is there any type of pre-existing condition clause that you would be dealing with with that coverage. But that is also one other option that you could check into.

Nancy Cavey [00:21:52 - 00:22:07]

So I'm interested in this and I'm a little confused. So is this paying the medical bill or is it sort of like an Aflac? They give you money, if you will, and you can use that payment for whatever you want.

Danielle Roberts [00:22:08 - 00:22:25]

It will pay X dollars per procedure. or type of health insurance. And it could be both. It might be that they send that money directly to the healthcare provider. It could be that some of it is a cash payment that's paid to you. All those policies can work a little differently.

Nancy Cavey [00:22:25 - 00:22:25]

Mm-hmm.

Danielle Roberts [00:22:25 - 00:23:06]

And you might be able to find both. I think the, the issue with, um, a policy that's going to pay you a cash amount of money is you want to make sure that you're using that money for the correct healthcare services so you don't have those bills still hanging out over you. But if you think about like a lump sum cancer policy, there are some policies like that out there, which you certainly could add to an indemnity type policy where should you be diagnosed with cancer, you actually get a cash payment from the insurance company for you to use for your medical bills, however you will. And so every policy is going to have its own outline of coverage that will detail specifically how that will work and who the payer is and where the money goes.

Nancy Cavey [00:23:07 - 00:23:32]

Okay, all right. So when somebody qualifies for Medicare through SSDI, I think we've talked about it a little bit, but what are the coverage options that are typically available and what should the thought process be in making a decision as to what coverage options would be appropriate?

Danielle Roberts [00:23:32 - 00:24:14]

Okay, so you're going to have the same types of options available in terms of a Medicare supplement, also called a Medigap plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan. But where it gets a little tricky is that in certain states, in some states, not all, the insurance companies are not required to offer Medicare supplements to people who are under 65. And every state will be a little different. So for example, here in Texas, The insurance company must offer a Medicare Supplement Plan A to someone under 65, but they aren't required to offer the other 9 plans, including ones that are considerably more popular with, say, someone who's turning 65.

Nancy Cavey [00:24:14 - 00:24:29]

Is that true? Is that true when the person has been found disabled? Is it like a blanket, or is there an exception that says, you know, if you've been found disabled and you're under 65 You— the carrier has to legally provide more coverage.

Danielle Roberts [00:24:29 - 00:25:29]

There's no exception. So there are some states where you literally couldn't buy a Medicare supplement under 65 because the law does not require, and therefore the carriers don't offer it. So when we have someone looking, if they have SSDI and they're looking at the picture of what they might get, let's say in that state they do offer both Medicare supplements and Medicare Advantage plans. Well, Medicare supplements come with a monthly premium that you pay for that policy, and then they're always going to have a rate increase usually every year, typically upon your policy anniversary. And those rate increases are based on the actual losses that the carrier took for that group of people. So one of the things that we run up against with people that have SSDI is that there are known health conditions and injuries. There's typically more medical treatment for this group, and They might have significantly higher loss ratios. So sometimes those rate increases can be too big to sustain.

Danielle Roberts [00:25:29 - 00:26:08]

So often when we have someone come in, if they're say more than 3 or 4 years out from 65 Medicare, let's say I have somebody in their mid-40s, if we were to put them on a Medicare Supplement plan, it may be unrealistic that they would be able to stay on that insurance and survive through 20 years of rate increases until they get to age 65, the plan just becomes unsustainable in terms of how expensive it gets. And so for a lot of folks, if they're further than a few years out from age 65, we would recommend the other option, which is Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage plans work a lot like group health insurance.

Speaker C [00:26:09 - 00:26:09]

Okay.

Danielle Roberts [00:26:09 - 00:27:07]

When you enroll in one of those plans, there's a network that you're going to treat with and you're going to have copays and deductibles that you pay with that coverage. And those plans do not discriminate between under 65 and over 65. So no matter what age you are, you're eligible to purchase them just like anyone else. And these plans are also a lot less expensive because of course they are— you are agreeing to use a network to basically bring down the cost of care. The doctors in that network have agreed to treat the plan's members at certain prices lower than what they might charge the general public. And also, when you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, Medicare itself pays the Advantage plan to roll out your coverage, and they get paid a lot. It's north of $1,000 a month plus quality bonuses. So when you join their plan, they often will offer you a very attractive premium, a low premium.

Danielle Roberts [00:27:07 - 00:27:51]

Many Medicare Advantage plans, especially in urban areas, on say Medicare HMO Advantage plans may have what's called a zero premium. So when you join the plan, you don't actually pay anything at all. That plan is accepting you as a member just so that they can get that payment from Medicare and they're not charging you anything additional. So if a Medicare Supplement is too— if state doesn't offer one or you've had too many rate increases and you just can't keep affording that plan, you have the option to enroll during certain periods of the year into a Medicare Advantage plan. And I often find that for people that are considerably younger than age 65, that is easier for them to sustain and have that coverage go the distance with them than a Medicare Supplement, which has those rate increases.

Nancy Cavey [00:27:51 - 00:28:10]

That's interesting because I have actually had clients ask me, well, should I move to another state? And it's like, hmm, I'm not sure why they're asking me that question, but that might explain And do you see people making decisions about relocation based on, on coverage?

Danielle Roberts [00:28:10 - 00:29:27]

I don't know that I've seen someone move to another state for under 65 so that they could gain access to a Medicare supplement. I don't know that I've seen that, but I have seen with just the Medicare population in general, there is a 6-month window when you first become eligible for Medicare Part B where you can join any Medigap plan that's available in your zip code with no health underwriting. And then after that, in many states, in most states, in order to change from one plan to another, you would have to go through medical underwriting. And I have seen scenarios where someone has developed cancer or another health condition. Their rate has gone up and gone up and gone up and it's now unaffordable. And they know that if they were to move to another state, some states have something called a birthday rule where once a year you can change from one Medigap plan to another without any underwriting. I have seen people consider moving states simply so that they could be in a place where they might be able to get on a plan with a lower premium because they're stuck on this plan in their own state because they developed a health condition that is basically not going to allow them to change carriers because they can't pass the underwriting. So I have seen people do that.

Danielle Roberts [00:29:27 - 00:29:37]

I've seen people on a network plan with Medicare Advantage have a health condition where they need to see a certain specialist that their network doesn't offer.

Nancy Cavey [00:29:37 - 00:29:38]

Mm-hmm.

Danielle Roberts [00:29:38 - 00:30:00]

And they will no longer be able to get a Medigap plan because now they've developed this health condition that means they won't pass the underwriting. And I've seen people consider moving out of state so that they lose their Advantage plan and therefore get a guaranteed issue window into a Medicare Supplement from having lost their coverage. So do people consider that? And are there people out there that may have done that? It's certainly possible.

Nancy Cavey [00:30:01 - 00:30:03]

Okay, that's cool because that explains why I get those questions.

Danielle Roberts [00:30:04 - 00:30:04]

It does.

Nancy Cavey [00:30:05 - 00:30:29]

Yeah. What do you— how should somebody think about the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage versus Medigap coverage? I think you've done that a little bit. But also, could you also explain what underwriting is? You and I know what it is, but that's a term that you used, and that will obviously impact whether it's going to be Medigap or Medicare Advantage.

Danielle Roberts [00:30:29 - 00:31:20]

Yeah, so the first thing to understand that's important is that you are entitled to Medicare Original Part A and B after 24 months of SSDI or when you turn 65, and that is your primary coverage. Then what you're adding to that, say in this, in say a Medicare supplement, when you're adding that coverage on, you only have this one opportunity, which is that 6-month window I mentioned. When you get Part B, you have 6 months from that date to join any Medigap plan without underwriting. After that, you would have to go through underwriting in many states. What I mean by underwriting is medical underwriting. So if you've ever had to purchase life insurance, You might remember that you, if it was a big enough policy, they want you to go take a blood test. They might pull your medical records because they don't want to award you a life insurance policy if you're going to kick the bucket 3 months later, right?

Nancy Cavey [00:31:20 - 00:31:20]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:31:21 - 00:32:26]

Insurance companies, there's not a lot of soft, warm, fuzzy feelings there. That is basically how they look at it. It's all about risk. So, I think that's really important to consider when you think about a Medicare company. That is covering that 20% that Medicare doesn't cover, they want to make sure that they look at your medical records, they look at your health history, they pull your prescription records. Are you a good risk for them to take on? Because if you have a knee replacement pending tomorrow and they cover you, well, they're going to be out 20% to cover that. So they are underwriting medically to determine whether or not they are going to issue you the coverage. And a lot of people who get onto Medicare don't know this, so they might either miss their, their 6-month opportunity to get a Medigap plan, or they immediately go for the cheaper insurance, which is Medicare Advantage, without realizing that that 6-month window will go away and that later if they want to change and go back to Medicare and add a Medicare supplement, underwriting would apply.

Danielle Roberts [00:32:26 - 00:33:17]

So there are a lot of scenarios we see where people don't do enough research and they think they know how something works, and then later they want to make a change and find out that underwriting is going to be a problem for them. And it's really important to understand that process up front so that you make a good choice about the coverage that you're going to go with, either Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage plan, thinking about the long term. If I were to go into hospital, how does this cover me? If the best specialist in the world is at the Mayo Clinic in another state, can I go there with this coverage? You want to think about the coverage in that sense, not about how it works for you right now, but in the event down the road that you have a new health condition or a serious health condition or a serious health event, how is that coverage going to work for you at that time? And is it going to be a policy that comes through for you?

Nancy Cavey [00:33:18 - 00:33:31]

So, um, I think you've made the point that Medigap can be harder to get and more expensive for people under 65. Other than underwriting, why do you think that is?

Danielle Roberts [00:33:32 - 00:33:34]

Why it's harder for people under 65 to get?

Nancy Cavey [00:33:35 - 00:33:35]

Yeah.

Danielle Roberts [00:33:36 - 00:34:34]

Most of it's just the state law. So in some states, they only require the carriers to sell one plan. In other states, they don't require them to sell any plans. So I think those are the primary reasons why it would be hard. Outside of those reasons, they're going to have the same Part B effective date that everybody else gets and they're going to have that same 6-month window to get a Medigap plan. And if they didn't know that, if they missed that window, that could be an issue. They could have been on group insurance along with their SSDI, maybe through a spouse or something, and then later on when they come off of that coverage, there's a window of time called guaranteed issue when they can perhaps get a Medigap plan and they don't know that and they miss the window. So Medicare, I will say, has lots of election periods and open enrollment periods that one has to become familiar with so that you don't accidentally miss something and then have to forego a type of coverage because now you're going to go through that underwriting.

Nancy Cavey [00:34:35 - 00:35:09]

Okay, so I almost hate it when the Florida legislature goes into session because you never know what they're going to do and what they're going to screw up. and sometimes they do address coverage issues, which can be frustrating, I think, for all of us. What has your observation been about legislators and state departments of insurance who stick their finger in this and not necessarily know what they're doing and screw things up?

Danielle Roberts [00:35:09 - 00:35:57]

Yeah, I can totally relate to that. We've seen this specifically with Medicare supplements in the last couple of years. So if you think about why a state would allow an insurance company maybe not to sell certain types of policies to people with disabilities, it's all about keeping that insurance company solvent, right? So that when you do get sick, the policy is going to pay like it should. Well, in many states, once the open enrollment window is over, now when you want to go get a supplement, you have to go through underwriting. This protects the insurance companies from something called adverse selection, which is I buy the insurance after I get sick. If everybody could do that, the insurance company would go belly up.

Nancy Cavey [00:35:57 - 00:35:57]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:35:57 - 00:36:57]

Right? And then in some states, a few, there is this thing called the birthday rule, which I mentioned before, which is if you're already on a Medigap policy, And the state laws will all work a little differently, but in general, if you're on that policy, there's a window of time around your birthday where you can switch from one supplement plan to another, usually one of equal or lesser benefits, with no underwriting. Well, this is not good for the insurance company. What we typically see once a state enacts a new birthday rule is that the— over the next 24 months, you will see this premiums for Medigap plans skyrocket 30% or so in that state, right? And it's because you've taken away the insurance company's ability to underwrite the sick people. Well, legislators tend to all copy what the other states are doing. So a couple of years ago, we started seeing more and more states pass through this birthday rule. And of course, shortly after that, you see tons of questions from consumers. Why have Medigap plans gotten so expensive?

Speaker C [00:36:57 - 00:36:57]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:36:58 - 00:37:14]

And that's right. So we've gone to, you know, almost 20 states, I think, now that have a birthday rule. And that is not good for the carrier, and it's not good for the pocketbook of the person buying it, because now everyone in the state is paying more for Medigap because we implemented a rule which makes it harder for the carrier to operate profitably.

Nancy Cavey [00:37:15 - 00:37:42]

You know, we see that issue in long-term care insurance, which our law firm also does, um, and there there is obviously a rhyme and reason to the increase in the premium because they want to narrow the pool. Is that the sort of same approach you think that state legislators and insurance companies are taking with Medigap insurance?

Danielle Roberts [00:37:43 - 00:38:20]

I'm not sure. Usually for an insurance company to do a rate increase, I know at least here in Texas, they have to basically send that rate increase through TDI to have it approved. So they can't just willy-nilly, right, completely, you know, change the rate. It's going to usually be based upon loss ratios. I'm not sure how the legislative piece of that would play, but, um, could there be a potential for perhaps certain legislators to get a lot of money in their, in their campaigns from certain insurance groups? It could happen. And then are they in cahoots with some of the rules they're making? You know, you never know.

Nancy Cavey [00:38:20 - 00:38:57]

You know, again, what, what we see is, unfortunately, a lot of the Department of Insurance commissioners in the United States really don't have an insurance background. They have a political background. And so they don't necessarily understand the impact of these rate requests, how to really understand the numbers and whether those numbers are legitimate. So it's, um, I think it's frustrating for all of us. So, uh, I've learned a lot in this segment, but let's take a break because I want to talk about making it all more manageable, and you're the person that's going to give us those answers.

Speaker C [00:38:59 - 00:39:26]

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Nancy Cavey [00:39:29 - 00:39:58]

Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy. So let's talk about making this all more manageable. And I'm going to throw a curveball at you a little later in this segment. But let's talk about your observations about maybe mistakes or gaps in coverage that you see Social Security disability beneficiaries, you know, make over and over to the point where you're probably tired of seeing them and explaining, you know, what mistakes you did and gaps that you have.

Danielle Roberts [00:39:58 - 00:41:24]

Well, for one, I'd like to tell the folks with the SSDI, if they're making mistakes with Medicare, they are not alone. Because I have written a whole book about the mistakes that are costly with just ordinary Medicare, let alone the SSDI piece being into it. Because of Medicare's rules and regulations and election periods and open enrollment periods and late penalties, there is a lot of anxiety around Medicare itself for someone at any age. And then when you're at SSDI, you're kind of adding on another layer there. So the primary one in talking with my service team about some of the folks who might have SSDI and run into errors, what have we seen, the primary one was that someone on long-term disability keeps their employer health insurance and then they assume that they can safely delay enrollment into Medicare Part B when that 24-month waiting period is over. The important thing here to know is that Medicare's rules do not focus on whether you have employer coverage. They focus on whether that coverage is based on active employment. And once someone stops actively working and they go on to long-term disability, that distinction becomes really important, right? If the coverage is no longer tied to active employment, delaying Part B could expose them to a potential late penalty.

Danielle Roberts [00:41:25 - 00:42:09]

So a late penalty for Part B is basically for every 12 months that you should have signed up for Medicare and you didn't, they apply 10% to your Part B premium and that is cumulative. So if you, if you waited 2 years, you would have 20% and then you pay that penalty every month for the rest of your life. So this is really important as to why anyone who becomes eligible for Medicare while they're on long-term disability should verify their status with both the employer benefits department and Medicare before deciding to postpone Part B. Those are important conversations to have so that you don't wait however many years and then have to deal with a penalty that's going to follow you for life.

Nancy Cavey [00:42:10 - 00:42:32]

I'll throw the curveball at you right now because I actually have a case where the individual was on disability benefits and delayed, then ultimately enrolled, and there ended up being a big fight about who was primary.

Speaker C [00:42:32 - 00:42:33]

Okay.

Nancy Cavey [00:42:33 - 00:42:56]

Was the Medicare coverage primary? Was the group primary? And everybody disagreed, and it's ending up in litigation. So Yeah. Could you explain the concept of what primary coverage is, secondary coverage, and where Medicare and Medigap falls into this?

Danielle Roberts [00:42:57 - 00:43:42]

Okay, got it. So when you have Original Medicare, that's primary, and when you add on, say, a Medigap plan, that pays secondary. And when someone is still working, whether Medicare is primary or secondary is based on the size of the employer. So if the employer, for your typical, say, let's go cover both of them for someone 65 and older, and they're still, let's say they're 67 and they're still working. If that company has more than 20 people, the group insurance offered through the company is primary and Medicare becomes secondary. In that scenario, you wouldn't add a Medigap plan because It doesn't do you any good. You don't have Medicare as primary. Medicare is paying after the group.

Danielle Roberts [00:43:42 - 00:44:30]

If you have a company under 20 employees, the opposite is true. Medicare itself is primary and the group insurance is secondary. Well, now you're in a world of hurt if you didn't sign up for Medicare and you need a shoulder surgery, because who's going to pay the 80% that Part B would have covered? Well, it's going to be you. This same thing happens to people that have SSDI, but the difference is that it's at 100 employees. So if you work for a company that has 100 or more employees versus 20 employees, it affects whether one is primary or secondary. And this is one topic that you can find a lot of information about on YouTube. There's a lot of videos about Medicare and employer coverage and how they coordinate. And you want to know that so that you don't get in that situation.

Danielle Roberts [00:44:31 - 00:44:55]

We've come across someone just in the last year that had this where he failed to sign up for Medicare and he was already on COBRA. So when he turned 65, he didn't realize that his coverage that he had through that employer became secondary. And he went and had a surgery in probably the one month of his entire life that he didn't have primary coverage in place, and he didn't know that.

Nancy Cavey [00:44:55 - 00:44:55]

Wow!

Danielle Roberts [00:44:55 - 00:45:24]

And so on the back end of that, my team was working with him to appeal to his group health insurance company to see if they would be willing to cover these medical bills based on, you know, this one chance accident needing an emergency surgery happening at the same time that this transition happened. I've got a really good claims team, and we were actually able to convince that carrier to cover the bill for him, which was amazing and really good news that we were able to present to him. But just to give an example of how easily you could make a miss there without meaning to.

Nancy Cavey [00:45:25 - 00:45:47]

Well, congratulations to you and your team. And again, I'm in the middle of this fight between a group carrier and Medicare. Who's primary? Who's not primary? You know, what happens when you are, you're over 65 and then you're retiring? But, you know, it's just a mess. So I probably will call you.

Danielle Roberts [00:45:48 - 00:45:48]

Okay.

Nancy Cavey [00:45:50 - 00:46:17]

For people who are dealing With health challenges, we both know that the disability system and the Medicare systems are frustrating and they're confusing and just adds stress. So what's practical advice that you could give to our listeners to make this process more manageable and understandable and, you know, give them financial sense of peace of mind?

Danielle Roberts [00:46:19 - 00:46:56]

So a couple of things, um, I mentioned early doing the research early. I think understanding Medicare takes a solid 6 months. I know this from having been an agent learning it in the beginning, and I had the benefit of a bunch of carriers giving me classes about it, but it took a solid 6 months before I felt like I really understood what was happening. So you have to take on the education yourself and We mentioned earlier there's books. You should read the Medicare and You Handbook. You should go to medicare.gov. Their website has been revamped in the last, say, 5 to 7 years. It's actually a really good website with lots of information.

Danielle Roberts [00:46:56 - 00:47:26]

You should Google Medicare and SSDI, Medicare under 65, and read as many blog posts and pieces of information that you could find. Buy a good book about Medicare and read that. Do some YouTube watching. And write down your questions. So once you have a pretty good understanding and you've taken the time to sort of prepare yourself, that 24-month waiting period would be a great time to be doing this right before you get onto Medicare. And then you want to find a great broker to fill in the blanks.

Nancy Cavey [00:47:27 - 00:47:28]

You could just start with a broker.

Danielle Roberts [00:47:29 - 00:48:02]

Yes, you could start with a broker and it will be far easier because of course we offer things like we have a book We have blog posts, we have an email course, we have a Medicare 101 webinar which is free. You can come and listen to that. But a good broker is going to have the type of deep experience to answer those questions that you haven't been able to figure out on your own. And they will often inform you of things that you didn't even know about Medicare and you could have blundered on something. And they're going to help guide you and, and really help you avoid those mistakes that can be super expensive down the line.

Nancy Cavey [00:48:03 - 00:48:14]

So from your perspective, what do financial advisors, employers, disability professionals often misunderstand about Medicare and SSDI?

Danielle Roberts [00:48:14 - 00:48:44]

Probably what we talked about a couple of minutes ago, the coordination of benefits, right? So they assume that the employer plan is just going to continue paying first. In reality, once Medicare enters the picture, we have that primary versus secondary depending on the coverage and the employment and whether it's active or not. And the size of the employer, all those things come into play. And so they can make a mistake there. And then the second thing I think would be the enrollment timing, those periods that we've talked about today.

Speaker C [00:48:44 - 00:48:44]

Mm-hmm.

Danielle Roberts [00:48:44 - 00:49:26]

There's an annual election period, but it only applies to certain types of plans. There's an open enrollment period, and it only applies to certain plans during certain months. There are guaranteed issue windows. And these are all really confusing. And so sometimes you'll see a professional in another you know, financial advisor or something, just not be aware or understand why they told their client to go sign up for this, and the client found out that they can't because they don't have a valid election period. So that's sometimes where you may have a financial professional or someone meaning well that assumes something. We see people all the time too with the 20-employer rule. You'll have—

Nancy Cavey [00:49:26 - 00:49:26]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:49:27 - 00:49:44]

someone that retired and learned all about Medicare, and they found out that because their employer has more than 20 people, they can keep that group insurance and Medicare is secondary. But they tell their friend at Sunday school what they think they know, not knowing that the friend has under 20 employer.

Nancy Cavey [00:49:45 - 00:49:45]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:49:45 - 00:49:59]

They can make a big mistake. So it's not even just, you know, professionals out there, but just word of mouth from other Medicare beneficiaries that tell each other what they learned without realizing there's a nuance there that makes the coverage picture different for another person.

Nancy Cavey [00:50:01 - 00:50:41]

So one of the things that I think is interesting about this whole process is that Medicare enrollment period, and we're blasted by TV ads, and, you know, I think I understand things, but I'm pretty darn confused when I read all those Or watch all those ads. What's your advice to people about, you know, looking at those ads and sorting it out and, you know, really ultimately finding somebody to listen to them and not just assume that whatever this celebrity is saying about this company is, is really, is really right, or what this company offers is really right for them?

Danielle Roberts [00:50:41 - 00:51:13]

Yeah, I love this question, Nancy. I'm so glad that you asked. In the fall when I'm cleaning my house and I see this same commercial with the same sports celebrity 17 times in an hour telling me about this plan that is going to give me the sun, the moon, and the stars, and tomorrow when I get up there's going to be a new Cadillac in my driveway. Oh, folks, please, please, if there's one thing you take away from this podcast, uh, or that, that is a terrible way to enroll in any plan.

Nancy Cavey [00:51:13 - 00:51:13]

Yeah.

Danielle Roberts [00:51:14 - 00:51:44]

A lot of times they are advertising a Medicare Advantage plan, but something that happens is the Medicare Advantage plan will talk about benefits that you don't qualify for in your state, or they'll talk about benefits that someone could get if they had Medicare and Medicaid, which is a type of healthcare coverage provision to afford healthcare for people with very low income. So you call thinking that you're going to get the sun, moon, and stars plan.

Nancy Cavey [00:51:44 - 00:51:44]

That Cadillac.

Speaker C [00:51:45 - 00:51:46]

Yes, the Cadillac.

Danielle Roberts [00:51:46 - 00:52:31]

And you find out that that plan doesn't— isn't going to work for you because you don't have Medicaid. But we have this other plan over here that's really lovely with a lot less benefits, but we're going to enroll you in 30 minutes or less. Let's go. You're really excited because they've got you in this plan with a zero premium and it sounds amazing, but nobody checked to see whether your orthopedic orthopedic surgeon that you've been seeing ever since you had your disability, not in the network, right? Or maybe nobody checked to see if that plan covers a medication that you need on their formulary that otherwise is going to cost $400 at the pharmacy. So people make this quick enrollment, and you're calling into a call center, which may not even be in the United States. It might be offshore that you're talking to someone.

Nancy Cavey [00:52:31 - 00:52:31]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:52:32 - 00:53:18]

And that person's going to enroll you as quick as possible in 30 minutes or less, probably to make a commission. And you'll never be able to get back to them because you're going to call a giant 1-800 number. So how accountable are they if they make you make a huge mistake with your coverage or if you didn't think something through? So you should never enroll based on a postcard in your mailbox or a TV ad that you see. You would be better off to call 1-800-MEDICARE and deal directly with Medicare to get your questions answered. But you don't have to do that. You don't have to wait on hold because there are brokers like us everywhere that specialize in this and that can give you all the information. And they can help you find the plan that you think you heard on TV. You could write the plan name down and call the broker and like get the real skinny on how that plan works.

Danielle Roberts [00:53:18 - 00:53:24]

And even if you're eligible for it to begin with before you jump at the Cadillac plan.

Nancy Cavey [00:53:24 - 00:53:34]

So I want to pull the curtain back here. I'm going to ask you a question, and that is, twofold. How does a person find the quote-unquote right broker for them, and how do you get paid?

Danielle Roberts [00:53:35 - 00:54:21]

Oh, great question. So in any small town, you're going to have tons of brokers. Some of them will, will be working with Medicare products. The National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals that I've been a member of for almost 20 years, you can go to their website, which is nabip.com. And they have a find an agent feature where you could put in your state and search for agents in that state that offer Medicare plans. And you could reach out to a quality agent there. Agents that are willing to invest in an association that helps them better themselves as a professional are usually agents that take their job with their clients very seriously. And of course, you can— a lot of people find us at Boomer Benefits by simply Googling.

Nancy Cavey [00:54:21 - 00:54:21]

Yeah.

Danielle Roberts [00:54:21 - 00:54:58]

They might type in Medicare supplement in Texas or something like that. And they find our website and they work with a broker like us. Our brokerage is a little different that we work with everybody in every state except for New York. So it's a national brokerage. But there's lots of ways to find a good agent. You could ask a friend who's already gone through this process, hey, who was the broker that you worked with? And, you know, do they do business in my state? And you might reach out that way. So you want to work with someone who really knows what they're doing. And one other thing is There are some agents out there that might only offer one specific plan because they work for that carrier or that plan itself.

Danielle Roberts [00:54:58 - 00:55:25]

You want to work with an independent broker that is going to be able to look at a bunch of plans and then narrow down to make sure that they get one that fits not just your needs but also your budget, that it's the healthcare picture that you're trying to build and what you're expecting. You know, one plan may not be a good fit for that. Maybe a certain carrier isn't a good fit for that, and the agent's going to be able to Listen to all the things that are important about your case, and then find the carrier and the plan that is the best match for that.

Nancy Cavey [00:55:25 - 00:55:41]

So would you say that the most important factors would be, um, their medical condition, the list of doctors, the prescriptions that they need, and then sort of back into the cost, if you will, or a plan?

Danielle Roberts [00:55:41 - 00:56:08]

I think there's a number of things. So if I've got someone on the phone And, um, they are, you know, pretty well off, middle-class American, have a decent amount of money in the bank, healthy as a horse, never missed a, you know, haven't been to the doctor since 1967, don't take any medications. Well, someone like that, they're probably going to be less interested in a Medigap plan where you're paying a premium every month whether you not use the coverage.

Nancy Cavey [00:56:09 - 00:56:09]

Right.

Danielle Roberts [00:56:09 - 00:56:57]

As opposed to an Advantage plan where The premium is much lower and you pay as you go. What you would want to do is explain to that person about how networks work and make sure that they know that if it's really important for them to be able to go to the Mayo Clinic when they live in Fort Worth, that that may not be available on a Medicare Advantage plan that has just a local network. You want to make sure that's okay. But most people tend to treat in their home local area. And so that person might really lean toward an Advantage plan. On the flip side of that, we have people all the time that absolutely could not come up with enough money to afford a Medicare supplement. You know, they've put their kids through school and there's house payments and maybe they have SSDI and there's been costs related to an illness or an injury. And a Medicare supplement is just a real stretch that's going to be hard for them knowing that there'll be rate increases over the years.

Danielle Roberts [00:56:57 - 00:57:58]

So they might choose the Advantage plan based on the premium and whether they can afford it. And then the second part of that is we need to make sure to put them with the Advantage plan in their area that's going to give them hopefully access to all of their providers in the same network, or at least most of them, so that they don't get into a plan and suddenly have to find a whole bunch of new doctors. What might be the right plan to present. But I would also say that we, at Boomer Benefits at least, we go in talking to people about both types of plans just to make sure they know about them so that they're not missing, getting tunnel vision on one plan that they heard about without knowing what those options are. And you really want to think it through and decide if that plan is the right one for you. So, there could be a number of things that someone thinks is most important that is the thing that's going going to really matter when we make the recommendation.

Nancy Cavey [00:57:59 - 00:58:00]

So how do you get paid?

Danielle Roberts [00:58:01 - 00:58:03]

Yes, I forgot the second part of your question.

Nancy Cavey [00:58:03 - 00:58:03]

Yeah.

Danielle Roberts [00:58:04 - 00:58:44]

So whenever an insurance company— I want you to think about an auto insurance broker. So I have a friend, she runs an insurance, auto insurance agency over in Arlington. And every year, she's a broker, so every year, when I get my rate increase in the mail for my whatever insurance— homeowners, auto insurance— I call her and say, hey, you know, it's my annual renewal. Can you shop and let me know if there's any other carriers that are going to be less expensive? And she shops them all for me. And if she finds one, she'll, she'll tell me, OK, here's the plan and how much money it's going to save you. And she enrolls me in that plan. Well, I didn't pay her a fee. I didn't send her $100, say, to do that for me.

Nancy Cavey [00:58:44 - 00:58:44]

Hmm.

Danielle Roberts [00:58:44 - 00:59:25]

She's getting paid by whichever auto insurance company she ultimately puts me with. She gets a commission. And Medicare agents are paid much the same way. So when we work with someone and we're representing all these different carriers, whichever carrier that you ultimately choose, when the agent enrolls you into that plan, they will be paid a commission for having helped you find that insurance company and that plan. And that is really good because then you're not having to come out of pocket to get help from an expert. And if you're working with an independent agent, no matter where they put you, they're going to get paid. And so they can really analyze which plans and which carriers make sense for you, and it doesn't have to cost you money.

Nancy Cavey [00:59:26 - 00:59:36]

This has been a fantastic session. And for listeners who want to learn more, where can they find you, um, and, and where can they get your book that you talked about?

Danielle Roberts [00:59:37 - 01:00:10]

Sure, we're really easy to find on the web and on any social media that you can think of. We are Boomer Benefits. Our website is boomerbenefits.com. You can come there and you can sign up for an email course to learn Medicare. You can sign up for one of my webinars to learn Medicare. You can find us on YouTube and you can see this face on at least 150 videos. So if you really enjoy learning in that format, you certainly can. And then of course, um, the book we wrote several years ago, it's called 10 Costly Medicare Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make.

Danielle Roberts [01:00:11 - 01:00:40]

And it goes over the things that you could do wrong that will cost you the most money. And it's a really good just general Medicare education book as well. It's in large print and you can find it on Amazon or Barnes Noble for $9.99. We also have it on Audible. And if you're a Kindle user on Amazon, I think you can get the Kindle version for $2.99 because we didn't write the book to make money on the book. We wrote it to hopefully see people make fewer mistakes with Medicare by getting the word out there.

Nancy Cavey [01:00:41 - 01:00:50]

Well, Danielle, this has been fantastic, and I thank you for your time today and the great work that Boomer Benefits is doing. So thanks to you.

Danielle Roberts [01:00:50 - 01:00:52]

My pleasure. Thank you.