Annuities, CMS Changes & Healthcare Fraud: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Future

0:00 This program is designed to provide general information with regards to the subject matters covered. This information is given with the understanding that neither the host, guests, sponsors, or station are engaged in rendering any specific and personal, medical, financial, legal, counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services. Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas. Music Attention individuals, families, and caregivers. It's Medicare Hour and more with Peter right here on K4HD Radio. This is the podcast for all types of insurance solutions while specializing in Medicare because we Medicare. Here's your host, Peter R.

0:49 Joseph. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Great to see everyone here this lovely morning. Yeah, I wish it would cool off a little bit here in Southern California. It's going to get up to 100 degrees again. I'm wanting that fall weather. Where is that fall weather? Anyways, I am glad you're here with us joining us this morning. We've got a great show for you. Guest Lucas Rinda with Annuity VIP. He's going to be talking to us a little bit about what annuities are and how we can use them for retirement. So I'm excited about that conversation. You can see us on K4HD radio. You can see us on K4HD. com.

1:30 You can also. Download the app. You can also see us live on Facebook, Peter Joseph. I'm a public profile. Or you can look at our business page, josephinsurancebrokerllc.com. We'll be live there as well as our YouTube channel at Medicare Minute with Peter. No spaces at Medicare Minute with Peter. We have all our videos on there as well. So I hope you're listening in. You've got our number right there, too. You can always text us questions during our show and we will answer them in real time. So, yes, Medicare enrollment is only two days away. I cannot believe it. It's our busiest time of year. This is when all the commercials happen. This is when your mailboxes get full with advertisements on Medicare. We've been talking about this for weeks now, the crazy commercials that we see that guide you in the wrong direction. Do not listen or call those numbers.

2:33 Remember that. We do. Have some tidbits that we want to go over as we get ready to rock and roll for open enrollment. Obviously, our show is actually going to be on hiatus as well for about seven weeks. Again, that's just because we're in that busy time of year. I've got about 30-some agents that I advise as well as train during this time. So I want to be accessible to them as well as accessible to my 1,100-plus clients. Yes, it's crazy, our book. grows every year. And I'm grateful for that, but it also means more customer service and more conversations need to be had.

3:18 So a couple of things. I do want to share some myths about Medicare. This is a great commercial that we're going to see here. Take a look. There is so much misinformation out there on Medicare that these myths are actually costing seniors thousands of dollars. Here are three Medicare myths that you need to stop believing right now. Number one is that Medicare is free. That is not true. Most people pay monthly premium for Part B, plus deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance on top of that. If you're not prepared for these costs, they can add up fast. Number two, Medicare covers everything. That's completely false. Routine dental, vision and hearing, and long-term care aren't covered under original Medicare at all. These gaps can cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you are not prepared. Number three, all Medicare plans are the same. This one might be the most dangerous. Plans vary dramatically by zip code, network, premium.

4:23 And drug coverage. Picking the wrong one could cost you thousands in avoidable out-of-pocket expenses. Don't let these myths cost you. Comment review on this video and I'll personally reach out to you to help. So those are important keys and important myths to talk about. And like I said, we've reiterated that in the last few weeks. I'm going to keep pushing that and hammering it in to people who are listening in because it is really important. This is why we have guests come on that talk about long-term care and annuities, because Medicare doesn't cover everything, and people are shocked. It does cover hospice, but.

5:06 In terms of skilled nursing facilities, it only covers about 120 days. and then you're stuck with a big bill. Original Medicare also costs a lot for your hospitalization. That's why people get onto a Medicare plan, because they want to mitigate those costs. If you're just on original Medicare, you're paying a deductible of about $ 1, 700. And then after day 60, if you're still in the hospital, you're getting. Charged about $ 400 to $ 800 per day. That can definitely bankrupt you, and we don't want that to happen. So You definitely want to, again, talk to an expert like myself to get you on the right narrow and make sure you're on the best path for you to cut those costs out. So again, Medicare is not free. We all pay a premium. Usually it's about 202 for most of us. Some of us will pay a little bit more if we make more money. And we've shared that on our show as well. And again, Medicare doesn't cover everything, so just keep that in mind.

6:09 As you're planning your retirement, your health costs, you've got to look at annuities. You've got to look at stocks, investments. You've got to look at a pension if you have one. You've got to look at annuities, lifetime income. Those kind of things need to come into play because it is ridiculously expensive if you you're just on Medicare and you have nothing else. I am going to share here a quick stat too, pulling this up. Let's see here. So the other thing that's important is Medicare enrollment is really important, especially this year. It's very disruptive, as we can see.

6:50 I'm seeing that There's more info regarding next year's plans. They're saying 5.27 million people will lose their plan for next year. That is a lot of folks. Oh, my goodness. 5.27 million. That is unbelievable. So, you know, please be aware of the ANOX that you get in the mail, annual notices of change. If your plan is terminating or exiting the market, please talk. To me so we can get you on the right path. Um, those annual notices of changes are the ones that tell you if your plan is leaving the market or not. That's a huge disruption this year. I've not seen that in quite a bit of time. So, um, you know, you want to make yourself aware of those kinds of things. Um, The other thing that's happening, actually, let me share this one other thing that's happening here. So CMS did release the 2027 premium rates for private Medicare plans. This is coming out from USA Today. So Part D premiums are supposed to rise less than a dollar for next year.

7:57 So that's pretty good news. While Medicare Advantage premiums are going to drop. About $ 2 on average. And like I said, here in California, most of our Medicare Advantage plans are zero premiums. So that's not going to even affect us that much. But you're looking at the average monthly premium for standalone Part D prescription drug plans is projected to be $ 36 next year, up from $ 35 this past year. And again, um, Average monthly premium for Medicare Advantage expected to be $ 12 next year, down from $ 14 this year. I did see that the premium for Part B, like I said, was $ 202 this year. I think it is going up to about $ 209. The drug deductible is going up to $ 700 for next year. And the max out-of-pocket for drug plans is $ 2, 400. It was $ 2, 100 this past year. So you can see costs are going up and up and up.

8:54 Inflation is wrecking havoc everywhere, it seems like. So I just want you guys to be prepared. And then the last statistic here, 97% of Medicare enrollees will have access to 10 or more Medicare Advantage plan options in 2027. That's quite a bit. But again... Even though 5. Million are supposed to be affected by next year, CMS still estimates that 8 in 10 enrollees will still be able to keep their current plan. So you can see just in that nutshell how many people are actually on Medicare. And that number keeps growing and growing every year as we have baby boomers, all these folks turning 65. So we're getting more people pushed onto Medicare. And so the numbers are going to continue to grow. But again, so those are some numbers for you guys for next year.

9:46 As you can see, some expenses, you know, not too bad. I just think the drug costs are going to be the most effective thing for next year. And we'll have to keep an eye on what those drug costs are going to look like for all of us. The other thing that's going on big time with CMS is they're cracking down on quite a bit of fraud that's going out there. You've probably seen headlines about health insurance fraud. It's unfortunate that a few bad seeds are causing havoc for the rest of the market. So CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, put a moratorium down on Health insurance basically saying any new agents cannot contract and sell Obamacare or ACA health insurance plans for under 65 until February, which is past open enrollment for.

10:45 Aca plans so that is huge that's going to put a lot of people out of business um i've got some new agents in our agency and they're not going to be able to sell which is very unfortunate so that's that's going to be scary um look at this uh commercial from our sponsor christian brindle about these crackdowns. The political side of this in the sense of what we've been seeing especially from dr osk you know, Mehmet has kind of gone on this tirade. And to me, especially the word moratorium, I mean, this is just, we're seeing how many moratoriums has this dude slapped over the past few months? I mean, we had the DME moratorium, no new DME providers for the time being. We had a moratorium on new hospice locations. Again, that's tied to fraud.

11:43 So like It's more of the same. It kind of feels like it's continuing to overreach. So is all of this stemming from a place where Dr. Oz is just trying to put points on the board for his team going into midterms? Is that where you think all of this is coming from? That's my personal opinion. I can't remember the verbiage my attorney would tell me to say, but it's. Not anybody thinks it but me. I think it. I think that, you know, saying that everybody who doesn't go to the doctor is fraudulent and they're going to cancel all those policies and people are going to need to go to the hospital the next day, didn't go to the hospital for so many years.

12:25 But it's they're making up things. And CMS, if you want to make them mad, I tell them you're throwing things on the wall to see if it sticks. And that's all you're doing. Wow. I mean, you could see, um, Ronell Nolan works for Hoffa. It's an organization that helps, uh, agents. They fight for us in Congress. And, uh, you could see that, you know, Dr. Oz is really cracking down on a lot of things and it's unfortunate and it's, it's, you know, affecting agents and clients alike because, you know, this can come down on Medicare as well in the future. So we're keeping a close eye on what's going on with that. We are definitely fighting this and, and letting Oz know that, you know, there's just a couple of bad seeds out there.

13:11 Agents are good thing for this market and they do help, our clients navigate this confusing journey of Medicare. So we will continue to fight this in Congress and we'll keep you updated on our show. So without further ado, we are going to transition over to our first guest. Lucas Renda is on our show. Welcome, Lucas. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we're so glad to have you on our show. Do you want to share a little bit about your story. And how you got into? So, you know, Lucas is the vice president of Annuity VIP. Do you want to just share a little bit about how you got into this business and the background of, you know, what motivated you to get into annuities?

13:59 Yeah, absolutely. It's actually kind of a funny story. You know, I've been in the industry for about eight years now and right out of college, a buddy of mine kind of approached me and said, you know, hey, I'm working in this space in this industry. I think you would really excel at this. And to be quite honest, I wasn't super familiar with the annuity side of the insurance industry. But, you know, I like talking with people. I like helping people out and come to find out that the owner of the company that I started at was a guy I played basketball with on Wednesdays. And when I went into my first interview, you're kind of like, hey, what the heck? What are you doing here? But yes, that's actually how I started to get into it. I knew the boss and had a buddy that worked in the industry.

14:42 Definitely was a learning curve at first. But, you know, eight years later, you know, loving what I'm doing and and really happy where this industry is going. Awesome. Awesome. So, you know, obviously for the listeners listening in, you know, we're living in a world where obviously traditional pensions are becoming less common. My wife is one of those rare people who works for the state of California and has a pension. But, you know, I'm seeing those go by and by less and less being accessible to people. And so people have to turn to other sources when they retire. Right. So where does that reliable paycheck come from, Lucas? Yeah, absolutely. You know, a lot of people don't know this.

15:25 So Social Security was really the first annuity that was invented a long time ago. So for starters, you know, that reliable paycheck, a lot of Americans are, you know, looking at that Social Security as a monthly income that's guaranteed. But sometimes that's not enough. So that's really where an annuity can come in and help that out. You can pair, you know, an annuity with the Social Security and make sure that you have enough for monthly expenses and that you're comfortable in retirement. For sure. So let's pretend I'm only five years old and just dumb it down for our audience, because a lot of people don't know what annuities are. If someone's considering that as part of their retirement strategy, what exactly is an annuity?

16:07 How's it set up? What does it do for you? Yeah, great question. I love this question. So what I like to tell people, especially consumers kind of looking at it, most of the consumers understand what life insurance is for. So life insurance is protecting you if you die too soon, where an annuity is really protecting you if you live too long. So that's where they originated was, hey, we're going to take a lump sum of money and we're going to guarantee this income stream for as long as we live. Even if you live to 110, you know that income is going to come into that bank account every month from the insurance carrier. But over the years, annuities have really kind of expanded into the long-term care space, as well as, you know, a growth vehicle in retirement.

16:51 So there's a lot of new things that annuities are able to do with this interest rate environment that we're in. They're super compelling for, I believe, every, you know, retirement portfolio. So again, if it's income, long-term care, growth, or just a safe money asset, you know, that's really where they're kind of coming into play. Okay. So let me ask you this, play devil's advocate a little bit. If someone is. Looking at an annuity, obviously, you know, they're thinking, well, I invest already in the stock market. I invest in real estate. You know, I put my money in a bank account. You know, I feel like those are places where my money is going to grow faster. And when they look at annuity, they think the interest rate is kind of on.

17:35 The low side. So how would you approach that conversation? Yeah. So there's definitely no denying that, you know, the stock market has been essentially at an all-time high over the last, you know, five, six years, pretty much since COVID. So I like to just have that conversation with, you know, clients and agents that are in this industry that, you know, what happens when something like COVID happens again or the 2008 market crash? That's really where you're going to have those clients appreciate, you know, having that annuity contract. So, you know, to kind of back up right now, annuity rates are, you know, they're all performing CDs right now. Their guaranteed rates are you know, higher than what CDs and banks can offer. And, you know, if you're looking at the more investment side of it, the index annuities where you're participating in some investments like the S & P 500, you're obviously not going to grow as fast as the market. But I really like to just Hammer down on that. The years that the market's down, because of your age, Mr. or Mrs. Client, if you're 60, 65, whatever it may be, you don't have the time to make up that loss. So that annuity can offer you that protection from the downside. Your money's not going to grow, but you're also not losing 20% to 30%. So I'm not saying, hey, let's move all of your retirement money into an annuity, but but let's just take a chunk of that. Let's protect it. You know that, you know, if something happens, you don't have to worry about this money.

19:02 And that's really where I see, you know, the biggest play in the annuity space is, you know, just that rainy day fund type of money. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, that's very helpful. What about, you know, people who worry about, you know, because, you know, banks sometimes go bankrupt. So, you've got that FDIC insured on that side. Obviously, with life insurance, it's a little bit different. Does annuities work the same way as the life insurance world in terms of, like, it's not FDIC insured? Yep. Yeah. So there's every annuity carrier for the most part, I would say about 99% of them are backed by the state guarantee fund. So on average, it's around $ 250, 000. So if a client is worried about that, I'd say, well, let's just make sure we're underneath the state guarantee fund.

19:52 If something were to happen to that carrier, the state will reimburse you on that money. Now, with that being said, you know, we're, working with, you know, call it 70 different insurance carriers, but we predominantly work in the A-rated space. So we like to work with carriers that have strong financial backgrounds, that have been in the industry for a long time, you know, just have that history that really shows and lets the client know that, hey, we don't have to worry about this. They're financially stable. They have the money to back it up and all that type of stuff. And then what, I mean, who do you think should be having this annuity conversation with myself or with you? And who might not be a good fit in your perspective?

20:35 Yeah, so annuities are, you know, they're built for people at or near retirement. And the biggest reason for that being is they follow the same rules as the IRS is if you put a money into an annuity contract, you can't touch that money until you're at least 59 1⁄2. Otherwise, you'll get hit with a pre-59 1⁄2 tax on withdrawing that money. So for starters, that's kind of why it's more of a retirement vehicle for people that's looking for that extra income or they're just looking to leave a legacy behind and they're over 59 1⁄2 so they can access that money without any pre-59 1⁄2 withdrawal tax. So anyone at that retirement age thinking about retirement, I believe it's a great time to have that conversation about if annuity will fit in your retirement portfolio.

21:26 And then what do you hear out from your perspective? What's the biggest misconception out there that you hear about annuities? Yeah, you know, what I get a lot from, you know, clients is, you know, 15 plus years ago, annuities were really misrepresented and missold. They had high commissions. So a lot of agents and advisors out there were you know, moving clients' money, taking that high commission, and, you know, they were just kind of vanishing from, you know, the face of the earth for the client. You know, the client didn't hear from them. It really put them in a bad situation. So I always like to say it's not your, you know, grandmother's annuity anymore. There's a lot of regulations in there. Commissions have came down. Suitability is really tightened up, so you can't just, you know, take all of a client's, you know, poor retirement portfolio. So, yeah, I mean, that's the biggest misconception is, you know, it's a high commission product, that type of thing. But it's really, you know, with rates and everything in the industry, it's really become a retirement favorable piece in someone's portfolio, if you will.

22:33 Well, and on our show, we do talk about too, like, you know, obviously Medicare and health insurance are a big cost and people don't really take that into account in the retirement age. And so obviously they should because we know Medicare doesn't cover everything. So in terms of an annuity, can you give us kind of, I mean, I know it changes from person to person. Um, but when we say like income for life, are we talking about like a thousand dollars a month? Are we talking about more? Does it matter? Like, you know, we hear about qualified, non-qualified funds. What does that even mean? Um, like how do we put money into the annuity and then where does it go? And, and how does it look like in terms of that lifetime income? I know that's a lot thrown at you right.

23:17 There, but yeah, I'll try to touch all the bases there. So, um, Yeah, to start with the non-qualified and qualified aspect of it. So if a client has a 401k, that's labeled as an IRA. So that's qualified, meaning it hasn't been taxed yet. So when that client starts taking distributions from it, they're going to start paying the taxes on that money. Where non-qualified is after tax. So that's going to be like the money that's in your checking account, your savings account, because you already got paid. You paid the taxes on it. It's after tax dollars. So with an annuity, you can actually do a 1035 rollover and exchange and continue to defer the taxes. So let's say a client had a 401k and they wanted that extra guaranteed income. We'll use $ 100, 000 just for the sake of the conversation. You're going from a.

24:11 Like-to-like product, so there's no taxes there. You're continuing to defer the taxes until they start taking the distributions, but all it is is filling out a form in an annuity application with your agent. It's a pretty simple process. The insurance carrier will reach out to the 401k employer, wherever that money is, and the money gets transferred that way. Now, I have With the aspect of the income coming in, it's all dependent on the carrier that you're working with, how much money you're putting into it. But for the sake of the conversation, payout rates right now are right around 7%. So $ 100, 000, you'll get an extra $ 7, 000 a year, and you can take that over monthly or whatever you're looking at.

24:58 Okay, that makes sense. So let's kind of shift gears a little bit and just talk about you personally in terms of your career and helping people prepare for the future. What has taught you about what people actually value when they reach retirement? What are some things you've seen or heard? Yeah, so I think when people reach retirement, you know, the biggest thing is, you know, congratulations, you made it, but they don't understand the unexpected that can happen. And that's where, you know, like the long-term care is the biggest detriment to anyone's retirement. So it's a big conversation that I like to kind of open up with. And, you know, anyone that's listening, whether you're an agent or a client, you should be having these conversations with your agent because, you know, I feel at least what I've known is that everyone has kind of that horror story that, you know, either they went through or someone in their family has went through that, you know, they don't have, a place or a plan set in place and you know grandma or grandpa goes into a nursing home and now the kids are scrambling and how are we going to pay for this you know they're draining you know their parents funds they're selling land and I can actually speak from a personal experience because I just went through this with my family grandpa just recently passed away and they were you know talking about having to sell his farmland just to pay for it now you know I don't know it's a If it's a good thing or not, but they didn't have to get to that point because he didn't make it. But, you know, I could see the stress that it brought to my mom's family that

26:29 they had to have these tough conversations with everyone. So long-term care, nursing home facility, that is going to be your biggest, you know, conflict in retirement. So let's make sure you guys have a plan set in place. And whether it's a traditional policy or an annuity or life insurance, you know, they can really help you out in that space. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that personal story too. It kind of puts things in perspective. Um, just personal side, you know, when you're not talking retirement insurance, what do you enjoy doing? Yeah. So I'm, uh, unfortunately really into golf right now and it's the most frustrating thing I think I can be a part of. Um, I'm sure a lot of us can relate to that, but yeah, you know, I've been married for two years now. Um, You know, we have a house. We're just enjoying married life.

27:22 Awesome. Awesome. Like to play basketball, hang out with friends, big sports fans. So rooting for the Vikings right now. We're three and all. So that's a good start. Nice. Yeah. So just an all around just, you know, your typical Minnesota guy. I like to enjoy the lakes. It's getting cold here soon. So we'll be hunkering down for the next five or six months pretty soon. But yeah, I'm just a pretty basic guy. Okay, very cool. Who's the quarterback right now for the Vikings? Kyler Murray just came back. He got hurt. Basically the second play of the first game, got a concussion, and then this last game was his first game back. So it was pretty rocky, but we got the W.

28:03 Hey, your team's doing better than mine. The Rams were supposed to be good, and they've started 1-2, so. You should be grateful. Yeah, the Rams will be fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, man. We're going to end our session with a rapid fire. So these are just no long explanations. The first answer that comes to mind, you can answer a little bit if you want after you answer the question about why you decided to. Answer it that way. But no long explanations, all right? Yeah, I love it. Let's do it. Okay, retirement at 55 or retirement at age 70? If you're able to, retirement at 55. Okay, awesome. Guaranteed income or maximum flexibility?

28:48 Guaranteed income. Okay. Beach retirement or mountain retirement? Beach retirement. Nice, nice. One retirement mistake you wish you could erase? You cut out there. What was that? Oh, okay. So one retirement mistake that people wish they could erase? Planning for nursing over long-term care. Okay, that's a good one. Most misunderstood word in retirement planning? Guarantees. Okay, I like that.

29:30 What is one thing people spend too much money on in retirement? I want to say vacations or luxury things like. cars. Yeah, I definitely see that. All right. One thing people don't spend enough money on in retirement. Making memories with family. I'll elaborate with that a little bit. As you retire, you made it to the finish line. Now let's use some of that retirement and let's make memories with the grandkids, your kids, whatever it may be. Awesome. I love that answer. And last but not least. All right. So this one might take a little bit of thought.

30:13 If you like think about yourself, if your retirement strategy were a movie, what would the title be? So if my retirement strategy was a movie, what would the title be? Yeah. That's a good one. I would say it would have to be. First of all, the genre would be an action comedy. Okay, okay. I like that. Background dream right there. Nice, nice. Probably safe and sound. Okay, I like that. Safe and sound, but, yeah, we'll just go with safe and sound. No, I like that. I like that. It's a good question. I like it.

30:53 Yeah, no, that's awesome. All right, Lucas. So, you know, obviously people are going to probably have a lot of questions after listening in. Where can people find you and learn about more about what you do and about annuities? Yeah, so I can see on the bottom there, my phone number's there. You guys feel free to give me a call. You know, I'm on the phone all the time. Love talking about this stuff. So please don't hesitate to reach out. Otherwise, if you want to kind of read a little bit more, we do have a website. It is annuityvip.com. It tells you all about our company and what we're doing. If you just have any standard basic questions, even if you feel like it's a stupid question, no questions are stupid. Please reach out to myself or Peter, and I can help you guys out.

31:39 Awesome, Lucas. Well, I appreciate you making the time for us this morning. As you can see, Lucas immensely cares about his clientele as well, wants the best for you guys in retirement. So definitely reach out to him or myself if you have questions about annuity. Blessings to you, Lucas. Thank you so much for coming on. Oh, thanks, Peter. Thanks for having me. This is a lot of fun. Awesome. Awesome. Have a good one, man. All right. Take care. Take care. Bye. All right. I appreciate Lucas so much and what he had to offer and say. We've talked about retirement income. We've talked about annuities. We've talked about healthcare. We've talked about protecting ourselves from fraud. We obviously want to be with someone who's licensed and knowledgeable about some of these things. And the common thread through that conversation we had with Lucas is preparation. So whether you're preparing for retirement, preparing for healthcare costs, or simply protecting yourself from someone trying to take advantage of you, education really does matter. And that's what our agency and brokerage is all about, is about educating our clients, right?

32:42 We don't push sales. We want to make sure you understand the ins and outs of everything that we offer you, whether it's Medicare, annuities, life insurance, whatever the case may be. So don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to slow down. That's why we have our number on our show is so that you can ask questions in real time. If you hear something that triggers a question in you or curiosity, that's the time to text us and let us know. Do not make an important financial or health care decision simply because someone tells. You that you have to make it today. So, you know, we immensely care, and this is why we bring on these kind of folks onto our show. We, you know, bring on small business owners that we do business with. We bring on financial advisors like Lucas. who knows a lot about annuities and the retirement system. And we bring on other people and other careers, doctors, dentists, you name it. We want to bring on those folks that we have in our inner circle to be a resource for you. So I hope that was helpful. So, you know, Lucas and I did touch on a little bit about life insurance. So I'm going to go ahead and share that. a presentation here that our friend Peter Patel was going to share and we ran out of time, but he did give it to me to share. So I'm going to bring it up here.

34:09 All right. So, um, you know, there's, there's different people who can buy a life insurance plan. Um, it could be those close to retirement. It could be parents with little children. It could be a kind of a, a key person when you have a partnership in, uh, a business, uh, You want to get key person insurance so that in case something happens to one partner, the other partner is insured on the business. So life insurance works for a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different folks and age brackets. So don't think life insurance is just, you know, one thing. It applies to a lot of different scenarios. And obviously, you know, we've talked about on our show that term insurance versus life whole life or index life insurance is totally different. So term is like renting a home or renting an apartment. Whole life and index life is like owning that home. And the reason being is that when a term insurance You're going to pour all this money into a policy. You're not going to see those funds coming back after you outgrow that policy.

35:18 So let's say you're on a 20-year term. You put all this premium in for 20 years, and then you don't die, thankfully, and you live past those 20 years. You lose all that money, and no one gets the death benefit on that policy. So that's what it is. It's like a temporary policy. Those are good, and they're inexpensive, and they're good to have in place. I'm not saying that you shouldn't think about that. But if you're able to invest a little bit more money, the indexed universal life or whole life is the way to go because that is permanent. And even when you pass away, someone will get the death benefit. You can also take a loan.

35:59 Against the life insurance policy in those scenarios and pay indexed life and whole life gain what's called cash value. So that's the cash value that you can access. So it's got a lot more benefits to it, but obviously you're paying a little bit more for those kind of things. So just keep that aware. When you're thinking about a term versus an indexed life. Now, in my experience, in my life, my family has what we call layered insurance policies. So What you can also do is do a term insurance. So my term insurance will cover our mortgage payments in case I pass away.

36:43 And then we have on top of that a indexed universal life policy through Columbus Life. And then I've got two of those policies, and I'm going to use those policies for my kids when they go into college and help them out with their tuition because it's going to gain cash value. And I can also use that indexed universal life if, one, I get a critical illness or a terminal illness. I could take money out, and it wouldn't affect the death benefit total. Two.... When I do die at some age, which we all do, we don't live eternally on this world in physical form.

37:24 So when that happens, someone will get the death benefit guaranteed. And so that's important to me that I leave something behind, kind of a legacy. So it's got different facets that I'm able to use. And the reason I layered it that way is because a term insurance is pretty inexpensive and that at least covers my mortgage payments for 30 years. Obviously, you know, with homes, you usually get a 30-year mortgage. And so after those 30 years, hopefully you've paid it off and you won't have that debt anymore. So that's why a term is good because it is temporary and it'll cover those 30 years. And then I have an indexed universal life so that I can leave some money behind after the fact. So those are two important qualities.

38:12 People layer stuff because it's a little bit more inexpensive that way versus going all in on one insurance side of things. So if you did all like. indexed universal life or all whole life, that could be pretty pricey. But if you layer them, then it's not as pricey. So talk to me about that option. Obviously, that's an option for you guys. So life insurance is very important. I will say that. I know it's not as easy of a sell for us agents because it is a luxury in a sense. People don't have to have it. as opposed to Medicare or health insurance, you have to have that, right? I mean, you can go without it, but that would be pretty dramatic and not a good thing.

38:56 So I. Understand how life insurance can be not a necessity in life. And so you're going to want to Maybe use your funds for other things rather than that. But I do want to say you want to make sure your family is taken care of, especially if you have kids. You know, if God forbid something happens to you, you know, I see it every day where people get a terminal illness like cancer, people commit suicide. It's a crazy, crazy world out there. Tragic things can happen to us all the time, and you don't want to take life for granted.

39:39 And so I myself.... Will stretch my dollar to make that happen because I want to make sure my family is safe and taken care of if, you know, God forbid something happens to me. So keep that in mind. You know, at some point, you want to budget that out in your finances because that is an important asset to have in your financial toolbox. So on that note, I'm going to share a last few things for us to get ready for Medicare AEP today. So October 1st through the 15th, or the 14th actually, October 1st through the 14th is a time that us agents can actually talk to you clients about the benefits that are changing for next year and the plans that are being offered for next year. But we have to wait until October 1st. That's just the CMS rule. And then October 15th through December 7th is the open enrollment. Now, this only applies to people who are on a Medicare Advantage plan or on original Medicare with a Part D.

40:44 This does not apply to people who are on a supplement plan FGNA, whatever the letter is, It doesn't apply to Medigap or Medicare supplement plans. Open enrollment is for those other two scenarios. If you're on a supplement plan, especially if you're a client of ours, The only times you can really change your plan to a different carrier is your birthday month. And that's not in all 50 states. There's only a certain amount of states in the United States that allow you to do that, California being one of them. So that is when your open enrollment is, is your birthday day. And then 60 days after is when you can change your Medicare supplement to another plan that has a lower rate possibly.

41:30 So keep that in mind. Your Part D plan, though, for those on a supplement, yes, you can change those during open enrollment. But your supplement does not apply for open enrollment. So please, please, please keep that in mind as we're going in. the other important thing as we've shared in the beginning of the show is that there are many plans exiting the market. And so that could affect you and you don't want to be stuck without a plan come 2027. So please talk to myself or a colleague of ours to make sure you're getting the benefits you deserve and that your plan is not terminating or leaving the market.

42:11 All right. And then the last thing that's happening is, um, CMS is doing what's called a plan cap enrollment for some of these plans. What that means is there's only a certain amount of people that can go on to a carrier plan for next year. Once that cap is met, they won't let anyone else in. It's not on a lot of plans, I will tell you that, but there are a few plans out there. Let me bring that up real quick. and see if there's ones in California that could affect our audience today. So the states that are being affected, I don't even see California on this list.

42:56 You've got. Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, North. Carolina, Minnesota, Michigan, and Maryland. Couple more. And Hawaii and Massachusetts. So those are the only states that are having where they are accepted enrollment capacity limits. So it's across just 11 states. But your agent would know if you live in any of those states, whether that plan applies to you or not. So basically you want to get in before others because there is a cap of how many people can be on that plan. So just to give you an idea, like in Massachusetts, Blue Cross Blue Shield in Massachusetts, they've got a plan out there where they're only allowing 3,455 people on that plan. I can't say which plan it is yet until October 1st, but that kind of gives you an idea that there are caps on some of these plans across those 11 states. So you want to be aware of that as you're going in.

44:03 The last thing is I. Kind of want to share your There is a Medicare and you 2027 book for those turning 65 and going on to Medicare. You can get that booklet free. Usually when you're turning 65 or getting onto Medicare, you get that mailed out to you for free, but sometimes you don't, you can go on our website and download that book for next year. But just to give you an idea of how prices are going up. So, you know, if you look at page 30 on a booklet about hospital care, the deductible for part a, which everyone gets for free is, is $ 1, 736. So if you go to the hospital, that's how much you would pay out of pocket. And then if you're staying there after 60 days.

44:49 So. Within those 60 days, it's $ 0 per day, as we shared earlier. But after those 60 days, you'll pay $ 434 each day from day 61 to 90. And then days 91 to 150, you pay $ 868 each day. So that can quickly add up. That can quickly cause you a lot of pain and suffering in terms of your financial pocket. And unfortunately, we're seeing a lot of cases of bankruptcy because of healthcare costs. So again, I don't share this to scare you. I share this to inform you that when you're on original Medicare, when you turn 65, you Get with an agency or a Medicare broker to help you decide what plan to go on to mitigate those costs. So whether you go on an advantage plan or a supplement plan, those will cut those hospital costs out. So it's very important to get on a plan. It's also very important to pick up a Part D. A lot of people get onto original Medicare. They think, oh, Medicare is fine.

45:58 I don't need a plan. It'll cover me. Now, remember, it only covers 80%. It doesn't cover the 20%. But it also doesn't cover your prescriptions unless you pick up a Part D prescription drug plan, which a lot of folks, I find out, don't because they don't realize that that's an option out there. So you do want to pick up a Part D plan when you get onto Medicare if you decide not to get a plan. If you get a supplement, you still have to get a Part D. So whether you stay on original Medicare or you get on a supplement, you still have to get Part D. So just be aware of those things. We want to make sure that you're prepared this open enrollment, you know what's going on for 2027, and I'm glad that we can bring those up on our show again. Thank you so much for listening in this morning. I hope I didn't bore you too much with all these statistics and facts, but it's important for you guys to know you can always come back to the video on our YouTube channel, re-watch that part, even put subtitles on so you can see the information that I'm eschewing out. Again, we will be on hiatus.

47:08 For seven weeks. We appreciate all our listeners. We've had 2,700 viewers on the past few beginning of our shows. So I appreciate all the support we're getting. I appreciate all our sponsors, which you'll see at the end of the show. We do this because we want you to be informed and educated. We want to bring resources to the forefront of your minds. And we thank you again so much for trusting us with your livelihoods, your healthcare business. with everything and that's the reason we get awards is because clients like yourselves give. Us props give us great reviews on google. We appreciate you so much so thank you for that and thank you for your inherent trust in us and again if you have any questions please call this number you can text us we will get back to you as soon as possible we.

48:02 Do this show because we medicare. Thanks for listening. Tune into Medicare Hour and more with Peter every Tuesday at 9 a.m. Pacific Time right here on K4HD Radio at K4HD. com for more real-life stories from experts who care about you and protecting your health, your finances, and your future. See you next week.