Hi, my name is John Barkett. I am the Senior Director of Policy Affairs at Willis Towers Watson and an expert on Medicare.
If you become eligible for Medicare in 2020 or after, you will no longer be able to buy a Plan F or Plan C. Those two plans cover all of your out-of-pocket expenses starting on day one. And a new rule is prohibiting plans that cover all of your out-of-pocket expenses from being sold to Medicare beneficiaries. Now, if you already have one of these plans you can stay in it.
But going forward – if you’re looking for a plan with comprehensive coverage, the best you’ll be able to do is to buy either a Plan G or Plan D, which basically covers all of your out-of-pocket expenses as well, except for what’s called the Part B deductible, which is about a $200 deductible that you’ll have to pay when you first go visit a doctor.
So, what’s the difference between Plan F and Plan G? Well, Plan F covers basically everything that Medicare doesn’t cover, when it comes to your medical costs.
Plan G covers almost the exact same list of benefits, except for one, and that’s the Part B deductible. You may recall that Part B is the part of Medicare that covers outpatient care – going to the doctor, for example. It has a deductible ($198 in 2020). When you first go see the doctor at the beginning of the year, your first $198 are your responsibility to pay for.
If you bought a Plan F, you paid an insurance premium and your plan paid that deductible for you. Now all you can buy is Plan G, which means you’ll be on the hook for that deductible. The good news is, because you’re on the hook for it, it’s likely that Plan G will cost a little bit less each month than Plan F, so at the end of the day, it’s typically a wash financially for a typical Medicare beneficiary.
