Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Rick Sechler, CFP Founder of USA Retirement Solutions Discussing Medicare Supplement plans

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Rick Sechler is a Certified Financial Planner who truly appreciates the opportunity to serve clients planning for and enjoying their retirement.Based on over 30 years of experience and the ability to listen for the nuances that make every situation different, he believes in a collaborative process that results in solutions developed by gathering information that integrates personal and financial circumstances and goals. Communication is the most important ingredient to developing a plan that is right for you.Learn More: https://usaretirementsolutions.info/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-rick-sechler-cfp-founder-of-usa-retirement-solutions-discussing-medicare-supplement-plans

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us Rick Seckler, who's the founder of USA Retirement Solutions and we'll be talking about Medicare supplement plans. Rick, welcome back to the program. Hey, Mike, thank you. Good to hear from you today. Nice to be on. Yeah, you're welcome. And I think that this will probably take about 30 seconds to describe Medicare supplement plans. Ha ha. Of course it doesn't because, wow, it is a broad, confusing topic. And I know that just from even glancing at the topic, there's, you know, A, B, C, kind of like the alphabet soup. And please don't feel like, well, let's go Google this and figure it out because you're going to get more confused. than ever. So let's start off with, you know, just explaining kind of that alphabet soup.

What is the ABCD and all the rest? Well, we'll start with A, part A of Medicare, as to do with hospital coverages provided through Medicare. Part B has to do with medical professionals, physician services, outpatient care, tests, and supplies. C is something fairly new last 10 or 15 years called Medicare Advantage plans, which kind of combine A and B and D, which is the fourth major alphabet component of the soup. D is prescription drug plans. Now, there are other A through K letters that have to do specific. with Medicare supplements, but there are Medicare supplements and Medicare advantages are different,

and we need to talk about those differences at some point. So you're telling me that it's not a simple fill in the blank, step one, two, three, and you're done, you can check the box and rest easy that you made the right decision. There's a lot more to it than that. Folks that come to me either via the seminar or they see my ad that I run, hard copy ad in some local magazines, they generally come stretched in their heads because a lot of times people try to do it themselves

and they get more confused. And what I really like to stress here pretty near the top of this is what they need to do is talk to an independent broker. They need to talk to somebody who represents all the plans in their area because if they talk to the Blue Cross Blue Shield person just to pick on them, guess what? They're going to hear why that's the very best plan. And if they talk to the health first person, they're going to hear why that's the very best plan. Well, in this little zip code where I am in Brevard County, Florida, there's 37 plans this year.

You could sit with 37 different people or you could sit with somebody that represents all of them. Yeah. You know, that's a really great point that I really feel like warrants one extra comment, which is the two different plans you were mentioning there, like, all they can offer is they're not being unethical and shielding you from the better plans. It's just, that's all they know. And that's all they have to offer. So why would you go to one carrier or one provider when you could go to an independent person who knows the lay of the land who can. sit there with you and go, let's learn about what you need. And then now you're assessing, showing some options. And now I don't know the answer to this, but am I right in,

if someone comes to you as an independent and you're making recommendations, you don't care whether they pick carrier A, B, C, D, or E, because it doesn't matter to you. You're just able to give them some great guidance. Well, that's exactly right. The thing is, people I find, in retrospect, after I really get to know them, and I've represented them for three or four years. Sometimes they'll say, you know, when we first came to you, we thought it was expensive. And I said, what on earth do you mean? They said, well, we thought there must be some kind of fee for you to be the broker. And I need to reassure people, whatever plan you pick, your rate is going to be exactly the same, whether you spend a hundred hours trying to figure out yourself, or you talk to somebody

that could maybe steer you in the right direction and explain all these confusing items to you. You know, that is so huge. And just on an off topic confirmation example, my wife and I celebrated 25 years of marriage and we were planning a trip to Hawaii. And I just got in the weeds and confused with resorts and airfare and all of this. And finally, and this is literally in the last six months. The thought hit me, well, those travel agents, do they still exist? And so long story short, I reached out to a travel agent and said, here's what I want to do it. And they're like, here you go. they didn't cost me a dime because they get paid from the airline from the resort. So when you're working with someone like yourself, it doesn't matter. You're not charging them and you're able to give this wonderful advice, giving your experience, and most importantly, for the specific person because I'll bet you that you would give one recommendation to client A and a different one to client B.

And neither one of them are wrong. Both of them are spot on right. It's just that their situation might be different. A lot of it depends on where they live, and this is very misunderstood. Medicare Advantage plans in particular are specific to counties. There are very radically different Medicare Advantage plans in urban counties as opposed to rural counties. And on the Medicare supplement side, there are four different rate zones just in Florida. Medicare supplement rates differ.

radically by where you live. So why is that more of a problem even just because of the disparity? Because we want to talk to our nephew or we want to talk to our cousin or we want to talk to our sister who lives somewhere else. And they're going to tell you exactly 100% of the truth as it relates to the plan in their area, which could be completely wrong for the plan in your area. So again, this over-the-fence advice does more harm than good more often than not. Yeah.

Yeah, it is definitely not one-size-fits-all. Certainly not. And sadly, it has huge impacts on people because if you make the wrong choice, right when you're first eligible, sometimes you can be stuck with it for the rest of your life. And it can be a very, very serious mistake. You know, that's another good point. And, you know, we're just kind of free-flowing here, just kind of, you know, I'm learning, learning as we talk. But I know I've talked to some professionals talking about Social Security. And when you make a claiming option, for the most part, it's, it's irrevocable. So is it similar with this that when you do set up your decisions, you might be able to change it, but it's not as easy as clicking a new box? Sometimes you cannot change it. Medicare supplement plans, which are distinctly different from Medicare Advantage plans, are guaranteed issue to those persons turning 65 or just getting Part B for the first time.

That means that somebody that has, God forbid, end-stage renal disease or severe diabetes or chronic heart conditions, they can get a Medicare supplement right then and there, but they'll never be able to get one in the future because they can't go through underwriting. Their health isn't good enough to qualify for a Medicare supplement. The agent that just represents Medicare Advantage plans is going to put them in a Medicare Advantage plan and they'll never get back over to the Medicare supplement side. It's shameful sometimes, but it happens. Great point.

Well, you mentioned a minute ago, there is a difference between Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement plans. What's the 30,000 foot overview of that? Medicare supplement plans have a premium associated with them, and many agents are scared to ask for any premium dollars, so they specialize in Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare supplement plans, and as a certified financial planner, I must admit to this bias, Medicare supplement plans are the concierge of care,

any doctor, anywhere, no network, very, very low deductibles. You have to get a prescription drug plan with them, but they give you, in my opinion, a better package of benefits than a Medicare Advantage plan. Medicare Advantage plans are limited to specific networks, specific hospitals. The doctor can opt out of a Medicare advantage at any time. The health insurance company can fire a doctor or a hospital, let them go from the plan at any time, but you're absolutely committed to that plan for the duration of a year. And often times, even though the provider might say piece out and opt out of it, you're stuck. Yeah, you choose your plan in the open enrollment period for the following year based on who your

physician is and who your specialists are. And then guess what? WAMO, come the first of February, you get a letter that says, Dr. Jones and Mercy Hospital are no longer associated with our plan. And you're stuck. That doesn't mean you can go knock on Medicare's door and get a different plan. It's just tough. So you then have to find a new provider, which that's no walk on the park. Well, and a lot of people don't want to do that. I mean, they've been with the same providers. provider for years and years. And they trust a particular surgeon. It's not fun when that happens. Right, right. And it's like nobody really likes change, but especially at certain ages, you definitely will like to sink your teeth in and go, I like to have who I like for my health care. So don't change.

So am I hearing you correctly that the Medicare supplement plans provide the same types of coverages, but just way more breadth and width and benefit and flexibility than the Medicare advantage, which is still Medicare, it's just you're limited to and you're restricted to, but the supplement plans will provide more coverage, more flexibility. You can pick who you want. Is that kind of like a good broad stroke first impression? That's exactly right. And it just doesn't work for some people. Some people are very limited means and the zero premium aspect of the Medicare advantage plan is the most appealing thing to them. Like, I'm certain if you, anything in life, if you can save time or get it faster, you're

going to pay a premium, right? So Amazon Prime, you're going to pay whatever per year to get it shipped faster. What is an example of, you know, what would someone be looking at for a supplement plan? Is it $10 a month more? Is it a million dollars a month more? What's kind of like a ballpark idea? Well, remember that most of the Medicare Advantage plans start at zero. Medicare supplement plans, depending on your zone, I have customers in Arizona where the very

best Medicare supplement plans, the most comprehensive, are $135 a month. Here in my particular county in Florida, the same Medicare supplement plan is going to be just under $200 a month. but it's not. So it depends, but it's not a thousand. It's not 1,500. And it's generally less than people have paid for their employer plan and they're absolutely less than people that retired in their early 60s and had to do marketplace

coverage for three or four years before they were eligible for Medicare. Right. I tell people, if it's not going to take food off your table, you really ought to look at a Medicare supplement plan. But I'm happy to it. I'm happy to arrange it. arrange a Medicare Advantage plan for them. They just have to understand that there are max out of pocket limits on those plans, $3,500,000 up to $10,000. And if they develop a chronic health

condition, they're going to pay that full max out of pocket every year. Now, what if someone said, I want to go Medicare Advantage now and two to three to four to five years down the road? They go, can I upgrade to the supplement plan? they can if they can get through underwriting. But what happens is to people that do that, they go to the doctor. You know, we're all one doctor's appointment away from not being healthy. They go to the doctor and the doctor says, well, I hear a little rumble and there's a problem and you've got to go take some tests and by golly, you're going to have to have a stent.

And now the supplement plan is not going to underwrite you. Yep. That's a good. So that's a really, really great point is it's not like it's totally irrevocable, but in that example, if you went from advantage to supplement, you have to make, the slays clean. You have to qualify for that supplement plan. And if or did something change health-wise, question mark. So that's a really great point. None of us are getting any healthier as we get older.

And I caution folks to think in long term. I mean, look at the, it's all. about longevity planning. And here's where we are today. If you're 65 and you're married, there's a one in four chance that one of you will live to be 98. Okay, think through that. 65 years old, married, one in four chance of living to 98. Well, when you're 91, you might be out doing the decathlon and everything, but probably you're not going to be as healthy as you are now. Right. That's why they call it planning. Well, okay, so now how that brings, let's use that word and bounce to another thought that comes up. How can you plan for additional

health care expenditures that maybe might not even be covered under one of these two? Well, and there's there definitely are things that are not covered. That's a very, we're going to go sideways here into a very important topic. What's not covered by Medicare is pretty much after 100 days in a skilled nursing facility, guess what? It's not Medicare anymore. It's long-term care. Yep.

After you've exhausted your limits, there better be a plan in place for ongoing, assisted living, nursing home, or the most popular, of course, in home health care. Yeah. That's a great point. So, I mean, obviously that's a whole other conversation thought, but put a pin in that to where there are certain times that when you exhaust one of the plans,

whether it's Medicare Advantage or supplement, there could be a time where it goes, okay, we can't cover that. So now you need to have that plan in place to have other, you know, resources available to make sure that you're going to be taken care of. Absolutely. And if you're working with a financial advisor that doesn't think the health care component is critical to the overall success of your long-range plan, you might want to rethink that advisor, that relationship, because they're not doing you any favors. Yes. Huge point. Well, I'll tell you, Rick, it's it's been eye-opening and educational to hear some of these comparisons that really, really clarified it. I think that's really spectacular. And the takeaway is when you are talking with someone that knows the to navigate

through the maze, it's not going to cost you anything. Take their advice. So if someone is interested in sitting down and talking with you to see what some options and opportunities are, what's the best way that they can learn more and then also reach out and connect with you? My personal preference is that they should just call me or text me at 321-355-8. For those that are more computer-oriented, go to the website, go to USA Retirement Solutions.info or email me at RTSCFP at gmail.com.

Well, Rick, thanks a million for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate the opportunity. You've been listening to influential entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.