Medicare open enrollment for 2023 goes from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, 2022.

During the Medicare open enrollment period, you can make changes to your Medicare health and drug coverage that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

This enrollment period is only for existing Medicare enrollees who want to make changes to their coverage. Any changes you make during the 2022 Medicare enrollment period will affect your 2023 Medicare plan, beginning Jan. 1, 2023.

So what can you do during Medicare open enrollment?

During Medicare open enrollment, sometimes called the Medicare annual enrollment, you can change Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plans, including changing your coverage, switching between plan types and adding prescription drug benefits.

We welcome, now three years in a row, Josh Kinzel, Benefit Advisor, with Seniority Benefit Group. He is THE expert with 15 years of Medicare supplemental insurance knowledge.

You are going to hear very important information you can use during this year's open enrollment window. He is going to take the mystery out of Medicare and review some changes coming in 2023.

We would love to hear from you.

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Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.

Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson

Josh: The only time there's an automatic enrollment into the Medicare program is if you're drawing your Social Security benefit check. If you're not doing that, then you actually have to apply for things. So that's one common misconception that people think, right, I'm just I'm gonna turn 65, have it just going to start it's not unless you're drawing Social Security.

Brett: We are looking forward our way from studio C in the five one one studios in the Brewery district just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. This is Brett. Carol and I are excited to welcome our returning guest, josh Kinsel from Seniority Benefit Group. Josh, as always, it's great to have you here with us today.

Josh: It's great to be here.

Brett: Do we have a green jacket that goes along with the third timer?

Josh: Maybe?

Brett: I don't know.

Carol: We have to look into it.

Josh: Yeah, exactly.

Carol: Some kind of presence. Get one of those old mugs out.

Josh: The key to the door. I don't know.

Carol: There you go.

Josh: Exactly. You guys make it fun and that's why I come back.

Carol: Uh, and that's what counts. That's what I'm always telling folks that over and above everything else, we do have fun when we do this. Almost to the point of not direct. Okay. Josh, it is always a pleasure to have you in the studio. We know our listeners will receive critical information on the Medicare programs, whether for themselves, family members, friends. So thank you again for your time and your expertise.

Brett: Right.

Josh: No problem.

Carol: Right. And truly, listeners, I always, um, get Josh to come over here and do this because I want to have the scoop on Medicare since I have to update my Medicare. So this is all for everybody's benefit, in particularly my own. Um um, so, Josh, first and foremost, let's talk about Seniority Benefit Group, how you work with both individuals and employers to demystify the Medicare process services and programs. So give us an overview of the company and your background in Medicare.

Josh: M. Great. Well, Seoity Benefit Group actually came out of another company called CCI Benefit Solutions. And when we started with CCI Benefit Solutions, it really was just helping employers with employee benefits. Every year we're talking about here's how much it's going to cost for a family or an individual. But then we were starting to get the question more and more about, well, what do we do about Mr. Smith, who's turning 65, and the owner of our company, uh, has always had a passion for helping folks in that arena. And he realized that, why don't we just make our whole company about helping people with Medicare, but then also keeping, uh, toes in the water of the employer side of it, so we can help the employers transition folks to Medicare. But our whole focus now at Seniority Benefit Group is taking someone who's turning 65 and whether they're still working, or somebody who's on the individual Medicare, uh, search, or trying to find where they need to go, we help guide them through that process. So it's not so overwhelming for someone who's 64 and now are getting ten calls a day from folks all over the United States talking about penalty, penalty, penalty. And a lot of times it's just us telling them, um, take a step back, consider the resource, consider who's calling you and why they might be trying to tell you you have to do something. Now. We want to be that local presence for somebody to come and just talk about their Medicare options with us. But then also the employer side, we still get calls because of our connection into that world to say, well, what do we do about our employees who are turning 65? What can we do? What can they do?

Carol: When you really think about it, your company came in at sort of that prime time when all the baby boomers started aging. This really probably wasn't an issue for employers before, because folks were either retiring, they were ill and couldn't continue working. So by the time they hit 65, they may not have been part of the employee, uh, workforce. And so that really was timely. And listeners, after last year's, um, podcast that we did with Josh, I was talking to a cousin of mine who was watching all those TV, um, commercials. Oh. And this actor was telling him this, and this actor was telling him that I had him talk to Josh and find out and make sure they were on the right path, because it is confusing. You have to watch who is telling you what.

Josh: Well, it's always considered the source. And it is very frustrating for someone who I've been doing this now for close to 15 years, where we have to untangle a lot, that those commercials are winding up for folks. Not that we don't like doing that, but it's just frustrating that had they have reached out to a local resource first, maybe they wouldn't have had to have the headache of retracting someone made m the decisions they made over the phone.

Carol: Yeah. When some has been actors telling you, you're going to get more money in your Social Security, you really need to take it with a grain of salt.

Josh: Yeah. Um, and there are times that can be but a lot of times in Ohio, it's a national commercial, remember? And so when they ask for your zip code. And as soon as you put in that Ohio zip code, the person on the other end of the phone knows that that's not necessarily the case in Ohio.

Carol: Right.

Josh: But it's a national commercial that people think that it's true for everybody, then, oh my goodness. Yeah, it's tough.

Brett: And you've been doing it for 15 years now. What have you learned over the years? Let's say if you could tell yourself five years and you had that ability to talk to that Josh, now m, about this whole process, I'm working with clients and how this all works.

Josh: Well, what I'm realizing and what makes it so enjoyable is that it does feel complicated on the outside when you're first approaching the topic. But M, once you've been on the inside for a while, you realize that, yes, there are some decisions and critical decisions to be made, but it's just based on when you can lay it out in a way that people aren't threatened to buy. Uh, you can go this way or that way. Here's the pros and cons of this way. Here are the pros and cons of that way. So what I've learned over the 15 years is that people don't necessarily want myself or some of their seeking advice was just to throw up all the information they know and to try to prove how much they know. And here's all the different nitty gritty of every single one of those plans. What I found that people approach us for is to simplify that for them. You could read every book out there, you could look at every website out there. I could recite that information to you. But being able to craft it into more simplistic conversation with folks, I think is what I've learned over the years is that it's not so much people, they need to trust you a little bit, but once you've had that trust, you don't have to tell them everything about every little detail that you know. It's more of, we're going to help you here, but we're going to also ride with you along this journey where we're going to help you at the beginning. But every year, which we're approaching now, we're getting back in front of folks and saying, let's look at this again. So it's not as if we're someone that's just going to come in, put you in a plan, and then you'll never hear from us again.

Carol: The other thing too, and it's sort of the, um, blessing of having to go through open enrollment every year, is that every year you get another opportunity to make sure you've got the right person helping you, you're in the right plan. You may make a mistake on the plan, but you're probably going to fix that within a year. Hopefully you make it through that year. But, um, listeners, it's so important to have a good connector, and Josh's company does that. Um, I'm unfortunately in a system in which I'm not able to use them, but have talked to a lot of clients and Josh and his colleagues and they've done a great job.

Josh: Well, thank you, Carol. Yeah. We take pride in our approach, but we know we can't necessarily help everybody in their specific situations. But what we're here for, too, is just to reaffirm that your retirement plan. This is what you have to do.

Carol: Right.

Josh: We'd love to help you, but we don't want to get in the middle of that. So we take the approach that we really want to make sure when somebody comes to us, it's not that our blinders are on that we have to, quote, unquote, sell them a product. Our quality is to make sure that you realize, hey, look, you're still working. It still makes sense to stay on that plan. Or, hey, you have this retiree benefit to you. Don't go through us, go through that.

Carol: Um, and that's a point that we want to make sure that people understand, just like your company, other groups that are and I'm using the term connector. I think that's the right term. Everybody is paid the same. So you're not making more money because you push a particular product.

Josh: Correct.

Carol: The federal government has regulated that. So we are all protected from scams or people pirating each other. That's not going to happen. So, um, find a good connector and use those connectors. That's the message.

Josh: Right.

Brett: Well, each year we review the major pieces of the Medicare plan. It's parts A and B in the Part D pharmacy plan, supplemental plans and family advantage programs. It's important that participants and we've emphasized this to know and understand the changes. The healthcare program is critical to you, the listener, so many other adults, and as medical costs continue to skyrocket. But it is a complicated web of programs and services. So I think it would be best right now, let's review those parts and pieces so we kind of understand what's kind of automatic, but also ones that we really need to zone in on.

Josh: M and I'll take it from the approach of somebody, let's say you're 64 and a half, because at the age of 65 is when you become eligible for Medicare. So if you are that individual and thinking, well, what do I need to do? What's automatic? Like you said, Brett, the only time there's an automatic enrollment into the Medicare program is if you're drawing your Social Security benefit check. If you're not doing that, then you actually have to apply for things. So that's one common misconception that people think, right, I'm going to turn 65. It's just going to start. Yeah, it's not unless you're drawing Social Security.

Carol: And for my group, we didn't draw Social Security until 66. That's critical.

Carol: And what I found was that going that traditional a and b, as opposed to advantage. The big issue there is your doctors.

Josh: Mhm mhm.

Carol: And so you really need to kind of hone in on who's going to accept what are your doctors going to accept and what does the insurance accept?

Josh: Yes, absolutely. And that's the very large part of when you're going through and reviewing that with someone. Make sure that you have that list of doctors ready, like you said, Carol, so they can check for you to whatever plan that you're going to ultimately choose, your doctors will accept. And same with the prescriptions. You want to make sure that those are covered as well.

Josh: Well. Not yet. But what has happened recently. Within the past couple of weeks. Is that President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. Which does focus on some of the prescription needs for folks on Medicare. Which that part is very exciting because the. Uh. Part of me that I hate. Uh. Uh. Part of my job that is that I hate is when somebody comes in with a list of medications that they have no control over. They need to take them because it's something that just improves quality of life. And now all of a sudden, there's this huge price tag on it. And I don't have a perfect solution for them because at the moment and we'll continue to there's no perfect solution for that, unfortunately, where you could end up spending quite a bit with the Inflation Reduction Act. If everything goes through like they said, eventually there's going to be caps on how much somebody has to spend on prescription drug plans, which that part is very exciting. Whether that all rolls out in a timely manner it should be in 2025 is where it's laid out that that so we do have a couple of years to go, but that's good news on the horizon. Hopefully, the cost of Medicare, we don't know that for next year yet, but one of the things that we've been hearing is that it might be stays stagnant, which might not seem like a great thing, but last year was the largest increase it's had ever on your Part B pre because of what they thought they had to spend on, ironically, one of these medications. And they realized that they misjudged how much they were going to have to spend for that. So they actually admitted earlier this year that maybe they charge too much for Medicare this year. So fingers crossed, that might now in the world we're living, I don't know if that means the government said that.

Brett: They made a mistake.

Josh: Uh, wow.

Brett: I know that's one.

Carol: And so now you're also talking about even if it just remains stagnant, that's almost like a pay increase. And Social Security may be getting its biggest bump in years. So that will be critical for folks who are literally living it's not paycheck to paycheck, it's Social Security check. Social Security check.

Josh: Yeah. And we should know more of that information. Normally later in September, they release the Part B, um, information for next year. So hopefully we'll know that soon.

Brett: All right, well, whether an individual has been on Medicare for years or just turning 65, we, uh, know from past episodes working with you that you need to understand your medical history and medication needs in order to choose the best plan. So, uh, what is the most important part in the details of their, uh, health issues and the physical abilities that they have that they need to bring to the table to talk to you? Are there specific areas that an individual should pay very close attention to? Maybe others that just that's not as important. But same time, let's keep it out here, knowing it could turn into something maybe.

Josh: Well, that's the other part that I've learned over the years, is that it's very hard, it's impossible to predict our health. So it's more of a feel type of decision, which sounds weird when you're talking about health insurance. And I talk to a lot of people who are very analytical that they want to have this formula that they punch in the right things, and it comes out and says, you should be on a supplement and a drug plan, and you're going to save X amount of money by doing that. That calculator just doesn't exist, unfortunately. So it is more of I just like to tell folks that when we're talking about those two basic pathways to go down, don't worry that maybe one is not going to cover a service that the other isn't. It's just a matter of how much you might have to pay for that. And so it's more of a comfort level of where your risk tolerance is. Are you okay with going with a plan that might have a higher out of pocket risk for you, but the trade off is a lower premium? Or do you want to just say, I want to pay a higher premium right now so I don't have to worry about that risk? But I've learned that the Medicare system along the way actually is a pretty darn good plan when it's compared to an individual offering or even a lot of employer plans anymore, where people, when we start to go through and say what your deductible is on Medicare, or your copay is on a Medicare Advantage plan, people like, oh, wow, well, my deductible at work now is $5,000. You're telling me it's a $200 on a plan G supplement, or I pay a $40 copay when I see my primary care, you're telling me it's a five on one of these Medicare Advantage plans. So overall, it's really a good option regardless of which way you go. So I try to tell people, don't stress too much. We are there to make sure you don't make an obvious mistake. Like, you have a doctor that needs to be on your plan and you pick a plan that doesn't have your doctor on it. Right? We make sure you don't fall in those huge potholes. But it really is an individual decision. And what I found over the years and even got in my own parents and they tell me exactly how everything is working. My dad is on a supplement and a drug plan. My mom's on Medicare Advantage and they both like them. M, so it's just a testament that both paths work. It just depends on the individual.

Carol: Well, but I think too, that the message really is that people have to do a little bit of their homework. Um, they really need to sit down and think about who are my doctors. Because that's where had I not had a connector helping me, I would have been in the wrong plan. Because I have a nurse practitioner. You can do that on Medicare. Traditional plans. Most of the Advantage plans, you can't use a nurse practitioner. And I wasn't willing to give her up because she's phenomenal. Um, so, um, you have to be really careful. But if I hadn't written all of that out so that I could talk to my, uh, connector rep, I wouldn't have known.

Josh: That is the service that we offer. We look up those doctors for folks. I was with a lady the other day who she kept apologizing as I was looking up all her doctors and all these different companies. She goes, oh, that's something I could do. I was like, yes you could, but that's why you came to me. I know how to navigate those, so stop apologizing, I just want to help. And so eventually she did stop. She just felt so bad that you're looking at all these different websites. But that's what we're there for, right? So utilize someone like us to make sure you're not just in over your head.

Carol: Right? Um, Josh, let's do a little bit more examination on Part D, because I remember when they first came out, they were confusing that I'm not sure because you're talking about the donut hole and all of that stuff. Let's talk about party programs that cover pharmaceutical needs. Are there specific issues that Medicare pay, uh, participants really have to pay close attention to when they pick a party program? And this, again, may be one of those issues that we don't know for sure, but there are medications coming up that may or may not be covered by Medicare, such as the new Alzheimer's drug.

Josh: Well, with the prescription drug plans, the one good thing is that we can change those every year without any issue. So it is a year to year decision. But when you're making that decision, you really just have to look at the formula on these prescription drug plans to make sure your medication is covered, or if you need to go through a prior authorization to get to the drug that you need and your doctor knows you need. But those are some of the nuances that maybe it's unavoidable, but when we tell folks that, yes, you'll have to have your doctor involved, they said, okay, well, at least I have a heads up that they're going to have to do something here to make sure it's covered. But the biggest thing is just to make sure that all your medications are on their formula, which is a list of covered medications. Every drug plan has to at least have two medications for every prescribing class. So that's another just if you're on a drug plan, you know, your doctor at least has two choices for anything they might have to have to prescribe you. Now, maybe of those two choices, they don't like those two choice, but at least there are two options that you.

Carol: Could is that like the regular and generic? Is that the kind of choice you're talking about?

Carol: And two, then on top of this, then they've also passed legislation that Medicare is going to finally be able to negotiate with the Pharmacies the way the Veterans Administration has been able to do for years. That's why they were able to take care of veterans, um, pharmaceutical needs so easily. So that is going to make a huge difference.

Josh: Yeah. And I would say in the past year, there's been more positive change than the 14 years prior, which is the prescription piece of this. It's been good news. So hopefully everything rolls out the way it's presented to us.

Carol: Right? Yeah. Hopefully. Again, um, to listeners, it really is, um, an issue of doing your homework. So an example that I went through, and again, you said you could change this every year. And every year I have a different set of groups to choose from. One year, I chose a group, and, um, the connector, um, said, this is going to work out well for you. And then I'm getting these huge bills, and I'm thinking, how is this working out? Luckily, I'm in a position in which I can afford it and I don't have that much medication. You're not looking at thousands of dollars. But it was more than what I thought. But at the end of the year, I went through and I added it up, and it actually was to my advantage. And you don't know that when you only look at one monthly bill or the bill for one month, and it's not what you expected it to be, then suddenly it's like, oops, this is wrong, blah, blah. And so, yeah, you have to sit down and really do your homework and realize what it is and not just look at one tiny piece of the puzzle.

Brett: I wanted to bring. Up again. And this was a surprise in our previous episode about this. And I think it's worth noting again, since we're on the prescription talk, uh, that we're really used to using as good RX's and stuff like that. If I remember correctly, you said that it stops, or is there some changes to that?

Josh: Well, the GoodRx is still you can continue to use those. Those are okay to use currently. Right. And so if GoodRx, which is just a discount program that Brett M. Is referring to, that you can go to the pharmacy and maybe have them run it through this discount and see if it's better than your prescription plan. You can still use that. The one that's more hurtful that you can't use anymore are, uh, the manufacturer discounts. Okay, that's what you were referring to, where it is one of these medications where they bring a list to me and we're going through it. And like Cocentix, for instance, is something for Rosacea, and it's just very expensive. And the lady I was talking to said, oh, don't worry, I have a manufacturer coupon where I only pay $10 a month. And when I ran it through, though, without that manufacturer discount, which won't be there anymore, when she's on Medicare, she's looking at thousands of dollars for that. Which again, goes back to my point of I hate that part of the meeting where you have to tell folks.

Brett: That, but it's better to be surprised at that meeting.

Josh: Uh.

Brett: Be prepared to know, okay, how am I going to cover this? Because that's life threatening or at least uncomfortable.

Carol: There's actually another thing that, um, I have learnt about through a friend who has a very expensive compounded medications that she has to take. And uh, one is covered by Medicare, the other one is not. And the only way she can afford it is that the pharmaceutical company itself literally gives her a grant. And I'm doing my little air quotes here. Um, they call it a grant. It's basically giving it to her for free. That's okay under Medicare. Um, but who knows? I mean, that could suddenly disappear.

Josh: That's where we get a little bit I don't want to not false hope, but there are those one offs that it works great for an individual, but it's maybe not a widespread situation. So when I do hear, uh, uh, something like that, it's always like, well, yes, finally somebody is able to do the right thing, but it's not, uh, forced upon folks to do the right thing. So sometimes they just, well, and it.

Carol: Could change when the negotiations start changing, too. Right now, those compounded medications are getting like, no coverage, and so the company is realizing they have to do something. And it tends to be for, I think, catastrophic costs. So another friend of ours used it because she had Ms, and they diagnosed that when she was about 20. So she went for 30, 40 years of having to pay medication that would literally have been thousands of dollars a month, where the manufacturer literally gave her grants every year. So, um, I'm not trying to say manufacturer, that pharmaceuticals shouldn't be making some money, but it's like, how much does it cost to make sure?

Josh: Well, the good news is, even though someone like myself, we're not allowed to talk about the plans until after October 1, actually, that's when it's released the information. We're allowed to talk. But then after October 15, we're actually able to help people move if they need to move. But anybody on Medicare now in the month of September will get their annual notice of change. So, um, every plan, anybody on a prescription drug plan, anybody on a Medicare Advantage plan will get this from their insurance company sometime in September. So make sure you're looking for that every year because it lays out what your plan is this year, what it will be next year. And if you do have that, then there's different regulations that you might be able to talk about that if you're actually getting that and trying just to ask somebody, hey, can you explain this particular plan? So look for that to come in the mail in September.

Carol: If you're doing A and B and D and a supplement, it could be one for each of those. It's not going to necessarily be just one notice depending on what you're on.

Josh: Yes, unless you're on a Medicare Advantage where everything's consolidated. You're right, Carol, that there are separate notices for these. Okay. But after October 1 is when we can really start talking about everything for next year. That's when everything's back out on the table.

Carol: Um, I've seen some stuff printed out, um, that some announcements that were actually happened early on this year. There's no guarantee that because you saw it back in April, that that's the actual final information. Mhm okay, so that's the other thing. Some folks don't do any research, some of us do too much research and then you have the wrong information. Okay?

Brett: M alright, so one topic we should go back to you alluded to it very briefly is the role of the Seniority Benefit Group plays in assisting employers and managing employee benefit packages. It seems SBG can provide the services needed when employees are moving into Medicare insurance after being covered by their employers package. How can SBG assist employers? What role do you guys take? And really, what are the benefits of contracting with you to do this?

Josh: Yeah, well, the beauty of our services is they don't cost anything. So an employer isn't adding anything to their bottom line to bring us in to talk to their folks. And what we found with our relationships with employers, m a lot of times the employees will say, well, this is the best benefit that our employer has given us is just this resource that I can ask my questions about this very confusing topic. But if you look at, again, back to that bottom line of the employers when they're reviewing their health insurance plan and they're talking to their broker, that helps them with that. A lot of times their broker is going to bring up the fact, well, do you understand, Mr. Smith, that you have ten people that are eligible for Medicare now? And if they were maybe to see the options in Medicare, they might see that Medicare is better and then it also might help your employer plan all in one, where a lot of times these employers have, in order to keep cost relatively low or stableish, they have to keep increasing the deductibles and pushing more costs onto the employees. So if there is a solution where that employee who is now eligible for Medicare didn't realize that they could go on Medicare. Still work just fine. Where Medicare might be a greener pasture for them. And then the employer might have a better chance when they go out to shop their plan. Knowing that their employers are on Medicare now and their plan doesn't have to worry about that risk because there's no.

Carol: Cost to an employer if somebody moves to Medicare.

Josh: Correct.

Carol: I mean, if the employer could choose to help them in terms of cost, um, HR or something like that.

Josh: Yeah. And even that's delicate because you don't ever want to, uh, make it seem as if someone's being forced off an employer plan onto Medicare, but m more it really is just we go into these companies and have an hour conversation with their employees that might be eligible for Medicare and a couple of them might say, well, that sure sounds better to me. But then the others, at least the fear will be alleviated from all these things they've heard up to 65 that you're going to be penalized, you're going to be penalized. And so for the employer, it's just a way of removing all those Medicare questions that might hit their HR department and offload them onto US. Seniority Benefit Group. Because we don't mind answering those questions, we don't mind coming in and doing Medicare one hundred and one s at their offices for their folks so they.

Brett: Can skirt that age discrimination veil that it kind of looks like, okay, we're targeting all of you because you're 64 and a half. It's time to have the Medicare talk.

Josh: Well, and one of the things that I love about working where I do is my boss has always made it a priority that you do the right thing. So I know when I'm talking to somebody and if I'm looking at it and this is what their employer is offering, this is what they have through Medicare if it's through the employer. Not that I don't care what the employer thinks, but M, I'm not going to do anything that's going to make their employee situation worse by leaving the plan. Even if the employer says, oh, if they come off the plane, I'm going to save a lot of money, that's too bad, right. But there are a lot of win win situations out there where it's just less expensive because maybe you're at a smaller company that with a high deductible and you're paying a whole lot for that employee benefit.

Carol: Right.

Josh: Maybe Medicare is better. Right.

Carol: Are employers legally responsible for telling, uh, ah, an employee that, um, they have to go on Medicare? Maybe. I've got two questions here. Do they have to tell them that they're eligible for Medicare at 65? And are they allowed to cut them out of insurance at 65 because they can go on Medicare?

Josh: No. So to answer the second question first no. There's a risk of laws out there that if you're an active employee, you can't be treated any differently as far as the employee benefits being offered to you in the health insurance realm in that lane. So no, they can't say, oh, you're 65, you have to go on Medicare. Too bad they can't do that. Even though some employers, I'm sure would like to. Um, and they don't have to tell somebody they're eligible for Medicare, but it's to their advantage to have them explore it, at least to see if it is better.

Carol: That's interesting because um, of the state pension I'm on, I retired before I was 65. So I was purchasing insurance through the pension plan. And they told you upfront when you turn 65 you better have Medicare because we cut you off.

Josh: That's different than when you're an active employee.

Carol: People need to think that through.

Josh: Yes. So if it's any type of retiree plan where you're on that plan prior to 65, they can at that point. But if you're an active employee still punching the proverbial time clock every day, they can't.

Carol: How about, um, somebody who owns their own business? How about somebody like bread? It's a one person, you own your own business. M, you are purchasing your um, insurance. There's nothing that says you have to.

Josh: Go on Medicare, but there are different not to get too far in the weeds, but with employer plans, if you're less than 20 employees, medicare does become primary the day that you're eligible for Medicare. So if you're an individual or if you have a company that has 15 employees, once Medicare is available to somebody, that employer plan is allowed to say, look, we're secondary to Medicare, so whether you enroll in it or not, we're going to pace as a secondary situation.

Carol: Interesting.

Josh: So in that realm specifically, it does behoove a lot of people to really look at Medicare and all its choices because you want Medicare anyway, even if you're going to stay on that employer plan, which employer plan can't kick you off? But in that situation, it probably is better to go through your own individual Medicare plan. So if you're listening with an employer, um, that has less than 20 employees, that's where we really want to make sure we're talking prior to your 60th birthday.

Carol: Well, and you're such a kid, you got years.

Brett: I wouldn't know where she was going with that. Should I say, do you think I'm that close to it yet? Or are we really just talking to the listener going, hey, if you're in that situation? All theory.

Josh: Exactly.

Carol: Bread is so much younger than I am. He has years before, but he does sort of enjoy hearing me grimace about a lot.

Josh: Yeah.

Brett: Oh, I'm taking notes. Be prepared at that age, Josh, we.

Carol: Say this every year. The hour that we spend together talking goes like, in two minutes. So before we close down our conversation, what are your words of wisdom? What do you really want to make sure people understand?

Josh: My words of wisdom is just considered the source. It really is considered the source. I'm talking to folks who are turning 65 in the next year. You will be bombarded with so much information and it's gotten so much worse. Mhm where, like I referenced, my parents went through this, so they were giving me the daily accounts of how many people call them and it was double digits and it was six months straight. And I know a lot of people will start to put that ignore button on, hit that red button when somebody calls. But what if you accidentally do that to somebody that you should have been talking to? There's a whole lot of information out there, but there are also a lot of local resources. Stay local if you can. Mhm talk to somebody here. If you live in Central High, talk to someone like us in Central Ohio. If you live in California or move out to California, find a local resource out in California. Don't necessarily rely on somebody calling you from states away. When you're looking at these ads that are going to be hitting the TV screen here this fall, uh, just like last year, I'm sure there'll be plenty more where if it's a retired athlete talking to you about how great something is, there is some fragments of truth in there. They can't necessarily out and out lie to you, but they're definitely withholding some of the whole truth. And so even though they're talking about something that conceptually does make a lot of sense for a lot of people. Just talk to somebody locally that can explain what that person was trying to tell you. So just there are a lot of resources out there that don't cost you any extra. Like Carol said earlier, there's no incentive for these folks like us, like me, to push one way or another because there are limits to what can be paid on that insurance company's behalf. So just make sure you're talking to somebody that you can trust that's local. And really, that's my best advice I can give somebody. Yeah.

Carol: Um, thank you.

Brett: Yeah, thanks. Many thanks to you, uh, Josh stopping by from Seniority Benefit Group for joining us today. Listeners, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to check out our show notes for Josh's contact information as well as the resources will be on our website and the show notes. Uh, the website, again, is lookingforwardourway.com and we're looking forward to hearing you for your feedback on this episode and all of our other episodes of Looking Forward our Way.