Medicare Supplements are offered through private insurance companies that have been approved by Medicare to sell plans. Insurance carriers don’t get to choose the benefits offered by each plan. Instead, the federal Medicare program standardized the benefits, which means that each specific plan has the same benefits, regardless of which insurance carrier offers it. The only difference you’ll see is the price.
This is why having an independent insurance agent, like the ones at Bobby Brock Insurance, is so beneficial. An independent agent will shop at multiple insurance companies to find the one that can offer you the most competitive rate at the time. There is no need for you to waste your time calling twenty insurance carriers yourself – we’ve got you covered!
How to Choose a Medicare Supplement Insurance Company
So, should you just choose the cheapest company you can find? Not quite. We do love finding bargains for our clients, but we also have to keep in mind the financial health of the company, as well as their ratings in things like claims processing and customer service.
When we are looking for a Medicare Supplement for you, we pay attention to the following categories.
Financial Ratings
Financial ratings are perhaps the most important thing to look at when choosing a Medigap insurance company to work with.
The A.M. Best rating system is the company most people use to assess the financial strength of an insurance carrier. It bases the ratings on the company’s ability to pay current claims and the credit quality of their obligations. It also provides consumers with a positive, negative, or stable outlook so they can see where the company might be headed in the future.
At Bobby Brock Insurance, we choose to only work with carriers who have ratings of B+ or better.
Customer Service
Another benefit to working with an insurance broker is that you shouldn’t have to worry too much about an insurance carrier’s customer service. Your broker will act as a liaison between you and the insurance company. Sure, we can’t do everything for you, but we can take care of a lot of things without you having to spend hours on the phone.
In today’s digital world, many of us rely on Google reviews when choosing where to spend our money. We look at restaurant ratings, what people say about our dentist, and which roofing company we should use. However, this isn’t necessarily a good resource when it comes to insurance companies. Insurance companies offer more than just Medicare Supplement plans. You may read a really negative review, but it only applied to an employer-sponsored group plan. Also, it’s rare that someone will go online to write a positive review about their insurance!
Premiums and Discounts
We mentioned that the only difference between Medigap insurance companies is the premiums. Plan G is Plan G, no matter where you buy it. It makes sense, then, that you’d want to find the cheapest reputable company.
The easiest way to do this is with the help of an independent broker. In addition to searching for the lowest prices, we also know about discounts you might be eligible for. Each insurance company has their own set of rules around discounts, so a broker will know which ones to look for in your situation. Plus, they’ll let you know about discounts you could be eligible for if you agree to certain things, like linking an activity device or paying your premiums annually instead of monthly.
History of Rate Increases
Medicare Supplement premiums increase over time. Some of that depends on the pricing method the company uses, but in general, you can expect an increase each year. What we don’t want to see are significant increases. To avoid this, we also look at the company’s history of rate increases. Are they normal compared to other carriers, or have they been known to hike rates exponentially each year?
Medicare Supplement Companies We Work With
Because most people are more comfortable with big, name-brand companies, we work with a large selection of insurance companies you’ve probably heard of. However, there are also many other Medicare Supplement insurance companies with great financial ratings that you’re less familiar with but that offer the same coverage for a cheaper premium.
We choose to work with a variety of insurance companies – from large corporations to lesser-known ones – all with great financial ratings. A few of the Medicare Supplement insurance companies we work with include:
- Aetna
- AARP
- Anthem
- Atlantic Coast Life
- Banker’s Fidelity
- Cigna
- Equitable
- Everest
- Guggenheim
- Heartland National
- Humana
- Lumico
- Manhattan Life
- Mutual of Omaha
- New Era
- Pan-American
- Philadelphia American
- Puritan
- Sentinel
- Union Security
How Can We Help You?
Bobby Brock Insurance has licensed Medicare specialists ready to help you in any way we can. We pride ourselves on helping people transition seamlessly into Medicare. Our agents are skilled at finding the cheapest policies with the best coverage available to you – and we do it for free! Give us a call at 662-304-8067 to get started!
