OCTOBER
1, 2019 By Steve Spinner and John Hockaday
Originally published November 6, 2018. Article updated October
1, 2019. Updates include Lasso Healthcare 2020 plan deposit information.
A
question we’ve seen a lot from independent agents is this: how does
the Lasso Medicare Medical Savings
Account (MSA) compare to a High-Deductible Plan F
(HDF)? Is the MSA better than the HDF? Or vice versa?
John
Hockaday and Steve Spinner break this question down for us to really understand
how the HDF compares to the MSA.
If
you’re not familiar with the MSA at all, it’s a type of Medicare Advantage
product that’s $0 premium, has a high-deductible, and also includes a special
medical savings account funded by Medicare.
The Concept of a High-Deductible Plan F (HDF)
John
Hockaday: I hate the High Deductible Plan F. I don’t think we’ve ever sold
one here.
The
concept behind an HDF is that you have a $2240 deductible that has to come out
of your pocket first in copays. Medicare is still paying their part on A and B,
but you have to pay $2240 out of your pocket before you get any benefit
from your Medicare Supplement.
After
you pay that money out of your pocket, it will pay like Plan F in that it pays
100% of approved costs.
But
it’s still a fully underwritten product, and you’re paying a premium of $30 a
month for a 65-year-old.
High-Deductible Plan F (HDF) Versus the Lasso Medical Savings
Account (MSA)
Steve
Spinner: There’s risk with both plans. With the Lasso product, there’s the
potential in a healthy year of having $3,240 in the account versus just another
premium payment going out.
My
contention with this whole product is more about the health of the
beneficiary. If the person is healthy, there is no choice in the matter.
They need to go to the MSA.
They’re
going to have no premium, and they’ll still have money left over that’s free to
them. If I’m healthy and buy an HDF, I’m still subject to that deductible and a
premium that’s coming out of my pocket.
If you
want to compare an HDF to the MSA, you have to compare apples to oranges. This
is more dictated by the health of the beneficiary and what direction they
should go from that point on.
Can we
compare the dollars out of pocket? Of course we can – we just did that. But if
a beneficiary is healthy and they don’t anticipate any problems, the MSA is
clearly the avenue in which they need to go.
John
Hockaday: You know, there’s really another component to this. There’s a lot of
people out there that are not utilizing their Medicare Supplement benefits very
much at all but they’re uninsurable for another Med Supp.
We had
a lady call in yesterday and she has osteoporosis which is no big deal, but she
had a stress fracture within the last year. She’s uninsurable. There
can be nothing else wrong with that woman, and yet I can’t find a place for her
anywhere. She’s a great candidate for this.
Here’s
another example. Let’s say you have a COPD diagnosis, and that’s all you got,
but you got it. And maybe you use a nebulizer, but you don’t have anything else
that’s wrong with you. That’s it, you’re done. You can’t get a Med Supp.
A lot
of times you get someone and say, “My gosh, this person is healthy.” But they
have that one quirky condition that makes it impossible to find a Med Supp home
for them.
When
you take underwriting out of the mix, you get rid of a big headache for a lot
of people.
Getting Over MSA Roadblocks
John
Hockaday: The MSA is just different – the thinking is a little bit different.
You know, you get some people who just can’t wrap their heads around a high
deductible.
I had
the perfect couple – they’ve been insured with us for over 40 years. They are
healthy, but they don’t want to think about having a deductible. And they have
lots of money! But they just put up a roadblock and won't even consider it.
It’s
kind of conditioned thinking.
But you
don’t have a roadblock with networks. And you have $0 premium.
Forget
about the high deductible – if you compare this to a regular Med Supp where the
person is paying say $1500 and they’re healthy…
Steve
Spinner: When I talked to agents and brokers about this product, a wild
majority of them say “This is what I’m going to get.”
When
you get a broker that sells these products every day and they know this
business, and they say they’re going to go this direction… that speaks wonders.
John
Hockaday: From the agent’s perspective, you want to do the right thing for your
consumer. You feel like either way is fine.
You’re
not gonna kill yourself arguing to make your customer do what you want them to
do. You just want them to do something with you.
It’s
the only thing out there like it, and as people start hearing about it, it’s
just going to gain more momentum as the years go by.
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