I went to a workshop hosted by UnitedHealthcare regional sales director A. T. There’s a couple of takeaways I would like to share here.

First it’s birthday rule. In California, if you have Medicare Supplement (MediGap) plan, you have to know CA Birthday Rule. This law allows guaranteed issue for a new Medigap policy without a medical underwriting with the same or lesser benefits as the old policy, 30 days before your birthday month and 30 days after your birthday month.

Please pay attention to this special case. If your birthday falls into the 1st of the month, say March 1, you want to have the new policy effective on February 1, that is your part A&B effective date, because you can lock in a rate of younger age for a year. Then

you want to have the application signed and submitted on Jan.31,  The company will receive the application in February, but still make your effective date to be February 1. Just one caveat. You cannot use electronic application in this case.

At AARP/UnitedHealthcare, they allow upgrade to a better plan internally, for example, from plan N to plan G, or plan F.

Secondly many people know that Medicare Supplement plan F is going away on Jan. 1, 2020. Those who purchase plan F before Jan. 1, 2020 can continue to keep plan F. However, be aware that because no more new enrollees will come into the insured pool, and those in the pool will certainly get older, the insurance rate can be expected to go higher in the future. Therefore, to find an insurance carrier who has large plan F market share can be a good point to consider when deciding on which insurance carrier to go with, because their rate tends to be more stable.