Medicare Supplements In Michigan: The Ultimate Review

Shopping for Medicare supplements in Michigan can seem like a daunting task. This is especially true if you’ve just entered Medicare and you’ve been bombarded with marketing mailers and phone calls until you finally just pick someone and buy a plan.
After a few years, you get a bit more experience with Medicare and start seeing increasing in your Medicare Supplement plan. This usually makes you wonder if you have the most affordable plan available or are their other options.
That’s what this article is about. In this article we’ll review five of the most common insurance companies that offer Medicare Supplements in Michigan.
Medicare supplements in Michigan are unlike most other insurance programs. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is in charge of Medicare and set policies and approve of Medicare associated private insurance plans (both Medigap plans and Medicare Advantage.)
Below you’ll see the basic benefits that Medicare Supplement plans are required to have, by law.
As you can see above, Medicare Supplements plans have letters associated with them. Each plan letter has specific benefits that are, or are not available.
This is what Medicare says:
Every Medigap policy must follow federal and state laws designed to protect you, and it must be clearly identified as “Medicare Supplement Insurance.” Insurance companies can sell you only a “standardized” policy identified in most states by letters.
Secondly, Medicare Supplements are required to use any doctor that accepts Medicare, no matter the insurance company company.
Finally, Medicare Supplements pay providers the exact same way. Many people are concerned that if they have a different insurance company, they may no pay their bills the way their company now pays. See below on how Medigap and Medicare work to pay your doctors.
In short, here’s what you need to know:
Medigap plans offer the same benefits, same doctors, and pay the same no matter what insurance company you use.
So, now that we’ve established that all Medicare Supplements in Michigan essentially work the same, how should you evaluate all the companies that offer Medigap plans?
Well, here are the important things you should consider when shopping for a Medicare Supplement.
CSO has been offering Medicare Supplements in Michigan for 30 years. They are based in Omaha, Nebraska. However, the are not a Mutual of Omaha company. CSO offers Plans D, G, F, and N.
CSO has one of the lowest premium rates among all age ranges in most areas of Michigans. Furthermore, due to their time in the marketplace, CSO tends to have consistently average rate increases instead of wildly swinging rates.
Finally, CSO has fantastic customer service that are easy to reach and are based in Omaha.
CSO has an A- Excellent rating from AM Best. They’re highly financially stable. The tend to be slightly more restrictive in their underwriting, but if you can qualify, they’re one of the best Medicare Supplements in Michigan.
CLIC (Also known as Aetna) has been in the Michigan Medicare Supplement market for 28 years. They offer Medigap Plans F, G, and N. They’re based in Franklin, Tennesee.
The Aetna brand of companies have really great rates at all levels and also offer slightly more relaxed underwriting for certain conditions, such as Diabetes with heart conditions. Furthermore, they have a highly knowledgeable in-house customer service team that resides in the US. Aetna companies also offer a 12 month rate guarantee.
Aetna’s downside is in certain states they do what’s know in the industry as the “Omaha Shuffle.” We’ll talk about it in greater detail below with Mutual of Omaha. Recently, there’s a new affiliation between CVS and Aetna named Accendo Insurance Company.
I’m personally watching CLIC and Accendo very closely.
CLIC has a A Excellent rating from AM best and they’re considered financial stable. As with most Medicare Supplements, they have underwriting requirements that must be met, but as long as you’re relatively healthy they should not be an issue.
United World Life Insurance Company is a Mutual of Omaha company. They have offered Medicare Supplements in Michigan for 16 years. They offer Medigap Plans F, G, and N.
United World Life Insurance rarely has the best rates, or even in the top 5 companies for rates. Furthermore, customer service reviews from ConsumerReports.com are less than stellar.
Finally, let’s talk about the “Omaha Shuffle.” Basically, Mutual of Omaha has a tendency of opening an insurance company with really low rates. It enrolls people into their plan and as their rates increase due to claims experience they open another insurance company and stop accepting new applications in the old company. Healthy people flee the old company as rates increase and unhealthy people get stuck, unable to leave.
United World Life Insurance is the last insurance company that Mutual of Omaha opened and they haven’t done this in awhile. However, a company with poor reviews and a history of questionable behavior should raise concerns.
United World Life Insurance Company has an A+ Superior rating. It has proven to be stable in this affiliate of Mutual of Omaha. However, due to the above issues, United World makes the “worst” list.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is the largest insurance company based in Michigan and has been offering Medicare Supplements in Michigan since the 80’s. BCBSMI offers Medigap plans D, F, G, and N.
BCBSMI has an incredibly poor customer service ratings, per BBB.org. Secondly, Blue Cross Blue Shield start off very competitive, but within a few years they become the most expensive in the market. They rely on their name to get people into their plan when transitioning out of their work plan.
BCBSMI has an A Excellent rating by AM Best. Due to their poor customer service ratings and extremely high Medicare Supplement cost, they are one of the “worst” of the list.
Check out the full review of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan here! Including rates for Medicare Supplements.
Behing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Priority Health is the second largest insurance company based in Michigan. Priority offers Medicare Supplement plans D, F, G, and N.
Priority Health Medicare Supplements in Michigan are more expensive than Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Priority Health also have very poor ratings with BBB.org. Unlike BCBSMI, Priority is never a competitive company in costs in regards to Medigap plans. Like BCBSMI, they heavily rely on their employer benefits transferring to Medicare to support plans. Furthermore, the do have a competitive Medicare Advantage plan, but with Medigap it’s no nonstarter for me.
Priority Health has an A Excellent financial rating from AM Best. However, based on poor quality service reviews and non-competitive Medigap rates, you should highly consider avoiding them.
As noted in the beginning, choosing an insurance company that offers Medicare Supplements in Michigan can be confusing and ultimately cost you more money than you really need to spend. It’s vital to your financial health that you speak with an insurance agent that specializes in Medicare in Michigan.
As I’ve said a few times in this article, insurance companies that offer Medicare supplements in Michigan are rarely “bad.” However, what’s most important that the company you pick is the best fit for you and your needs.
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