UHC Plan G Rate Increase

[LindaR351060]

 I thought AARP was supposed to watch out for seniors but am starting to think it is a scam. I had to join AARP to take out the UHC Plan G+ in Sept 2024 and was paying $147.29 and rec’d a letter today saying my premium is going up to $166.66 starting in Sept 2025. Who is advocating for us? I am already penalized for being a widow who lives alone with no other person in my home having UHC.  Does UHC always jack up the premiums after your first year to this extent? I will be 68 in June with no chronic health issues.

[MichaelH904998]

I just got my rate increase for 2025 starting in June in AZ and it's 19% following 12.7 last year.  This is crazy.  

[CBtoo]

You have a declining discount. You are one of the lucky ones. Your discount goes through age 85 (anyone who turned 65 in the lst counle of years - think it was 2022 and forward - I am too lazy to go look it up). Mine goes through age 75 and then I'll be paying far more than you will be paying at 75. We don't be paying the same until we are both 86.

As UHC is a community rated risk plan rather than age attained, as we get older we will be paying less than if we were in an age attained (or age signed up) risk pool. Our risk pool is people of all ages. Age attained, your risk pool is only people your same age. As people get older their health care costs usually go up dramatically. In a community risk pool the risk of older people is spread over the risk of all. The discounts you get when younger helps keep your costs lower when you are younger (so the max price one pays when out of discounts ends up a bit higher but still not nearly as high as an age  attained rate when older).

[GailL1]

@CBtoo 

Right you are on the rating - but in those states that have expanded their guaranteed issue coverage in some way, it adds risk because people can switch plans at specific times and thus if they are a heavy user of health care. they enter the plan without underwriting that you might be on - 

In states that don’t have these expanded guaranteed issue clauses - nobody can switch medigap policies without underwriting - and thus keep the same pool pretty much in effect continuously of the people that might enter with underwriting shouldn’t be too unhealthy especially in community rated plans.

Medigap plans with time are always gonna rise in cost especially with medical cost increasing and with the usage by the Baby Boomers - lots of knees and hips to fix, lots of cataract removals with new lenses.  

[CBtoo]

The issue that many people (except in birthday rule states and variations of that - but then their premiums are generally higher than the rest of the country for reasons you discussed) find trying to get out of an advantage plan to a supplement to save money is that they fail medical underwriting. For example with UHC all it takes is diabetes+neuropathy or diabetes + minor kidney issues or asthma with nebulizer, etc. The look back for that is 2 years. The look back for a blood cancer is 5 years, And the list goes on and on. Certain meds in the last 2 or 5 years depending on what it is for and you fail. Yes you can appeal, and you might win (due to all the errors in medical records) but you also might find that you pass but with certain conditions you pay tier 2 rates which are pretty expensive.

Many people sign up for advantage plans until they actually have to use their health care and discover the size of the out of pocket, have tests denied, etc, and then want out. The trouble is then a chunk of them won't pass medical underwriting. Since about 70% of people sign up for the first time using an agent, and agents get around twice the commission to sell and advantage plan over a supplement + D many of them tend to underplay the down side of them since they make around $300 more per person who signs up both at sign up and then during renewals, presuming they keep the plan. I would suspect that is behind some of the growth of advantage plans.

This video appears to have the current form you need to fill out for medical underwriting with UHC (and they have one of the more lenient underwriting requirements, some companies are a lot stricter and you are more likely to fail). I just had to deal with this to change from G+ (with the not so free extras) to G to save money (staying with UHC because it is the only community rated risk pool in this state).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2F9QV3SbsI

[KenKommunity]

AARP is not very helpful or worthwhile.  You do pay a small premium to be a member, but in turn, the benefits are small.  Sign up for one year to enable you to purchase the Medicare Supplement you desire, then do not renew the AARP membership.  With UHC Supplement Plan G, AARP receives a 4.9% kickback from UHC for each policy each year. I will let my AARP membership lapse and never look back.  They have lost their mission.  

My first year Plan G UHC Supplement rate in California was $135 and was raised for the upcoming year (June of 2025) to increase to $182.  UHC claims the next increase should be about 10% or less and that way forward.  

Calling AARP to obtain any information is a frustrating, neverending nightmare, hence, I will no longer be a member.  UHC provided me with the details I inquired about in one call, AARP, 5 calls and no information provided.

[BartF59766]

I am experiencing the same thing. An increase of almost $360 per year in premiums   This is just ridiculous and AARP should be held accountable just as much as UHC. How can AARP endorse such a company that has a tarnished reputation and sky high premium increases? Makes me wonder why I would take AARPs advice or recommendation on anything. Unless something favorable happens soon, with AARP raising their membership fees coupled with UHC’s absurd premium increase, I won’t be doing business with either. Tell me again, who bases their entire company reputation looking out for seniors?

[TRL1111]

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@LindaR351060 wrote:

 I thought AARP was supposed to watch out for seniors but am starting to think it is a scam.

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What is the nature of the scam?

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@LindaR351060 wrote:

 I will be 68 in June with no chronic health issues.

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If you're healthy, then you'll have no problem switching supplements.  You'll have to undergo medical underwriting (if you're in a state that allows it), but healthy people never fail.  And you can change supplements at any time of the year--"open enrollment" periods have nothing to do with supplements.

Go to the plan finder at medicare.gov to search for Medigap policies to see what all the supplements available to you cost, and pick one of those if you like it better than what you have now.  Or contact an independent broker to do the work for you, but be aware that not all brokers sell supplements from every company, and that doesn't make them a scam.

Also be aware that if the "+" you mentioned is wellness extras, most supplements don't offer those.  And UHC is the only one that offers Renew Active gym benefits, specifically.  There are a couple of other types of gym benefit plans that a limited number of other supplements include, but I like Renew Active the best for my situation.  Your mileage may vary.

[GailL1]

@TRL1111 

Good advice - 

Isn’t it funny that people here seem to think that with the bearing of the name AARP that all of a sudden these royalty-based benefits have the rules of the market just thrown out the window - they don’t.  It is an insurance based product and with that one pays not just for themselves but for others also- their risk, your risk, their usage, your usage.  

AARP and UHC have this royalty based relationship purely for the advertising benefits it brings to both parties+ a bit of income that AARP needs for their mission, which I guess in a way would keeps down membership cost.  

[TRL1111]

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@GailL1 wrote:

Isn’t it funny that people here seem to think that with the bearing of the name AARP that all of a sudden these royalty-based benefits have the rules of the market just thrown out the window - they don’t. 

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I have to say that reading the comments in these forums has been rather eye-opening when it comes to people's expectations for something they pay $1 a month for, especially when it comes to something as complex and individual as Medicare coverage. 

[GailL1]

@LindaR351060 

It goes up for a couple of reasons - in fact, you could get (2) a year.

Since this one is coming on your 1 year anniversary then it is probably that your declining discount is going down - read your plan it should say how the declining discounts work as to how much and when.

Then there is medical inflation, risk adjustment and everybody’s usage in the plan.  The insurer has to cover all the usage and keep their reserve per state law.  This is applicable to any Medigap plan under any insurer.  

Depending on the state where you live, there may be an additional guaranteed issue date for you to switch without underwriting.  But that depends on your state - 

However, for those with this option, the premiums are higher because they are allowing people with higher risk to switch to another plan.

So yes, If you have the AARP/UHC Plan G with the declining discount then it will go up every year when you lose a portion of the discount for whatever length of period.  

The G+ indicates that you have extra wellness benefits in your plan.  Understand that these “extras” are not a part of the Federal coverage requirements of a Medigap Plan G - and most likely these could go away as fast as they came - ready your policy.