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Have you been comparing benefits between Medigap plans and wondering if you can save money with plan N? If you have, you're not alone. It's one of the plans that we get the most inquiries about. Hi, there. If we haven't met yet, I'm Danielle Kunkel Roberts, co-founder here at Boomer Benefits, and a member of the Forbes Finance Council. In this video, we'll go over the differences in benefits between plan N and Plan G. We'll talk about how those differences could affect you personally, what the potential rate differences are, and what things you need to consider when deciding which Medigap plan might be the best fit for you. Stay tuned so that you can find out how to get our Medigap Plan G Versus Plan N Comparison guide, which will give you at a glance helpful information about both plans to help you decide. And if you find this video helpful, don't forget to hit the Subscribe button so that you'll always be notified when we drop a new video on the Boomer Benefits YouTube channel. Many of these videos give you important updates on upcoming Medicare election periods, which you certainly won't want to miss. [MUSIC PLAYING] First, let's talk numbers. The rates for Medigap plans vary widely across the United States. Plans in New York and Florida, for example, could be nearly double the rates in some of the least expensive Medigap states. Rates vary based on the costs of health care in the area in which you live and they also vary by your age, gender, zip code, and eligibility for household zip codes. So it's difficult to generalize it. However, in running some numbers, we can say that plan N premiums are generally around $15 to $30 a month cheaper than Plan G in most areas. There are some limited exceptions in certain high premium states like Connecticut, where you might find a premium difference of around $50 to $60 a month currently. Now, plan N has fewer benefits than plan G, so you have to consider the benefit differences between the two plans as well as your own personal medical usage to determine which plan might be a better fit. On Plan G, The only thing you pay out of pocket is the once-annual Part B deductible. On plan N, you pay that same deductible but you also pay up to $20 for doctor office visits and up to $50 for emergency visits. You pay for your own access charges too. An access charge is a balance bill that a medical provider can send you if that provider does not accept Medicare's assigned rates. They can bill you up to 15% more than Medicare's allowed rates. It's important to also mention that there are a few states where access charges are prohibited by law. So in those states, the only difference between plan G and N are the co-pays that you pay for medical and emergency visits. We cover these in the free guide that would be giving away at the end of the video, so stay tuned for that. Now, if I were you, here's how I would make this decision for myself. If I were a person who almost never goes to the doctor and enrolling in plan N would save me $15 to $30 a month, then I might consider plan N if my budget were really tight. However, if I'm a person that has a medical visit every month that's going to cost me $20, then that one medical visit is going to pretty much negate most of my premium savings for plan N, especially when I consider that non-participating Medicare doctors can also balance bill me. Lastly, if I'm a person with two or more doctor visits per month, let's say I have a chronic health condition, then plan G will absolutely save me money, because otherwise I would rack up too many co-pays on plan N and it would end up costing me more money per month than Plan G because of my heavier medical usage. So that's me giving you my own opinion on how I would break it down and what I would do if I were in your shoes. I'll also share with you some feedback that we have from our own policyholders here at Boomer Benefits. Some for our clients who choose plan N at first call us back later and want to change to plan G because all of the co-pays and the little balance bills begin to annoy them. They decide that they would rather pay slightly more to just eliminate that hassle altogether. Now, remember, you can avoid the access charges by simply asking your providers upfront if they accept Medicare assignment, and then just refuse to treat with any doctor that doesn't accept Medicare's allowed rates. But the reality is that people often forget to ask or they might remember to ask their doctor but not their lab facility and, bam, an unexpected balance bill lands in your mailbox. So when you're considering all the factors, your total monthly premium savings, your medical usage, and whether or not you'll be diligent enough to always ask about assignment, these are the things that can lead you to deciding which plan is right for you. We also hear a lot of people speculating that plan and rate increases might be lower than Plan G rate increases after 2020 because people coming off large employer plans will be able to get Plan G with no health underwriting under guaranteed issue rules. Plan N, on the other hand, doesn't qualify for guaranteed issue when coming off of their coverage. That means that it will require medical underwriting to get approved for plan N unless you have just activated Part B in your one-time Medigap open enrollment window. So the theory is that there may be a healthier group of people on plan N which could maybe make for lower rate increases on that plan in the future. I can neither confirm nor deny this because it remains to be seen. We hear speculation like this on a zillion things with Medicare, and I've learned never to believe it until we see proof of it happening. My advice until then is to make your decision based on what we know for a fact right now and not what might maybe happen someday. Do you have a question about how plan N coverage works? Feel free to drop it in the comments below this video and we will of course answer for you. And don't forget to download our free Medigap Plan G Versus Plan N Comparison guide. You can find the link for that in the description below the video. Look for the Boomer Benefits logo below this video and click the Show More link to see the notes. You'll find the link for the guide in there. Thanks for watching and we'll see you in a future video. [MUSIC PLAYING]