Richard Borzillo Insurance Advisor

09/05/2024

For those of you in southern NJ who are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan (MAPD) or a Prescription Drug Plan (PDP).

05/26/2022

According to Kaiser Family Foundation data, in 2020, the average individual deductible for New Jersey employer-sponsored group health plans was $1,694, and the average annual employee contribution toward their health coverage was $1,855.

If you are soon about to age into Medicare and you plan to continue working and being covered under your employer’s health plan, you might want to consider the option to drop your employer-sponsored coverage and enroll in a Medicare Supplement plan.

Why?

Given that many of you have individual deductibles on your health plans that are more than $2,000, with out-of-pocket maximums often double the deductible amount, you have huge potential financial exposure if you were to have an emergency room visit, an outpatient surgery, or an inpatient hospitalization.

However, with a Medicare Supplement plan, the most you’ll pay out-of-pocket for an inpatient hospitalization, surgery, or visit to an emergency room is $233.

Many of you are covered by High Deductible/HSA plans where you must pay out-of-pocket up to the individual deductible amount of at least $1,400 (most affordable plans in NJ have deductibles in the range of $2,500 to $6,000) before you are covered. Some other HSA plans require you to pay 20% or more AFTER you have paid the deductible whenever you seek services from a healthcare provider.

For a younger employee, these potential costs are often not much of a problem because they are young and healthy and don’t need to get surgery or have to worry about getting hospitalized due to sickness. Therefore, they save money during their healthy years into their Health Savings Accounts to be able to cover the large out of pocket costs they would incur later in life should they inevitably need more catastrophic care.

You, as an older individual about to age-into Medicare, should not be depleting your savings to pay for huge medical costs that inevitably arise. The last thing you want to do within a year or two of retirement is spend several thousand dollars – or more – to pay for a surgery or a healthcare emergency!

No, you want as much money in retirement to cover your living expenses with piece of mind knowing that, should a health situation occur, you have the coverage that will not cause you to go broke.

A Medicare Supplement plan can achieve this for you.

If you have questions, please feel free to visit the link below.

Information on All of Your Medicare Options for those turning 65 this year.

04/30/2020

As thorough as you think your Medicare Supplemental, Medicare Advantage, Employer-sponsored, or ACA plan is at protecting you from out of pocket costs, there are still considerable out-of-pocket expenses you can incur if you are diagnosed with cancer.

For instance, your average Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan (MAPD) has an out-of-pocket maximum of $6,700. And, this out-of-pocket maximum is per calendar year, not per lifetime.

What this means is that any combination of doctor’s copays, hospital inpatient stays, outpatient surgery, lab tests, ambulance rides, and other outpatient services – will apply toward meeting your out-of-pocket maximum. This does NOT include what you pay in prescription drug costs.

Some medications for cancer can cost a member of a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan between $7,000 and $11,500 PER CALENDAR YEAR!

When you consider that almost 8-out-of-10 cancer diagnoses (77%) are for people under the age of 55 it makes sense to protect yourself for as little as a dollar-a-day, right?

Should you be unfortunate enough to incur a cancer diagnosis that requires immediate treatment, can you afford the thousands of dollars of both inpatient and outpatient treatment and medications – including chemotherapy – you will pay out-of-pocket to treat your cancer diagnosis?

If you are interested in paying as low as a dollar each month to prevent catastrophic financial losses in the future -- costs that severely dig into your retirement savings -- please contact me! I can help you on your way to financial protection!

04/21/2020

For those of you currently on a Medicare health plan but desiring dental coverage, I have good news: I now can enroll you in a great dental PPO plan through Ameritas!

Feel free to give me a call or email for more information.

04/16/2020

For those of you who are soon going to be aging into Medicare and need help enrolling, I can help you! I do not need to physically meet with you to teach you about -- and subsequently enroll you in -- a Medicare health plan! Please feel free to either call or email me for more information.

609-781-2381 | [email protected]

04/30/2019

Q: Can I just have Original Medicare A and B as my health insurance at retirement?
A: Yes. However, you may want to consider purchasing a Part D prescription drug plan to help with medication costs. If you don’t do this when your first eligible, there will usually be a late enrollment penalty if you buy a Part D in the future. Also, there are gaps (deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance) in original Medicare, so you can consider buying a Medicare supplement to cover these gaps.

04/29/2019

Should You Sign Up for Medicare if You’re Covered by a Health Plan at Work?

The quick answer: It depends on the cost savings involved.

04/26/2019

Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance. Plato

04/25/2019

Medicare B costs for clients projected to rise

“Healthcare prices are increasing at levels that significantly exceed overall inflation,” an expert warns.

04/23/2019

Doughnut Hole Is Gone, But Medicare’s Uncapped Drug Costs Still Bite Into Budgets

Beneficiaries pay 25 percent of the price of their brand-name drugs until they reach $5,100 in out-of-pocket costs. After that, their obligation drops to 5 percent. But it never disappears.

04/22/2019

4 Medicare Mistakes That’ll Hurt You

Avoiding these will save you money -- and protect your health.

04/19/2019

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. Thomas Aquinas