Like many Californians, you find yourself turning 65 or coming off of group coverage at a later age which seems to be a trend now after the economic tumult of recent. Either way, there\’s a silver lining if you\’ve been paying for your own health insurance since you\’re now ready for Medicare and a California Medicare supplement plan. Where to start? If you\’re like everyone else, the first question is how much does all of this cost and we\’re happy to help on that front. There are a few pieces to look at but primary in that calculation is the cost that a California Medicare supplement insurance plan will run. Let\’s take a look at running your California Medigap quote.

We\’ve been dealing with California Medicare for decades now and we can still think back to bad ol days of having boxes of brochures dropped off in the mail from every major California Medigap carrier on the market. Literally boxes and each time there was a change in rates or benefits, we would have to order a whole new box. The old stuff went into recycling but it was still depressing to throw out reams of shiny, glossy California Medicare supplement brochures in all their glory. That was then. Things have changed quite a bit since the advent of the internet and many trees have been spared but that\’s the only benefit. The world of quoting California Medicare supplements has gone electronic! This change is a huge benefit to you, the shopper when running a California Medigap quote. Let\’s see why.

You can now price check California Medicare supplement plans (and Advantage plans) with just a few key strokes online across multiple carriers. Better yet, you can have us as licensed California Medigap agents search the market for you and track down who has the best quote for your particular situation. There\’s no cost to doing this at all which makes it a no-brainer. We can deal with all the major carrier and weed out those which are not strong or stable going forward. California Medigap plans are priced by age bands and roughly by area. Although the Medicare program itself is Federal, each State\’s insurance market including California\’s Medicare supplement market is still regulated at the State level. This means that your quote will vary based on your age and where you live.

The actual quote should be fairly similar from carrier although they all have slightly different ways of scaling the rates across age bands which is where we come in handy. We can not only look at your current rate but what it will be (assuming some level of inflation going forward and rate changes as a result of legislative changes) in later years based on today\’s rate. If you\’re in a guaranteed issue window such as just coming off group coverage or turning 65 (there are others you can check out at californiamedigap.com, the rates cannot change due to your current health and California Medicare supplements are guaranteed issue. Keep in mind that if health changes, it can be difficult if not impossible to change plans later on so it\’s important to quote a strong carrier and plan now. California Medicare supplements are very competitive in terms of pricing as we have so many large carriers in the market. This is a good thing for you the shopper but definitely requires the aid of an experienced, impartial licensed agent to help navigate all the various options.

Running a California Medicare supplement quote no longer requires boxes of brochures and rate guides but the multitude of options on the California Medigap market necessitate some guidance from a licensed professional. How can we be of service?

Dennis Jarvis is a licensed insurance agent concentrating on California Medicare supplement insurance.