Agent Challenge: Explain Medicare In 30 Seconds or Less

Medicare is a complex federal insurance program, mainly for seniors ages 65+. The Medicare & You Handbook is over 100 pages long and there are over 85 million articles on the internet about it. Our goal at Sams/Hockaday is to simplify Medicare and put all of the jargon into plain English.

We challenged our agents to explain the Medicare program in 30 seconds or less. Could they do it?

Janet Johnson

30 seconds

There are two main parts of Medicare – Part A and Part B. Part A is your inpatient hospital stay, and Medicare does a pretty good job of paying everything after your $1,484 deductible. That deductible is charged per stay. Most Americans qualify for Part A with no premium.

Part B covers your doctors, your X-rays, your outpatient surgeries. There is a premium for Part B, and that is based on your income. Medicare does a pretty good job; they cover everything after your $203 deductible.

Patty Gogerty

18 seconds

Medicare is a health insurance program, mainly designed for people ages 65 and older. Original Medicare consists of Part A, the hospital insurance, and Part B, the medical insurance. It also allows you to go to any doctor, any hospital, anywhere.

Taylor Vercellino

28 seconds

Part A of Medicare covers a hospital stay or skilled nursing facility stay following a hospital stay. Part B of Medicare will cover outpatient care, tests, supplies, treatments, surgeries, etc.  

Part C of Medicare is known as Medicare Advantage, and that is going to be something like an HMO or a PPO – a little bit different than Medicare Supplement, which works with your Medicare Parts A and B. And lastly, Part D of Medicare is your drug plan.

Tom Gallion

26 seconds

Medicare is a program for people who are 65 and older and certain younger people with disabilities. The program helps with the cost of healthcare, but it doesn’t cover all medical expenses. Therefore, you will probably need a Medicare supplemental policy to offset the costs that Medicare doesn’t cover.  

With the different parts of Medicare that are confusing, it’s advisable to find an agent for a free consultation to explain Medicare to you.

Michael Sams

41 seconds

When a person becomes eligible for Medicare at the age of 65, they really have two choices. They can choose a Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare with a supplement.  

There are pros and cons to each, but a brief overview would be Medicare Part A and Part B are going to cover 80% of doctor and hospital, and you would choose a supplement or a secondary to cover the other 20%. You would also want to add in a Medicare Part D drug plan for your prescriptions.

On the other hand, you could choose a Medicare Advantage plan that’s going to be comprehensive coverage, which will include the drug plan and some extras. There are pros and cons to both, so diving into the nuts and bolts of each would be very beneficial.