Doug Carey: Carey & Associates Insurance Services

Doug Carey, Carey & Associates Insurance Services, interview transcript, by Alan Olsen for The American Dreams Show:

Alan Olsen: Can you share some of your background with us?

Doug Carey: I grew up in Menlo Park, California and just across the bay from you weren’t to went to law school University of California Hastings in San Francisco. After doing my undergraduate at BYU. I worked my way through law school as a police officer in the city of Menlo Park. So that was an interesting experience. There are times I look back and say, maybe if I’d taken that job they offered me and I wouldn’t be in this mess. But I didn’t. And so I graduated law school in 1977, quite a few years ago, and went to Virginia to begin my practice was where my wife was wrong. We met it met at BYU. She the farmer’s daughter from Virginia and the lawyer son from California, where else would they meet? And we went back there for about three years. Four years, why open to practice and then it went into a firm. My father became ill. I was a sole practitioner in Redwood City, California. And I then decided to come out and help him while I was in the hospital, and he made me an offer and we moved back to California. That’s when we moved to Fremont and lived there for about 1314 years. Our youngest daughter was born in Fremont. And the other two got bill graduate from high school for American High School. Jennifer was a freshman. And Sarah was in probably fifth grade, when I decided, Well, I’d been talking to Jennifer and she was saying it was harder, harder to say no. And temptations are getting great. So we decided we tried back in Virginia, and we moved to Suffolk, Virginia, which is in the Tidewater area near Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, Norfolk. And I went to work for legal aid, which was an interesting five years, I worked for two different legal age, and got to see how the other side lived. and enjoyed that very much. Then Sarah, who was a junior in high school by a sophomore in high school by this time decided she and her best friend wanted to pursue a singing career. And that at that point, and the late 1990s. Orlando, Florida was a hotbed of pop music. And so they went down there, my wife took them down, they rent an apartment. She went down the chaperone, because we’re going to let 215 year old girls go to Orlando by themselves. And I stayed in Virginia, continuing my practice with legal aid, figuring it maybe last six months, and they’d be back. Well, it turns out it didn’t. They formed a girl group that started touring, free gigs, nothing, nothing but no big money involved. So I went down there and join them. And when I worked for a corporation as a lawyer down there, because I didn’t have to take the Florida Bar, I could do it with my Virginia bar. back the group stayed together, three and a half years or so. And they finally broke up as most of them do. Sarah is the only one still in the industry. The three girls or four girls are involved in the group. She’s still acting, she dumped to Disney, and some things out in California now. I decided once they graduate high school, Jennifer, my middle daughter graduated from college, moved out to Southern California to UCLA. At the humidity in Florida was getting too much. And we decided we’d move. We weren’t sure where but my son and his wife were living in Henderson, Nevada. They were having a baby. And my wife went out for that. And we ended up moving to Henderson Nevada. I was I became a security guard and the casino was my law enforcement background for a couple three years and then I got into whatever doing now, which is Medicare insurance. I left practice law back in Florida. I know 30 years was enough. And I sort of burned out on that and then came out here

Alan Olsen: Medicare is actually a fairly hot area right now due to all of the aging baby boomers-

Doug Carey: That’s how I got into it. I asked myself, how can I make money as a consultant advising people on social security and Medicare? The problem is, a lot of people in that age group either have enough money, they already have a financial advisor, or they can’t afford a financial advisor. And so I met Travis and Calvin, who were just starting up an agency, they’d been doing the two of them, their brothers in law, actually, they’re married sister, two sisters. I’ve been doing Medicare insurance for about three years, four years, done very well at it, and decided to go and try to form an agency. So I was one of the original six in that agency that I was the last one on board. And so it’s gone from there. They’re now up to about 90 agents, both in house and like I am an independent agent. So that which it’s grown over the last six years, seven years.

Alan Olsen: What are some of the common areas of Medicare, that are often not understood?

Doug Carey: When many people hear this talk about Medicare for all, and they figure everything’s free, and everything comes along and you’re taken care of and everything. That’s not how Medicare works. When you turn 65, you’re eligible for Medicare, assuming you’ve worked the requisite number of quarters, which is 40, or your spouse has, you’re eligible for Medicare Part A, which is a hospitalization at no cost, okay? It costs you a no monthly premium, but there is a coinsurance when you go into the hospital this year, it’s going to be slightly over $1500. And that’s each time you go into the hospital, not an annual deductible, it’s an each time for a different condition, you go into the hospital. Then there’s Medicare Part B, which is doctors, labs, medical, medical insurance. There’s an annual premium on that, which next year is going up to $152 a month, most 90% of people get taken out of their social security check. The other percentage are on Medicaid, and therefore Medicaid pays that. You pay the there’s an annual deductible of 100 of $205, then you pay then you’re responsible for 20% of that with no cap. If you get really sick, there is no maximum out of pocket available under Medicare. Then there’s Medicare Part D, which is probably the least understood. Although it seems the simplest. It’s a prescription drug plan. What many people don’t realize is that if you don’t get it when you’re first eligible, and you don’t have any other prescription drug coverage, like an employer plan, or VA, there’s a monthly penalty, if you don’t get it within 63 days of becoming first becoming eligible. It’s 1% of the average monthly premium, which for this year was like 37 cents. But that’s 37 cents a month at the lifetime penalty. So if you go 10 years without it, that’s $40 a month for the rest of your life. And the premiums on those plans run around 15 to $25. And you take the 45 or $40. On top of that, it can get expensive. And what most people I’ve talked to are not aware that there’s a penalty for not taking a Part D plan.

Alan Olsen: So when somebody comes to you and says I need help, but I don’t know where to start. What exactly do you do? There’s often this thing that you’ll hear about you know, dad’s getting sick, and let’s go see if we can get him on the meta medical plan. And you know, all the assets into some type of trust, make them look like he’s broke it.  Does it work?

Doug Carey: I under the right circumstances it can work. I have not done that. It was never part of my law, practice and not something I’ve done because by the time they get to me, it’s too late, you can’t do it once they’re ill, You got to do some pre planning. It’s really tough for those who are lost their insurance, like right now in the pandemic, all the people, we fortunately here, a lot of the casinos, while they’re not putting people to work or they’re working minimal hours, have kept up their insurance, but that’s going to end either December 31, or January 31 of next year. I’ve got a number of clients that came to me this year, fortunately, and they’re 65. But they’re working the casino, so they never took their did worry about Medicare. And now they’re losing their insurance, even though they may be still working at the casino. And I’ve been able to enroll them in a Medicare Advantage plan, or Medicare supplement, whichever they want. Most of the time here, it’s a Medicare Advantage plan. The but those who are under 65, are really in a world of hurt, because we just finished up open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. And that you get to be 60 years old, late 50s, early 60s, it’s expensive. And they’re high deductibles to get to get down anywhere near a reasonable price, you got to pay $8000 or $10,000 a year deductible at 42 kicks in. And that’s really tough. And I really don’t have a solution for those people.

Alan Olsen: When a person turns 65, and they’re on the Medicare plan, do they oftentimes require supplemental insurance?

Doug Carey: Hospitalization has the $1500 deductible when you go into the hospital, after everything’s covered. Or but if you happen to go in for another condition later on in the year, it’s not it, you have to pay that $1500. Again, with the if you go to the doctor, you got that deductible, but $205 next year, and then 20%, it just keeps adding up. So many people who are too rough paths you can go you can go to a Medicare supplement, or Medicare Advantage plan. Medicare Supplement allows you to go to any doctor, any facility in the United States, which takes Medicare. And they will accept that as payment. They take the medic Medicare, they build a supplement. And whatever the supplement covers, that is taken care of right now, since 2000. And since January 1 of this year, people turning 65 are not eligible for a Plan F which covered everything. No deductibles, no co pays nothing. Their best plan for most people left for now that turned 65 and 2020 is a Plan G Plan G you pay your annual deductible to Medicare Part B $205. And then the 20% is covered. So you don’t that’s it, your costs are fixed, you know your monthly premium, and you know your annual deductible. And you don’t pay anything else above that unless you travel outside the country. And that’s a whole other issue at times. But as long as you’re within the United States and you go to a doctor that takes Medicare, your covered

Alan Olsen: Does your legal background, give you a competitive advantage as a insurance agent?

Doug Carey: Sometimes it gives me a broader range of background so that I can understand why they’re why they’re doing some of the things they’re doing. I may not like it, but they I understand it. And so that’s where that’s where the legal background has helped. And that gives me a broader base of conversation with people.

Alan Olsen: How do people find you?

Doug Carey: We just spent an open an annual enrollment got to get those two tier terms straight. Annual Enrollment is October 15 to December 7 October. Yeah. The open enrollment is January 1 to march 31. That’s coming up. But annual enrollment is a big push. That’s when everybody can review the plan. They have make any changes. They want to make change plans, upgrade their plan within the carrier, go to a different carrier. And so we did We’ve done it last year I did it at CBS. Because I did for Aetna and CVS because CVS bought Aetna, and we had a boost there. And this year, we ran a booth at Smith food and drugs or guess its rallies in California. And that we just talked to people that came into the store.

Alan Olsen: Now, you do a lot of educating do you do a lot of blogging or informational posts?

Doug Carey: I do more on my website. I’m about to post a slideshow on the step by step how you apply for Medicare, what your requirements are, when you do it, and what the different things are that go along with it touching briefly on Medicare supplements and Medicare Advantage plans. Part D plans, but it’s more of a how to when you’re getting up getting up there and ready to apply. How do you do it? And what pitfalls to look when that should be?

Alan Olsen: What is your website?

Doug Carey: Dougandwhistlemedicare.com My wife joined me this year. I don’t know if you probably aren’t aware back when we were first married, going to school in San Francisco. She was started out as a secretary for great West Life Insurance Company of Canada. They’re a group life and health in our head, such as the Civic light opera, the Housing Authority, different agencies and places in San Francisco. She, after about 1415 months, she became an agent. She was the first female agent in the United States for greatest life insurance company can. And so she had a great background. This is again, pre ERISA pre Medicare, not pre Medicare, but pre ERISA, and all those regulations that have since come in, but she had a great background, and she decided that was it. I’m not gonna do that anymore. raised our kids been a legal secretary most of the time since then, when she’s worked. And this year, she decided to join me until she’s great, because as you may recall, she can talk to anybody. Anybody will talk to her. You talk to him for five minutes, you get your life story. And that’s ideal in this industry.

Alan Olsen: Well, Doug, it’s been a pleasure to having you with us today. So why don’t you give for the listeners your website once again.

Doug Carey: Okay, let me touch briefly, if I can for about two minutes on Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage plans as opposed to supplements. They’re all sold by insurance companies, Medicare supplements for a Plan G here in Nevada, the best rate is $140 a month. And they range from that over $200 a month. So you chop it by price fees, the plants are identical. They cover exact same things. Medicare Advantage plans, on the other hand, are HMOs and PPO. We’re fortunate here in Southern Nevada, as they are in southern Florida, and that whatever demographics and calculations they use, we our companies get more money for the Medicare Advantage plans in Europe than they do most any positive place in the country. So we’re able to put extra advantage on extra benefits on them. All of our HMOs are zero premium. Most companies have PPO is also have a zero premium PPO and going to the doctor or the hospital. And all these things are zero CO pays. And so that they’re very popular here because they got people who don’t like HMOs you know, the granddaddy of all HMOs is Kaiser here in California. We’ve got one we got an organization fairly similar to that they got everything the Kaiser has, but no hospitals, and that’s united healthcare. And there’s a big elephant in the room is they probably have about 45% of the business. The other seven companies divide up the rest. But they are great plans if you can work if you’re if your documentation and you work into it. And they’re all zero premiums. So you pay your Medicare Part B premium and that’s it. So that’s a Medicare Advantage plan as opposed to a supplement.

Alan Olsen: Are a lot of people taking the Advantage plans today?

Doug Carey: Yes, I probably do. 80% Advantage plans 20% supplement. I don’t know how typical that is. It may be a little high on the Advantage Plan side because of the market I’m going after. But it’s fairly typical for here because Plants are so good. We got a guide to move to Mississippi and all sudden she’s paying see the doctors you’re going to pay if you go to the hospital there no transportation of provided, you know things like that that are commonplace here. Really shocker for her when she moved that they weren’t available.

This transcript was electronically generated and may not contain the exact words used.

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Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

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