A: Whether you can switch to a different level Medicare Supplement plan within the same company depends on two things – the company from which you purchased you’re the supplement and whether you would like to move to a plan with more benefits or a plan with less benefits.

Some companies will not allow any changes between their Medicare Supplement plans unless you are able to pass underwriting. You’d be asked questions regarding conditions such as cancer, stroke, kidney failure and diabetes (and more). It might not make any difference whether you were changing from a plan with more benefits to one with less benefits (for example, from the F plan to the G plan) or from a plan with less benefits to a plan with more benefits (G to F).

That’s not the way it works at Farm Bureau Health Plans. We allow you to change from one FBHP supplement to another FBHP supplement with fewer benefits (F to G) without answering any medical questions. All it takes is a phone call to start our “drop” option. We will ask you to fill out a Change Form and a Medicare Replacement Form but we will not ask you any medical questions. Let us know at least ten days before your draft date and the change will be effective by the first day of the following month.

It is a little more difficult to change to a FBHP supplement with more benefits. Your ability to do this depends on your ability to answer those medical questions. You will not be allowed to make this type of change unless you can pass medical underwriting.

What does this mean to you? Buy the most benefit-rich plan you can afford when you buy your Medicare Supplement. None of us know when we might be affected by an illness that would prevent us from passing medical underwriting.