Medicare Advantage

 November 19, 2020

We were young and stupid. That’s the only explanation for some of the things we believed back then. Every year at Annual Conference, some of the old guys would make impassioned speeches urging us to vote increases in the compensation, benefits, and retirement for pastors. Some of us were idealistic; we didn’t get into this business of preaching to make money, but to serve the Lord. He would take care of us, we reasoned. But the old guys were good. They could reason, argue, cajole, and shame, ultimately steamrolling our noble ignorance with their proposals.

Over the years, the United Methodist Church and I have had a somewhat testy relationship. My independent Baptist background didn’t always jive with the more liberal United Methodist culture, but if there’s anything the UMC does well, it’s taking care of their pastors. 

For the past three or four weeks, we’ve been inundated with offers for Medicare Advantage plans. It’s the season; we have till December 7 to decide if we want to keep our present plan or change to something else. Everyone has a plan they want to sell us, but how do we know which is best for us? Everyone wants us to believe their product is the best for us, but these letters and phone calls don’t necessarily represent our best interests; they’re just trying to make a living. Fortunately, we have an ace up our sleeves. Today we had a telephone appointment with a representative from our United Methodist benefits agency. Their specialists have access to all the various Medicare supplemental insurance plans available to us, and can make on the spot comparisons on our behalf. I don’t know how people navigate this stuff on their own. Our conversation today resulted in a considerable savings from our present plan. 

Tonight I am thankful for those older pastors who years ago fought the good fight for us, for the health insurance we have, and for the assistance we received today to make a good choice. Our long-ago naive faith that God would provide for us wasn’t in vain; it’s just that he did it through the ministrations of those saints who stood their ground, giving those then young and now old pastors a gift that has kept giving for forty years.