Open Enrollment Period for
Medicare Advantage Plans
You can join or
switch Medicare Advantage Plans from January 1st to
March 31
You may also want to read:
Your Work on Part "D" is not over yet!
Robert Fassbach,
editor,
www.seniorark.com
Just when you thought Part D and
Medicare decisions were
finished for the year---another opportunity. Prepare
to enter the Twilight Zone. We will attempt a brief
explanation of Medicare Advantage, show you where to
compare plans on the
www.medicare.gov site, and show you the enrollment
period. Why our government has chosen to put us through
such confusion is a mystery. A single-payer,
Medicare-run, health, hospital, doctor, and prescription
program with no surprises, would be beneficial to every
Senior. No such luck. Powerful, cash rich, insurance and
drug lobbies spend millions to prevent such clarity. So
we muddle on, hoping we do not make decisions in the
fog, and harm our health.
Medicare
Advantage Plans are health plan options that are
part of the Medicare program. If you join one of these
plans, you generally get all your Medicare-covered
health care through that plan. This coverage can include
prescription drug coverage. Medicare Advantage Plans
include:
- Medicare Health Maintenance Organization (HMOs)
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
- Private Fee-for-Service Plans
- Medicare Special Needs Plans
Some Medicare Advantage Plans include
a prescription drug benefit.
When you join a Medicare Advantage
Plan, you use the health insurance card that you get
from the plan for your health care. In most of these
plans, generally there are extra benefits and lower
co-payments than in the Original Medicare Plan. However,
you may have to see doctors that belong to the plan or
go to certain hospitals to get services.
To join a Medicare Advantage Plan,
you must have Medicare Part A and Part B. You will have
to pay your monthly Medicare Part B premium to Medicare.
In addition, you might have to pay a monthly premium to
your Medicare Advantage Plan for the extra benefits that
they offer. The government pays the lion's share of
the cost of any Medicare Advantage program, something
around $600 per month for every Senior enrollee.
Last year my wife used a Medicare Advantage plan, and it
worked out so well that I am using the same plan this
year. Our premium is $42 each per month, plus the
Medicare Part "B"
cost that everyone pays. But one must make a choice of any plan very
carefully. You may need to seek out the assistance of a
state representative to help you sift through the maze.
If you join a Medicare Advantage
Plan, your Medigap policy won’t work. This means it
won’t pay any deductibles, co-payments, or other
cost-sharing under your Medicare Health Plan. Therefore,
you may want to drop your Medigap policy if you join a
Medicare Advantage Plan. However, you have a legal right
to keep the Medigap policy.
You can join or switch Medicare
Advantage Plans from January 1st to March 31, each
year. To compare Medicare Advantage Plans and Medicare
Prescription Drug Plans that are available in your area,
visit Medicare Part D Plan Finder or call Medicare at
1-800-633-4227. Once you have decided on a plan, contact
the plan to find out more information and to enroll.
Once you enroll, the plan will let you know when your
new coverage begins. Plans available for 2010 are not
yet known. Who is participating, and the details of each
plan, will be published around mid-year 2009.
Medicare Advantage open enrollment
allows people on Medicare to make a single plan election
into or out of a Medicare Advantage Plan. Beneficiaries
should carefully evaluate their plan options, not be
pressured into making a quick decision and be on the
look out for misleading sales pitches and promises that
seem too good to be true.
Here are coverage scenarios permitted during
Medicare Advantage open enrollment:
• If a person on Medicare currently has coverage in a
Medicare Advantage Plan with prescription drug coverage,
they can use open enrollment to select a different
Medicare Advantage Plan with prescription drug coverage,
Original Medicare and a stand-alone prescription drug
plan, or a Medicare Advantage Private-Fee-For-Service
Plan and a stand-alone prescription drug plan.
• If a person on Medicare currently has coverage in a
Medicare Advantage Plan with no prescription drug
coverage, they can use open enrollment to select a
Medicare Advantage Plan or Original Medicare without
prescription drug coverage.
• If a person on Medicare currently has coverage in
Original Medicare with a stand-alone prescription drug
plan, they can use open enrollment to select a Medicare
Advantage Plan with prescription drug coverage or a
Medicare Advantage Private-Fee-For-Service Plan with the
same stand-alone prescription drug plan.
• If a person on Medicare currently has coverage in
Original Medicare without a stand-alone prescription
drug plan, they can use open enrollment to select a
Medicare Advantage Plan without prescription drug
coverage.
You may also want to read:
Your Work on Part "D" is not over yet!
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