Medicare recently announced a new initiative for how they will pay providers for certain services. They will try a Bundled Payment process for knee and hip replacements beginning in January in certain test markets. In short, they will make a payment to cover the entire episode including rehab. Then at the end of the year, they will make adjustments to increase or decrease payments based upon outcomes. The goal is to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs at the same time. More info is available in the article linked below.
The federal government recently released data showing the top drugs and drug costs for Medicare Part D drug plan members. Not surprisingly, brand name drugs lead the list. The result is a big portion of the total drug costs go to a few name brand drugs that have generic equivalents. What does this mean to you? Ask your doctor if there are generic alternatives that you could use. It could save you a lot of money.
There is a rare, ongoing bipartisan effort in Congress to permanently fix the payment problem for doctors treating their Medicare patients. In short, it will change the payment formula to stop the reductions by two primary methods. One is to enact an income based adjustment for high income earners and Two, consider a deductible for Medicare Supplement policies. Stay tuned for more info. The link below describes current status in more detail.
President Obama’s recent budget proposes to save $399 Billion out of Medicare and Medicaid over the next 10 years. The bulk of the cost savings will affect Medicare beneficiaries in several ways. It will cut the amount paid to providers, introduce new copays, impose a surcharge on certain Supplement Plans and reduce the amount paid to insurers of Advantage plans which would increase the cost to consumers. A link follows to an article with more information.
Medicare beneficiaries who have a hospital stay need to be aware of whether the stay is considered Inpatient or Observation. The difference determines whether or not a follow up stay at a Skilled Nursing Facility will be covered by Medicare. The following link is an article that describes how legislatures are trying to address this growing problem. http://www.richmond.com/life/health/article_9644c6f8-ae4a-5f3a-a1d0-267fc2015327.html
Medicare beneficiaries don’t need to worry about the Feb 15 deadline to enroll in an Obamacare Plan (ACA). That is for people under 65. Medicare and Medicare Supplements or Medicare Advantage Plans are considered a Qualified Health Plan and protect Medicare beneficiaries from being subject to the penalty.
THE OFFICIAL MEDICARE OPEN ENROLLMENT PERIOD ENDED DEC 7TH. SOMEONE WILL NOW NEED A SPECIAL ELECTION PERIOD TO ENROLL IN A MEDICARE PLAN UNTIL NEXT AEP. AS IT CAN BE OVERWHELMING TO COMPARE AND ANALYZE THE DIFFERENT OPTIONS, WE HELP AND AT NO COST TO THE CLIENT. GO TO WWW.CHOICESINMEDICARE.COM.
We are now in the official Medicare Open Enrollment season called AEP which runs from Oct 15th to Dec 7th. This is the time when Medicare Beneficiaries can enroll, drop or change their Medicare Advantage or Part D Prescription plan. As it can be overwhelming to compare and analyze the different options, we help and at no cost to the client. Go to www.ChoicesInMedicare.com.