Tag Archives: medicare advantage plan

MEDICARE REDUCES COST OF PART B PREMIUM AND DEDUCTIBLE FOR 2023

September 28, 2022 David Higgs

As predicted a few months back, Medicare has just announced there will be a rare reduction in the Part B premium cost and the Part B deductible effective Jan 1^st, 2023. The Part B premium will reduce from current $170.10 to $164.90 and the deductible from current $233/year to $226/year! While both of these factors tend to increase over time, some years they remain flat and are now seeing a reduction. As previously noted, one of the big reasons for the reduction is lower than expected Alzheimer drug costs to Medicare.

In addition, there is expected to be a larger than normal Social Security Cola increase. The combination of these factors will lead to larger than normal net increases in monthly income for most seniors.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance with selecting a Medicare Plan. I don’t charge any fees nor increase your cost.

Based in the Richmond, VA area, David Higgs of Choices In Medicare, LLC specializes in helping seniors transition to Medicare. He can be reached at email: David@ChoicesInMedicare.com or go to website: www.ChoicesInMedicare.com

We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.

Medicare Part B Announcements and Open Enrollment (AEP) for 2021

November 17, 2020 David Higgs

Medicare has just announced the Part B costs for 2021. While these costs tend to go up over time, they don’t necessarily go up every year. Beginning January 1st, there will be a slight increase in the Part B Deductible from current $198 to $203. The standard Part B premium costs will go from current $144.60 to $148.50 per month for most people. I say most people because high income earners have to pay a surcharge depending on their tax return two years prior.

We are also in the Medicare Open Enrollment period (AEP) which will end December 7th. This affects people with Part D drug Plans (PDP) and Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C) who may want to make a change. Medicare Supplement Plans are not subject to the AEP.

Any questions regarding these changes or any other Medicare related question can be directed to me at the contact info below.

If you have questions about your Choices in Medicare, please contact me at David@ChoicesInMedicare.com or go to www.ChoicesInMedicare.com

Medicare Open Enrollment – AEP

September 30, 2018 David Higgs

It’s that time of year, again. We are coming up on the Annual Election Period (AEP) for Medicare. That means you are going to be seeing a lot of commercials and receiving a lot of mail about making changes. You may be wondering what you should do, if anything.

So, what do you need to do? It depends.

The AEP is the Open Enrollment period for Medicare Advantage Plans and Part D drug plans that occurs every year from October 15th through December 7th. This is the time for those that may want to make changes which will become effective January 1, 2018. Remember that the insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage Plans and Part D drug plans can change them from year-to-year. You will receive a letter from the insurance company called an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) that will describe any changes they are going to make for the coming year. If you are happy with the plan and want to keep it, you don’t have to do anything. Just continue to pay your premium (if applicable) and the plan will remain in effect for 2019.

If your prescriptions have changed, you can update them at Medicare.gov. Also, if you have any changes in doctors, you can look to see if they participate with your plan. All of the new Plan information will be available Oct. 1^st in Medicare.gov. You can’t make any changes until October 15th. If you want to make any changes or have questions or need assistance, contact me.

Medicare Supplements aka, Medigap policies, are not impacted by the AEP. They are guaranteed renewable as long as premiums are paid.

As always, call me with any questions, any time about your Medicare coverages. I will help you sort through the info and options. Thanks, David.

Based in the Richmond, Va area, David Higgs of Choices In Medicare specializes in helping seniors transition to Medicare. He can be reached at email: David@ChoicesInMedicare.com or go to website: www.ChoicesInMedicare.com

National Check Your Meds Day and AEP

October 13, 2017 David Higgs

A pharmacy trade group association has declared Oct. 21st, National Check Your Meds Day. I think this is a great idea especially with Medicare’s Annual Election Period (AEP) right around the corner beginning Oct. 15th and ending Dec. 7th each year.

Many people and especially seniors, take a large number of medications. While many are needed, many are not needed as they are duplicates doing double duty with other medications that do the same thing. The worst case scenario is some of the medications can be lethal when taken with other medications. You would think this can’t happen because the doctor should know better. Unfortunately, many times the doctor does not know what else someone is taking. Some people have several doctors treating different medical conditions and not aware of other prescriptions.

So, everyone that is taking more than several medications should take advantage of this special day to proactively have them all checked. It is as simple as taking all of your prescriptions (the actual bottles) to your pharmacy for a review. They can tell you if there are any potential problems and perhaps check with your doctor about any issues raised.

This is good timing because you should also check your Medicare Part D drug plan for any changes. Your Annual Notice of Change booklet from your Drug plan will alert you to the plan changes effective the coming Jan. 1st. Also, your prescriptions could have changed and worth taking a look at your options.

This is what I do for clients day in and day out. Let me know if I can answer any questions. David Higgs

Interesting Stats on Medicare Costs and Coverage

May 16, 2017 David Higgs

Many times when meeting with clients, they want to know if they really need Supplemental coverages such as a Medigap Plan (Supplement) or a Medicare Advantage Plan instead of just going with Medicare Parts A and B alone. So what many Medicare beneficiaries really want to know is, what kind of out of pocket costs will they have if they don’t enroll in Supplemental types of coverages. I recently came across some interesting statistics that address this issue.

Using averages of all Medicare beneficiaries, they will have out of pocket medical costs a little over $3,000 per year (not including premiums). If you exclude those costs not covered by Medicare, I estimate you arrive at about $1,200/year in 2016 dollars. That is less than the average Medigap policy cost (looking at all ages, sexes and plans). One might conclude that on average, they would likely spend more in Medigap premiums than they would receive in benefits. However, with a Medigap policy, they cap their out of pocket exposure for medical costs. Medicare Advantage Plans also cap exposure. Remember that 2 of the largest out of pocket costs Medicare beneficiaries risk are the Part A Inpatient Hospital deductible(s) ($1316 per benefit stay in 2017) and the uncapped 20% Part B outpatient exposure.

To me, this data reinforces the need and value of insurance. Having a Medigap policy or a Medicare Advantage Plan not only helps cover out of pocket medical costs, but it protects your financial assets. It allows you to have the peace of mind we hear about so often.

If you would like to read more about this topic, I have linked to a website that covers this topic in more detail: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2017/may/medicare-out-of-pocket-cost-burdens

Based in the Richmond, Va area, David Higgs of Choices In Medicare, specializes in helping seniors transition to Medicare. He can be reached at email: David@ChoicesInMedicare.com or go to website: www.ChoicesInMedicare.com

Medicare and Home Health Care Coverage Change

April 28, 2017 David Higgs

Many of my Medicare clients ask if Medicare covers home health care. The short answer is yes, but it has some restrictions. In the past, one of those restrictions was that the patient’s medical condition would be expected to improve as a result of the home health care. As a result, that meant that many beneficiaries who have a permanent condition would not be eligible for home health care coverage because their situation was “permanent”.

This restriction has recently been modified to include beneficiaries whose condition would not improve, but would also not worsen. Beneficiaries who have a condition that can be maintained so that it does not get worse can now be eligible for home health care under Medicare. There are other restrictions and you can read more about how Medicare covers home health care at the following link to Medicare’s website at: https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/home-health-services.html

Medicare Card Numbers Still Changing

March 29, 2017 David Higgs

You may recall a few years ago when the government announced they were prohibiting insurance companies to continue using social security numbers as ID numbers. However, it you look at your Medicare ID card, the government is the last entity to continue using social security numbers for identification. As I previously reported, this will end but the process is taking a while. The latest info I have seen is that new Medicare cards will be going out next year in April and should be completed by the following April in 2019. If you want to read more about this, a recent article is linked here: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170322/NEWS/170329971

Continue to protect your Medicare card and only use when absolutely necessary. For those who have a Part C, Medicare Advantage Plan, remember that you should not show your Medicare card to any provider or pharmacy. Only show your Medicare Advantage Plan card. For those who have a Medicare Supplement Plan, they will continue to show their Medicare card and their Supplement Plan card to providers.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance with selecting a Medicare Plan. I don’t charge any fees nor increase your cost.

Medicare Eligible Seniors Who Also Have an ACA Plan Should Consider Their Options.

February 2, 2017 David Higgs

Seniors who either already have Medicare or who will soon become eligible for Medicare and also have an ACA Health Plan (aka “Obamacare Plan”), should carefully consider their coverages. This creates a lot of confusion for seniors in this situation as there is no single source to confirm what they should do. In general, having both will duplicate coverage and be more expensive than just having a Medicare Supplement or Advantage Plan. A recent article that describes some of the issues is linked below.

http://khn.org/news/officials-warn-some-older-marketplace-customers-to-switch-to-medicare/

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance with selecting a Medicare Plan. I don’t charge any fees nor increase your cost.

Causes of Drug Price Increases and What Can You Do About it?

September 21, 2016 David Higgs

We are all affected by drug price increases. There are many reasons for this phenomenon but several factors have been more significant. While we all want to know why this is happening, we also want to know what can we do.

As noted before, this issue arises a lot with my Medicare clients. So, what can my clients do about it? I have blogged before about some easy things to do such as: ask your doctor for samples, shop around different pharmacies, ask for generics, etc. I find the biggest thing to do is to compare your plan options. If you are on a stand-alone Part D drug plan, you should shop each year. If you are on a Medicare Advantage plan, you will need to consider both Plan medical benefits and drug copay costs. Of course, I help my clients each year with these comparisons. It usually starts with keeping drug lists current in Medicare’s comparison site where I can then help decipher the options including all costs (premium, deductible and copays).

A recent article goes into more detail on causes of increases. A link to that article follows: http://khn.org/news/candidates-decry-high-drug-prices-but-they-have-few-options-for-voters/

The main takeaway for me was, people need a good Independent Agent who specializes in Medicare. If you have questions about Medicare, call me, with no cost or obligation. This is what I do and enjoy it.

Helping seniors transition to Medicare