I will by no means forget the day my Aunt wanted to know if I could help her to pick out her Medicare supplement. Truly how tough could it really be? Well, take your worst visit to the DMV and multiply it by 20.
How in the world does Medicare expect anyone to comprehend this? After years of teaching and understanding in the office I thought I had observed it all, evidently not.
It all began with the onslaught of packages that began arriving around 6 months prior to her turning 65. Mail from Secure Horizons, postcards from Care More, giveaways from Anthem Blue Cross and brochures from SCAN. Had my mom won some kind of lottery?
You truly could not believe the number of phone calls. You would think somebody had just come into a sizeable sum of wealth! Add to that, the fact that everyone we spoke to seemed to put in a good word for something different. The clerk at the store even appeared to consider that he alone recognized what the top Advantage plan in California is?
I was dumb enough to feel that we could simply contact Social Security to obtain help. Let me save you some time, that will not be an option. I can't tell you the incredible number of salespeople we sat down with. Alas, they all thought something different! So with much frustration and an unplanned discussion we accomplished our goal. The next information is a succinct outline of the essentials.
Original Medicare is made up of Part A and B. Part A addresses hospital and B insures physician's office visits. The trouble is that the two parts only cover up to 80%, so something needs to be put in place to include that 20%. Also, there are copays, deductibles and coinsurance. To handle these expenses there's federally standardized supplemental insurance that can be purchased from many private insurance companies at various prices. You enroll in one of these plans 3 months before you turn 65, then it will become effective the first day of your birth month.
Then there will be Part D which is absolutely not obtainable by Medicare, but instead through private insurance providers. Part D is thought to be elective. The snag is that if you won't sign up for one, you will receive a late enrollment penalty. For each month that you do not own a Part D prescription plan you will get a 1% penalty, 36 months = 36%.
It basically comes down to two options. One can buy a Medigap plan and also get a Part D. These will each have a per month premium. The benefit to this choice is choice. You can go to any physician in the US that participates in Medicare. There are no co-pays or co insurance. This will be the costlier choice and the price tends to increase on a yearly basis.
The other option is to decide on one of the all-in-one Advantage plans in California. These plans are also recognized as Part C. They contain benefits for Parts A, B and D of Medicare together. These plans are different by county. Certain plans have no month to month payment. Certain plans contain specific co pays and others have almost none. They may be frequently HMO's so you really should try to only see medical doctors inside the plan's network.
Each year during the annual enrollment period you have the chance to switch your insurance. This time is between October 15th to December 7th. Medicare Supplemental policies are just a little different. These are guaranteed issue once you first enroll in Medicare. Following that you may or may not have the option to acquire one.
We were going to just give up in frustration when we had the chance to talk with a friend of our neighbor. She was visiting from Oakland. She seemed to possess an incredible knowledge of not only the Medicare program but the assorted choices. We were shocked. It took her nearly 10 minutes to put in plain words what had taken us 7 months to discover.
She had the success of contacting an independent Licensed Healthcare Specialist. These people work with each insurer in the state. They only work with Medicare programs. And given that they represent many programs they do not care who you choose if they are sure that you've decided on the perfect selection for your specific situation. They are more like advocates than salesmen.
The best thing? They do not charge a penny for their suggestion. They're paid directly by the insurance companies. The charge to someone is precisely the same as if they went directly to the Medicare insurer. I just wish I could have identified beforehand that people like these folks were accessible to me.
Our story in due course ended up really well. I am now sure that the next moment in time somebody inquires of me I know exactly what to tell them.
How in the world does Medicare expect anyone to comprehend this? After years of teaching and understanding in the office I thought I had observed it all, evidently not.
It all began with the onslaught of packages that began arriving around 6 months prior to her turning 65. Mail from Secure Horizons, postcards from Care More, giveaways from Anthem Blue Cross and brochures from SCAN. Had my mom won some kind of lottery?
You truly could not believe the number of phone calls. You would think somebody had just come into a sizeable sum of wealth! Add to that, the fact that everyone we spoke to seemed to put in a good word for something different. The clerk at the store even appeared to consider that he alone recognized what the top Advantage plan in California is?
I was dumb enough to feel that we could simply contact Social Security to obtain help. Let me save you some time, that will not be an option. I can't tell you the incredible number of salespeople we sat down with. Alas, they all thought something different! So with much frustration and an unplanned discussion we accomplished our goal. The next information is a succinct outline of the essentials.
Original Medicare is made up of Part A and B. Part A addresses hospital and B insures physician's office visits. The trouble is that the two parts only cover up to 80%, so something needs to be put in place to include that 20%. Also, there are copays, deductibles and coinsurance. To handle these expenses there's federally standardized supplemental insurance that can be purchased from many private insurance companies at various prices. You enroll in one of these plans 3 months before you turn 65, then it will become effective the first day of your birth month.
Then there will be Part D which is absolutely not obtainable by Medicare, but instead through private insurance providers. Part D is thought to be elective. The snag is that if you won't sign up for one, you will receive a late enrollment penalty. For each month that you do not own a Part D prescription plan you will get a 1% penalty, 36 months = 36%.
It basically comes down to two options. One can buy a Medigap plan and also get a Part D. These will each have a per month premium. The benefit to this choice is choice. You can go to any physician in the US that participates in Medicare. There are no co-pays or co insurance. This will be the costlier choice and the price tends to increase on a yearly basis.
The other option is to decide on one of the all-in-one Advantage plans in California. These plans are also recognized as Part C. They contain benefits for Parts A, B and D of Medicare together. These plans are different by county. Certain plans have no month to month payment. Certain plans contain specific co pays and others have almost none. They may be frequently HMO's so you really should try to only see medical doctors inside the plan's network.
Each year during the annual enrollment period you have the chance to switch your insurance. This time is between October 15th to December 7th. Medicare Supplemental policies are just a little different. These are guaranteed issue once you first enroll in Medicare. Following that you may or may not have the option to acquire one.
We were going to just give up in frustration when we had the chance to talk with a friend of our neighbor. She was visiting from Oakland. She seemed to possess an incredible knowledge of not only the Medicare program but the assorted choices. We were shocked. It took her nearly 10 minutes to put in plain words what had taken us 7 months to discover.
She had the success of contacting an independent Licensed Healthcare Specialist. These people work with each insurer in the state. They only work with Medicare programs. And given that they represent many programs they do not care who you choose if they are sure that you've decided on the perfect selection for your specific situation. They are more like advocates than salesmen.
The best thing? They do not charge a penny for their suggestion. They're paid directly by the insurance companies. The charge to someone is precisely the same as if they went directly to the Medicare insurer. I just wish I could have identified beforehand that people like these folks were accessible to me.
Our story in due course ended up really well. I am now sure that the next moment in time somebody inquires of me I know exactly what to tell them.
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