while Medicare open enrollment for ages
65 and older is underway and dr. Christy
Clark medical director for health Texas
joins us today to answer some questions
that many of us may have thank you so
much for being here thanks for having me
back I know this is something that a lot
of folks probably do want to know about
and have questions about and this is an
important time of year and today we're
giving folks the opportunity to address
their concerns on this topic so let's
take a look at the first question
because this came to us on social media
from on Twitter what is the annual
enrollment period
what is annual enrollment so you're
right Fiona a lot of people are very
nervous around this time of year a lot
of our a lot of patients with Medicare
this is the time that they gain all
kinds of phone calls etc so annual
annual enrollment periods miss has
called an annual election period is the
time in which a Medicare beneficiary can
change their plan or enroll in different
additional benefits on their plan the
you know the important thing to remember
there's a lot of options out there you
know my my husband says that I can
relate anything to shopping everything
and it goes the same with the Medicare
enrollment so your annual enrollment
period is really a period of time when a
person can kind of shop their Medicare
benefits they can go out and shop the
benefits and even though it's
overwhelming you've got to remember that
as we have more and more options in the
San Antonio marketplace that our seniors
and other Medicare recipients have a lot
more choices and how they can spend
their Medicare dollar and how they can
get the best plan for their particular
needs all right so our next question
comes to us from Facebook and it is when
is the annual enrollment period sure so
when is the inner a normal annual
rollout period it is next week starts
next Monday so basically from every year
from October 15th until December 7th
Medicare recipients are going to have a
chance to kind of shop their benefits
like like we talked about I guess to
take the the shopping analogy one one
further it's not really like a sale
because there's not necessarily a change
in the price or a discount although
someone could get penalties if they
don't make decisions timely it's more of
like a special collection it's a when a
person can look
a special collection that's only sold
maybe you know once a year or so so
that's really more of the way so next
Monday October 15th until December 7th
so it's like something seasonal exactly
season oh very good and October 15
that's kind of like that second tax
deadline right there you go
so remember that remember that okay and
now we have a question for one of our
audience members this comes from Tori hi
thanks so much for being here today
sorry I'm actually helping my
grandmother enroll this year and the
question that I have is what can a
Medicare recipient shop for during
enrollment sure it's a great question we
don't want to know what we can actually
get when we get out there to the
marketplace so there's there's a lot of
different add-ons if you will that folks
will be looking for during this this
time frame some people are looking for
maybe a dental benefit maybe they're
changing pharmacy benefits maybe they're
looking for what's called a Medigap
policy that would help cover some of the
costs they have that Medicare doesn't
cover but the vast majority of folks who
are out there in the marketplace are
looking for what's called a Medicare
Advantage plan this is like that special
collection we talked about that's open
for this short period of time a Medicare
Advantage plan again shopping is kind of
like a fully coordinated outfit you got
the jacket you got the shirt the pants
the shoes the belt all goes together so
it takes a lot of the guesswork out of
choosing little bits of each Medicare
plan like the right pharmacy program etc
so a lot of patients like that about 25
to 30 percent of current Medicare
recipients will choose a Medicare
Advantage plan if you will and then a
second reason that a lot of folks are
out there looking for a Medicare
Advantage plan is many times these plans
will offer benefits that you don't have
with traditional Medicare so for example
maybe a gym membership or maybe a
wellness exam or maybe not wellness exam
but wellness programs or chronic care
programs especially if a person has
multiple problems dental benefits vision
benefits these are a lot of things that
Medicare traditional traditional
Medicare doesn't cover so your Medicare
Advantage plan remember it's like that
coordinated outfit kind of throws in the
belt and the shoes free of charge and
have to worry about picking all those
things so that's what most people were
out there looking for in the marketplace
so you got to get the whole ensemble
obviously obviously you should pick
always the right the right choice for
you so so for some people the coordinate
outfit works perfectly other ones they
want to pick and choose each uh each
piece and so you really got to think
about what's your budget right and what
is your actual health costs what kind of
what what is your what kind of
specialist do you need you got to make
sure if you do choose a plan make sure
that your physician that you want to
stay with covers is it is on that plan I
always tell patients don't take the word
agents are great they can help but don't
take the word of the agent and don't
necessarily just look in the directory
many times that can be dated I would
urge people you know call the office of
the physician that you know you want to
see and make sure that they really
really take your plan many times you
might be given them misinformation but
ultimately the goal is going to be to
pick the right plan for your particular
health needs that's going to fit in your
budget and also going to give you the
flexibility that you need alright dr.
Krista Clark thank you so much there's
the information on your screen health
Texas org for more information or call
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