the following portion of daytime Blue
Ridge is sponsored by now through
December 7th is the time period for open
enrollment for Medicare knowing what
plan is a good fit for you or your loved
ones is an important factor when
considering your options joining me now
to talk more is Michael Viet from United
Healthcare welcome to the show
thank you very much glad to be here this
is huge for a lot of people because it
can get really confusing can it it can
and so Medicare annual enrollment is
October 15th through December 7th and we
actually conducted a survey last year at
gauging people's understanding of the
Medicare program and almost 40% of the
beneficiaries found the program to be
confusing yeah and so if you're feeling
that way don't feel you're not alone ok
so there there are some things that
folks you know Medicare doesn't have to
be feel complicated so we can help you
walk through that we can help you
navigate through the system to help you
find a plan that meets your needs one of
the things that people can do initially
is to review their their current plans
does it fit their needs or the coverage
is changing for next year another thing
they can do is to review if the plan
that they currently have fits their
budget and to look at beyond just the
Medicare premium the monthly plan
premium but also look at those other
out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles
co-pays and coinsurance --is another
important thing to review because if are
there medications still be uncovered
even if they're not contemplating or
anticipating making a change ensure that
the medications that you're taking
regularly are still being covered it is
huge and also make sure you know costs
do change year over year and don't
forget about dental vision and other
benefits most people on Medicare are
surprised that Original Medicare does
not cover prescription drugs and most
dental and hearing and vision services
okay so that's good to know so Medicare
Advantage is one of the options people
can consider and I understand it's
experienced
rapid growth why is that so Medicare
Advantage or Part C of Medicare combines
Parts A and Part B of Original Medicare
into one plan it's a it offers
convenience and simplicity so people
have the convenience and simplicity of
having one plan in one card that they
have to show it also offers additional
benefits not covered under Original
Medicare as we spoke about earlier here
in benefits dental benefits vision
benefits fitness memberships
it also offers peace of mind with
greater predictability and what I mean
by that is generally medicare covers 80%
of a beneficiary's healthcare costs
they're responsible for the other 20%
with no annual out-of-pocket met limits
whereas on the other by contrast
Medicare Advantage plans offer an annual
out-of-pocket maximum in the event
something unexpected happens your your
you know that you're going to be capped
at the annual cost that's good okay so
people are facing some pretty important
decisions right now with Medicare
coverage so what are some resources that
they should be aware of so there are a
lot of resources if folks are interested
in United Healthcare plans they can
visit UHC Medicare health plans comm or
call us at 888 two one three okay I was
going to say there's gonna be an actual
person that I can talk to and ask
questions to and I call that number
yes ma'am absolutely it's not it's not a
it's not voicemail it's not push one for
this this department or two it'll be an
actual person yes ma'am you will or
additionally if you want to learn more
about Medicare then you can go to
Medicare made clear calm some folks are
also would like to have more information
about just Medicare itself absolutely
well thank you so much for all this
information well you're very welcome
thank you
remember Medicare open enrollment is
October 15th through 7th yes you're
welcome