…Medicare AEP changes for 2023.
Medicare's annual enrollment period is coming up fast.
It's from October 15th through December 7th Pearl Harbor day.
There are not a lot of changes for 2023.
For those who already have Medicare. But the changes
are meaningful So let's take a look.
First the annual election period we call it AEP refers only
to your part D prescription drug plan or your Medicare advantage plan.
This is the only time that you will have to review your part D plan
and select a new one for 2023.
It's similar for Medicare advantage plans except you can also make one correction or one change
with your advantage plan during the first quarter of next year.
That time is referred to as your Medicare advantage open enrollment And this is from January one
through March 31…If you are new.
Medicare part B and enrolling now or in the next few months, then your initial enrollment
period takes precedence or overrules a P.
You probably don't even need to pay attention to this annual election period
at all…Medicare supplement plans.
Please understand there is no federal annual enrollment period for Medicare supplement plans.
Medicare supplement plans do not change each year Their benefits don't change.
In addition price increases are based on your policy anniversary date.
They don't typically change by calendar year.
Now that said I do know a couple of companies that will.
Often use the change in year as an excuse to raise prices.
But that's not common. Some states have annual benefit periods based on your birthday
or your policy anniversary, in which case you can
sometimes change plans without any medical underwriting.
With limitations…But if you're not sure of your state rules, Please reach out to us.
You are not required to do anything with your Medicare supplement plan during AEP there are
no 2023 Medicare supplement
plans because the benefits never change.
However price increases on supplement plans have been higher than in past years.
If you wish for us to shop your supplement for you please let us know We would be happy to.
Now we may be able to reduce your costs and help you keep the same benefits or simply get you
into a plan with lower price increases.
It's worth a look…So the quick note before I get into part D.
I'm now producing what they call YouTube shorts And these are
videos of 60 seconds or less I'm going to have her only 45 seconds.
on YouTube. YouTube is strongly encouraging us to do these.
And so I've already done several and I expect to have uh a new shorts
out several times a week on interesting subjects within Medicare.
And that's a quick 62nd update on something or.
You know things that you should know. So in addition of course to my other videos but please
subscribe to this channel and hit the bell notification.
Button below You'll be able to see them as they come out.
So part D prescription drug plans. As current clients already know I set up my part D
shopper.com website several years ago.
To help consumers shop for part D plans.
The plans that I recommend. I encourage everyone to take a look and see if you should stay with
your current part D plan, or if there are lower cost alternatives for 2023.
Information on new to. plans should be on the part D shopper.com website.
October 3rd I think that's Monday's October 3rd or October 4th.
As soon as I have the link set up, we're going to put it on the part D shopper.com website.
You'll click on the shop and enroll for 2023 and see what's available.
So when they are active, It should be shown on screen that this was going to be the link that
you're going to want to look to make sure it says 2023 not 2022…Second
a quick review of the impact of the inflation reduction act for 2023 on part D…I
have this in detail on my A new part D uh video that I just produced.
But this act requires drug companies to pay a rebate.
If the drug price increases. At a higher rate than the rate of inflation.
Unfortunately inflation's close to 9% annualized…The act also.
limits insulin copays to $35 for part day And that's good news.
It also improves coverage for vaccines For example your shingle vaccine in
2023 should be free along with other vaccines.
The inflation reduction act has other features that are intended to go into effect between 2024.
And 2029, we hope they do.
Unfortunately no one knows who or how these features will be paid for.
Thus, they're not guaranteed even though they are currently signed into law.
Keep in mind this inflation reduction act eliminated another law that was to take effect in
2023 and intended to reduce your part D costs.
But that law was championed by the previous administration and thus had to be killed.
At least both sides of the aisle here recognize and are
trying to reduce consumer costs We just got to get them to stop fighting.
And focus on you And I…Next changes to part D
for 2023 and why you need to shop your plan…So please
understand we're not allowed to discuss individual plans until October one and cannot make any
changes until October 15.
I've linked below my cheat sheet on the four phases of part D for 2023.
If you're unfamiliar with the four phases I encourage you to watch my new and improved.
And shorter part D video. It's linked above my left shoulder and in the description box below
…The four stages show the 2020 3-d
Dr Ball which is now a maximum of $505.
For 2023. You may recall that
prescription drugs are typically categorized into five tiers.
In the past many insurance company. would waive the deductible for tier one and tier two drugs.
A few would have the deductible waived only for tier one drugs…More of the lower premium
plans are going towards only waiving the deductible on tier one medications.
And this can have an impact on your cost for next year If you have tier two drugs.
In addition part D companies would normally set the
tiers so that you're paying a copay for tier three.
Some companies have changed that So the copay is now a
co-insurance instead of paying a flat dollar amount a copay.
Your obligation will be a percentage of the retail cost of the drug.
Co-insurance. For example you may be required to pay 25%.
Instead of $45. Now this seemingly
small change can have a huge impact on your drug costs.
Again. Take a look on part D shopper.com in our.
And see if you're still in the right part D plan for you…Also regarding part D there will
be some changes in the plans that I recommend Then they're going to
be reflected on part D shopper.com.
However one of the plans I'm working on we have to go through, uh some contracts that paperwork
may not be completed Uh, by the first couple of days of October it might be closer to
October 15th Before you see that on part D shopper.com.
So if you look early um, check again.
You know in October 15th to see if…there aren't some other plans on there…
So if you have a plan that I'm no longer recommending that doesn't
mean you the must change you do what's right for you just.
Look at the fine print on your annual statement of change.
N the table of drug prices so that you know what to expect for 2023
…Regarding Medicare advantage plans…Of course there are benefit changes
in Medicare advantage plans Many changes are related to the part D plans that they've bundled with them.
Others may include some small cost increases.
First the maximum out-of-pocket allowed for in network care with an advantage plan is
$8,300 for 2023.
That is up from $6,700 just a few years ago.
Out of network maximum out of pocket is over $12,000.
And that's up from about $7,000 just a few years ago.
So just as Medicare supplement plans must increase their premiums to keep up with inflation
…Medicare advantage plans tend to reduce benefits to keep up with inflation.
And they can often reduce benefits by increasing your maximum out of pocket.
So each plan can see. their own maximum amount of pocket So your plan may be less a lot of HMO's.
For example are a lot lower in maximum amount of pocket.
But you give up, obviously some of your freedoms on what doctors to see.
So if you wish to shop Medicare advantage plans reach out to us We can compare plans with the
major carriers in all states but Massachusetts.
We input the doctors you see regularly to make certain that they're still in network and of
course your prescriptions so that you know what you will be paying for them.
So lastly I expect to have the new Medicare rates the deductibles the income related
monthly adjustment amounts levels and all of that by Thanksgiving.
Medicare normally releases those numbers in the latter half of November sometimes earlier in November.
There's no fixed date. But I will send out a notice like
, The one that I sent If you're a current client you've got this link in the email.
And um but I'll. out a notice like that And as well as a re-do the.
Uh benefits for part a and part B and the publications I have.
And of course do a new video a Medicare short video.
Uh so the those that was subscribed to my channel we'll see those very quickly.
My next video will be a shortened version of my Medicare explained video.
And when I published that video in late 2017, It
quickly became the most popular Medicare video in the history of YouTube.
With nearly a million views. Million views as and a lot.
We're a lot of other subjects but it's a lot for Medicare.
So I'm trying to make this new version shorter because people tend to
enjoy shorter videos these days but I suspect it will be.
Just as good as the first version. So please give me a thumbs up and a like, if you like this
video and share and subscribe…and hope that you can see my future videos as well.
I'm Matthew Clawson. With Medigap seminars.org.
Thank you for watching
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