And so this is
someone who's opted to be in the Advantage plan
system instead of original Medicare with a supplemental plan.
So what must they do and can they do during the open enrollment
period?
Welcome to Medicare School Daily, where we help you understand Medicare,
save money, avoid making mistakes, and above all else,
get the most out of your Medicare benefits.
Now, today's topic is switching advantage plans during Medicare's
annual enrollment period,
which happens every year between October 15th and December 7th.
First off,
if you're on an Advantage plan, one of the most important things
you can remember is this date, October 1st.
Now, annual enrollment period is not started yet.
We're still two weeks away.
Of course, but October 1st, what's going to happen is
the company is going to mail you a packet of information,
and it's a very important packet you need to open the packet up.
That's my biggest piece of advice.
So you open the pack it up to see what they're doing with the plan,
because advantage plans are only really written for one year at a time.
And that's a one year
agreement between Medicare, the insurance company, and you.
And so what Medicare tells the insurance company
is that they have to be true to that plan for that year.
But going into the next year, they can really change
wherever they want to.
And so that's why you're going to open the packet
when it comes around October 1st.
If you don't have that packet by, let's say, October 10th to the 15th range,
then I would call the company
and let them know hey, I did not get my annual notice of change,
and they'll send that information out to you.
So you're going to open the packet.
And here's what we're looking for.
We're going to see first off,
have they changed the premium for the plan. Now when you're on an advantage plan,
You're going to have typically a pretty low premium.
You've got to pay Medicare their portion.
But the premiums are either zero or very low when it comes to advantage plans.
But you need to make sure maybe you're on a zero plan this year
and they're going to move it to 25 next year on a monthly basis.
You want to definitely check out the premium,
are they changing the co-pay?
So you may be able to go this year to the doctor for $5 or
ten our co-pay next year it's zero or maybe it's $20.
Sometimes they'll change the specials co-pay or your scans
diagnostic type imaging scans, hospitals stays, skilled nursing stays.
And so they can change those co-pays and sometimes there's
quite sharp increases with those. Is the network changing?
Your doctor may be covered this year is it going to be covered next year.
The hospitals that you want to go to and they covered in the network.
So you want to make sure that you're still happy with that network.
Any changes that may be made, they're going to be adversely affecting you.
And then medication changes when you have an advantage plan
about 95 to 97% of the time, there is an embedded drug plan.
You have a Part D plan that's part of that package.
It's embedded, and you have to take that plan.
And so you have to make sure that you're still comfortable with
how that plan is going to cover your specific medications.
And that's very easy to do.
We actually have a system that does that,
but we're going to put your medications in there
and make sure that you have adequate coverage.
Sometimes those plans will drop a medication.
Maybe there's
a medication covered this year that's a brand name that you're taking,
and now they're only going to cover the generic. Well, that's a big deal.
If the generic does not work for you.
So you got to make sure
you know what meds are being added or dropped from the plan.
And then lastly,
Advantage plans the plans that usually offer some perks, gym membership
some dental benefit, maybe vision, sometimes hearing aids,
sometimes over-the-counter type credits that you can go online
or go through a catalog and buy over-the-counter type items
and they also sometimes are going to offer what's called a Part B reduction.
But the point is this you want to know what perks are going to be available
next year? Because again, those plans can change them.
Sometimes they add perks, sometimes they take away perks.
And so you want to make sure you're real clear
on what they're changing in the plan, the annual notice of change
will reveal all that to you.
It's not complicated to figure out.
They'll disclose everything, they're not gonna hide anything
you just got to take the time to make sure you're awar of what's going on.
All right.
So now let's talk about then how you can get help,
because most people do not go this alone.
If you try to do it alone, you don't save yourself any money whatsoever.
And so we'd be delighted to help you.
And so during these dates, October 15th to December 7th.
Now, again, we looked at the
ANOC, the annual notice of change to see what's happening.
And let's say we're unhappy or we want to see if there's anything better.
What you can do during the dates, it's about seven weeks here.
You can go to our Web site, MedicareSchool.com and we have a schedule
of all the different Medicare guides that are available.
Or you can actually just call in live to our 800 number 864-8890
and what you're going to do
is actually
you can set up an appointment if you would like
with one of our certified Medicare school guides.
Now, one of the really advantages to the guides,
number one, is that they are very, very well trained.
We write business all over the country,
so we're well versed in every market.
The guides are also independent in that in that we're brokers
as a company we're not beholden to any insurance company whatsoever.
We write business for all of them,
but we don't have to write for any one company
because we don't believe one size fits all we know that people have different
situations, different doctors, different meds, just different needs.
And so we're going to make sure we take what the client needs
and match it up with the right company and the right plan.
And so that's the beauty with the Medicare school guides.
They can give you unbiased information
totally because we don't work for an insurance company.
We work for you, our client.
And so we'll set up an appointment and what we're going to do to make sure
that you are making the right decisions as far as your Medicare
options are concerned is we are going to get a list of your medications
if you're taking a brand name. We want that.
If it's generic, we want that.
And we also want to know your pharmacy choices.
We typically like a couple of those.
We can kind of shop that to make sure that you're going to be on a plan
that's going to have a preferred pharmacy pricing
because preferred pharmacy pricing is better than standard pricing.
And sometimes people have to actually switch pharmacies
but it's well worth it sometimes because the savings are substantial.
So we get medications,
the name of the medication dosage frequency
as well as the pharmacy or pharmacies you like to use
and we also tell you what the mail order price would be in addition to that.
And then thirdly here, then we'll shop all the plan options for you.
Again, we're brokers, so we write for everyone.
And so we'll put all this into our system.
We'll look at all the plans.
We can verbally tell those to you, or we can do a screen share or zoom
however you want to do it,
but we'll share all the plan options with you to make sure you know
everything that's available because we want to find the right plans.
And we'll also check networks, especially
if we're going to be an advantage plan they have HMO's and PPO's.
And if we go that direction,
we got to make
sure that your doctor specials hospitals are going to be within the network.
And then lastly here,
all the help that's done through Medicareschool.com
whether you set up an appointment through our website
or you call into our office, it is going to be totally free to you.
Now we don't work for free, but you don't have to pay us
when we write a drug plan or an Advantage plan or Supplemental plan
the company that we select that you really you select that we set
all that coverage up with will actually pay us a commission.
And so it doesn't cost you anything for our services.
There's no additional money
added to your bill because the price is all the same.
Whether you went right to an insurance company
or you used whoever, used us, the price is always the same.
I think the service varies, the education and knowledge varies.
And so we are the kind of company does everything A to Z,
anything that you need, we will help you with that.
And so we want to make sure you know that all of our services to
you are totally free because the insurance company actually pays us.
It's illegal to charge fees for any kind of Medicare plan.
And so that's why the insurance company always takes care of the agent.
All right.
So that's what we offer to you during the open enrollment period.
And it would be privilege to assist you
further, if you need some additional help.
Thanks so much for watching
Hey, thanks so much for watching the video,
and I do hope that it was helpful.
Now if you feel like
you need to learn more about Medicare
to make sure you're making the right Medicare decision,
really the best way and the easiest way to do
that is to go to MedicareSchool.com.
That's MedicareSchool.com,
and you'll be given the opportunity to be able
to click on Get the Free Workshop.
We call that the essentials workshop
and I do all the teaching.
And there you'll learn all the ins and outs of Medicare
to make sure that you have an accurate
and thorough understanding of how Medicare works.
The second thing you can do
is click where it says, talk to a Medicare guide,
and there
you can actually set up a time
where you can discuss your situation
with a Medicare guide.
They'll explain all your options
and actually even walk you
through the enrollment process as well,
if that's what you need to do.
And so go to MedicareSchool.com,
watch the workshop or talk to a Medicare guide.
It would be our privilege to assist you further.