There’s Medicare Part A, B, C and D. All we need is another acronym, right? Well here’s OEP! Open Enrollment Period. This is the time of the year that any and all changes must be made for the following year’s coverage. Individual insurance for those under 65 as well as employer-provided group plans have this as well. But for those 65 or older on Medicare, go time is from October 15-December 7.

During this time, you can enroll in Medicare for the first time if you missed your eligibility window around your 65th birthday as well as make changes to the plan you have if you’re already on Medicare.

There are a couple of different options when it comes to Medicare. Once you have Parts A and B, you’ll need either a Supplement or Advantage Plan. You can read about the differences between the two here.

Supplements don’t change much from year to year but the Advantage Plan does get slightly revised, similar to individual under 65 plans.

For example, the only changes to the Florida Blue Advantage Plan (also known as the BlueMedicare Choice PPO) for 2021 coverage are the following:

• Specialist Physician copays are now $50 instead of $45
• Inpatient hospital care copays are now $345/day for days 1-5 rather than $295
• Routine hearing exams are now $0 copay for one per year, when it used to be $45

Regarding prescription drug coverage on the Florida Blue Part D plan, there were very few changes as well. Here is a chart that shows the two plans we offer in our area for 2021: 2021 part D summary

Of course everyone’s situation is different so please reach out to us to discuss your Medicare needs and we are happy to help during this year’s open enrollment period.

Asking for a friend, right? Nah, don’t be silly. Hearing loss is a real thing! According to the National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders, 8.5% of adults age 55-64 experience significant hearing loss. Technology today has created some pretty incredible hearing aids to solve this problem, however they can be rather pricey. It may not seem possible to put a price tag on the sound of your grandchild’s voice that warms your heart, a honking horn in traffic that keeps you safe, a movie you’d like to enjoy with your spouse, or your favorite song… but the reality is that, given how far they’ve come, the average cost of hearing aids in 2020 is around $2,500 each.

Individual insurance policies do not typically cover hearing aids and neither does original Medicare (parts A&B). Therefore a Medicare Supplement, such as the most commonly known Plan F, does not cover them either. Supplements only extend coverage to what original Medicare covers first so if it’s excluded by parts A&B, it’s excluded by the Supplement as well.

Some Medicare Advantage plans will offer coverage for hearing aids with a copayment. Medicare Advantage plans, such as the Blue Medicare Choice PPO from Florida Blue, take the place of original Medicare. They function more like an individual under-65 health plan in that they have copays, coinsurance, deductibles, out of pocket maximums and prescription drug coverage built in. These plans usually have a lower monthly premium but more out of pocket expenses for medical services. The Florida Blue Advantage plan that we have and are most familiar with has a copay of $699-$999 per hearing aid (with up to two aids per year), depending on the details of the aid itself.

Hearing aids and any available insurance coverage for them varies from plan to plan and company to company. If you’re considering them, please talk with your doctor and your insurance advisor to fully understand what may be available to you. We’re happy to hear out any questions you may have.

Medicare has been so closely associated with the age of 65 for so long now that many people think they can wait until they actually turn 65 to address their health insurance needs and begin that transition. With regard to eligibility and actually enrolling in Medicare, that’s perfectly fine since you have a 7 month window surrounding your 65th birthday to do so. However, there are several things to consider as you approach 65 that make it really beneficial to do your research and get things moving in that direction in advance. This being said, we encourage that you start this process at 64.5.

If you are still working, there are things to consider such as comparing your employer provided group coverage to that of Medicare for both coverage and cost. Another important factor is if you are contributing to an HSA, you must stop at least 6 months before going on Medicare for tax purposes. Also, if you currently have a spouse and/or family members on your plan that will need to come off, you’ll want some time to quote that and make arrangements financially as it can be much more costly than what you’ve been used to.

Whether you are working with a financial advisor or not, you will want to plan for Medicare financially and weight out your options. Gathering all of the information on Advantage plans vs Supplements and those cost differences will help you decide what aligns with your budget. There are also many prescription drug plans you can shop in order to make the right decision for you.

All of this can take time and there is no need to wait, which will only add more stress to an already somewhat overwhelming process. We have a 64.5 checklist that may be helpful if you’d like to see the steps we advise taking at that time. And of course, we’re always ready and willing to hand out some high fives for being on top of your Medicare at 64.5!