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.
