Your Medicare Benefits

Firstly, https://www.medicare.gov/ is a very helpful took in this regard where you can compare and analyze your but what you have to keep in mind is effective and feasible your plan will be.

It’s easier if we understand what are some of the ramifications we need to think of when selecting YOUR initial Medicare coverage.

Now, Medicare Advantage enrollment period is usually in the fall. Medicare plans don’t change benefits once you have made the decision.  Sometimes when you do want to change them, you might not be able to make a change if your health deteriorates.

But wait, let me share a checklist that I developed which you can print and use to record the answers yourself when you’re interviewing your broker about Medicare. You should ask these questions to him or her, and if they don’t know the answers to those questions then you really should find somebody that does, because although they are basic, they are critically important questions for you.

Pay attention to these critical questions – you should get each one answered. If you don’t, you could end up selecting the wrong Medicare plan. You’ve got to get this right the first time – and I’m going to give you some tips on making sure that you do just that.

By the way, this is when you’re comparing Medicare Advantage Program versus a Medigap program or Medicare Supplement.

You have got to know this! It’s changing rapidly. Some of these networks are shrinking. You could go to the doctor next door, but you can’t go to the doctor across the street, or you might want to go to a different hospital so is that hospital in the network? Fundamental question! And a good Medicare agent should definitely know the answer to this question.

Let’s say, I go to the local hospital, but when I get there, they tell me “we can’t treat you here.” They say “We need to send you to a specialist, e.g. a cancer hospital or a hospital for heart procedures.” Will this new facility be in network? Again, you need to know those kinds of questions.

The number of people who think that their primary care can do it all is incredible. But what happens if they have a cardiac problem and need to see a cardiologist. Some of these plans require you to get a referral to see a cardiologist, and it may not be the cardiologist of your choice.

You see, if you call some of the folks that you see on TV all the time, they are only going to offer that particular product or that one insurance company. You need to get about five different carrier quotes from different companies. Some of the companies you may not ever hear of, some hopefully will be on the list, which are name brand companies or national companies that you’ve heard of. If you cannot receive quotes for five companies, then three for sure. And be sure to ask these questions on all three programs.

Don’t just ask if it is covered. You want to know what is covered in dental or what is covered in vision. Many companies say they cover dental and vision, whereas all they cover is an eye exam for $10, or they might give you dental cleaning once a year only. They don’t give you any glasses, lenses, or contacts. Make sure you know what exactly will be covered.

So, what is Silver Sneakers? It is a nationwide program specifically for senior citizens that offers free gym memberships around the country. You may not be a gym person, but it might come into play. Recommendations made by your healthcare administrator may include adding in exercise. Therefore, it’s worth asking about.

Many of them say the answer is yes, and the discount is substantial, 5%, or 7% of the premium forever. It does add up. Therefore, another important question to ask!

Again, don’t just take a simple yes answer because you will get: “Oh yes, we cover prescription drugs!” Well, what prescription drugs? You need to have your list of medications already printed out from your pharmacy to check whether or not they will be covered.

Here’s why: Folks like me need the exact name of the medication, not just for example, the generic high blood pressure medication. We need to know precisely the medication name inside your bottle, the dosage, and the frequency. So, don’t just let them say yes,”your drugs are going to be covered.” Find out if your particular drugs are going to be covered.

Well, let’s just say, if you call a call center, you are probably going to be out of luck.  Make sure you will be receiving the assistance and guidance you deserve, now and in the future!

Medicare Advantage program is very clear about when you can change it. It is only once a year. With Medicare Supplement Plans, you might be able to change them as often as you wish to stay healthy or don’t have any major health needs or concerns.. So that is important to know.

If I get seriously injured or get sick, is there a limit to how much my plan will pay, or is there a limit to how much I have to pay out of my pocket? Some plans have a significant out of pocket expense, which you need to be aware of.

As a rule, these are the questions to ask. It would be best if you went through them in great detail with your broker. Give me a call- I have been doing this for thirty years! I am happy to go through it all. I will send you the rates. I even have a rating system where I can run all the rates for everybody.

Want to know the best part? I am here to help. I have had so many phone calls from other agents who didn’t know a lot of this stuff. I love the Medicare world. I offer a free consultation, so take advantage of that!

Remember the good old days with the doctor made house calls?  Those days are coming back again. Thanks unfortunately to the covid virus.

What is the most popular and often asked questions as a relates to healthcare today for not only the senior population but also the under a 65 population is “ is Telemedicine available “ in my plan?

Well, I’m happy to report that not only have insurance companies seen the huge benefit and lower costs of a Telemedicine visit but almost all insurance companies, especially those that work in the Medicare field, are implementing telemedicine in there plans right now. By the way Telemedicine is also know as Telehealth.

Some companies have implemented it already and most Medicare Insurance plans will have the benefit available to you when you have the opportunity to compare your Medicare Insurance plan for the forth coming year.

A brief disclaimer however, this is important, because not all Medicare Insurance Plans will implement this important and significant benefit for you.

Of course, if you’re on a Medicare  Advantage program you know that you have the open enrollment period from October 15th December 7th. That is your time to compare plans for the forthcoming year.

I strongly recommend that you compare plans and benefits as well as out of pocket cost access the doctors and hospitals and especially your drug benefits

The changes that are happening in the Medicare world almost make my head spin. Changes are being implemented all the time and frankly unless you devote a good bit of your reading time you may miss some important benefits.

Here’s a true story. I recently needed to see a doctor however due to the pandemic that we all suffer through, I was unable to see a doctor in a reasonable period time.

I decided to take to take advantage of my Telemedicine benefit and although I was completely skeptical of the outcome of the video visit, I must admit I was totally amazed so well.

Within minutes of making my request for a video visit a retired emergency room physician in the Boston area that had over 40 years experience in the ER was live on my iPhone. Within minutes my call was over, within seconds I had a summary of my visit in my email. In six minutes I received a text message from my pharmacy telling me that my prescription would be ready soon.

All of this took place within a 15 minute time frame without ever having to leave my home, drive to the doctors office, park, put on a mask, and wait to see the doctor.

Telemedicine he’s here to stay.  Medicare is also rapidly adopting this for many of their plans as well.

I have seen doctors recently, due to an upcoming surgery, I have even been asked by the physicians if they would like my next visit to be a Telemedicine visit.

This is not only the future of the office visit, this is reality today. Even if your doctor is the only position in the practice, I have found but they all have access to do virtual visits with you in the comfort of your home.

I think we all can agree, that a Telemedicine visit with your doctor is a tremendous to us all.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, people can change their Medicare Advantage program during the open enrollment that we all know happens between October and December.

What if you have a Medicare Supplement Insurance plan? Well, great news, you could look to change plans any day or month of the year. In other words, you’re open enrollment period is year round.

I strongly encourage you to have three things working for you at this stage of your life.

Hopefully, do you already have the CPA and attorney. But with the rapid constant changes in Medicare,  having direct access to an experienced independent insurance agent ( with at Least 10 years in Medicare )  you call your round is huge.

If you need any help, please let me know.

Haven’t we all thought we are pretty savvy when it came to the Internet and finding good quality discounts that I could use for not only my family but also for my clients. I even used these awesome senior savings programs myself and unfortunately found these out such a late stage in my life because like you I am officially a senior citizen and soon will be on Medicare myself.

Boy, do I wish I had found these years ago as they would’ve saved me and my family and my clients any huge amount of money.

Every time I talk to or meet with a client I share these savings programs, and I can tell you that they are very happy with the results as well.

So especially in these times, the less time I or anyone of my family spends in a grocery store or pharmacy warehouse the better. Are used to run all over town to try to get our groceries and our medications. That is not the way that we shop anymore. We all use Amazon or something similar to that, so why not do the same thing for the staples of our life like groceries and medications.

The first awesome senior savings program I want to share with you is one that I have used now dozens of times and can tell you that I never had a problem with any of the items that I have attempted to purchase, the quality of the items or the service. As I am sharing this blog post and podcast with you today I am even out of town at my family’s residence and just used the service again yesterday.

The weather is over 100° and the last thing I wanna do is to get into a car that has been baking in the sun and drive to the grocery store to pick up four items that we needed for dinner. I went online at exactly 2 PM the service told me that the groceries will be delivered within a two hour window from Costco and sure enough they were.

The service that I use is called Instacart. There are many services and competitors to Instacart summer national some regional and some local. If possible of course we always want to use the local services to support our local businesses. I signed up for Instacart about three months ago and have probably used their service for groceries as well as medications at least a dozen or more times.

Yes, they will not only shop and deliver your groceries but in some locations they will even go to theTo the pharmacy and pick up and deliver your medications as well.

How great is that?

With Instacart I know that you could either pay an annual fee of $100 or in my case we pay $9.99 per month to use the service. There’s no commitment. I can cancel at any time. So far, at this point I have no intention of canceling it as it as it has saved me hours away from the important things like family and friends but also a great deal of money because I am not walking out of the store with items that I went into the store to buy.

Here is a link for you to view instant cart yourself and you can even sign up on this link.

The second great savings program that I have used and recommended a number of times since they began doing business is for all of us to shop for our prescription medications online. I think we all know that different pharmacies have different prices for the exact same medications. The program that I am referring to is called good RX.com. They are one of the pioneers and having the cost of medications at the different pharmacies based on ZIP Code searches. There are others do use however the one I like the best is goodrx.com. Here’s a link to their website.

I was a little upset when I found out that after going to a national pharmacy chain for the last 15 years that when I called and asked for the cost of my medications at a warehouse store such as Costco, I saved over 60% are the cost of my medications by switching from a national chain to a warehouse club by Costco.

On a sidenote, when I went into Costco for the very first time I asked the person who is ringing up my prescriptions why my medication costs were so much less at Costco. He told me it’s really very simple, Costco does not look at the pharmacy as a profit center. He said “ COSTCO makes all their money on the membership fees and the items in the warehouse”.

That all made a lot of sense to me. Now I tell everyone about goodRX.com and COSTCO.

Here are a couple of other websites that are similar to goodrx.com that I encourage you to check out. One is blinkhealth.com and the other one is pharmacychecker.com.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of scam websites out there so please be careful. I recommend you stick to these three websites in particular. Some of the websites will direct you without your knowledge to purchasing your drugs from another country.

The last great way for seniors to check the cost of medications, especially very expensive medications, is to go to the manufacture of that medication and see if they offer coupons or savings programs on their websites. Now, you will find discounts for the generic medications of course, however, a lot of the medications that you see on TV are very expensive. You normally don’t find out until you go into the group drugstore for the first time just how expensive these medications are.

So what I recommend is when you leave the doctors office or you get a new prescription you first check good RX.com and if you see that the cost of the medication is more than $150 that I recommend you find out who the manufacture of that particular medication is go to the website and almost every one of the major pharmaceutical manufacturers does offer some type of discount program.

Some of the discounts are incomebased, however, I just did a research for a client who takes a medication that cost $1722.43 per month,. I went to the manufacturer’s website and the manufacturer offered a 90 day supply for $30. Needless to say my client was extremely happy with the research it took me only two minutes to do.

Since I’ve devoted most of my 34 year career in helping seniors find affordable Medicare and prescription drug programs I’m happy to help you as well.

I know this information can be burdensome for some so please don’t hesitate to call or email me and I’ll be glad to help you see if we can save you some money on your healthcare and prescription drug costs.

Feel free to call me at 877–549 – 1212.

I am happy to help you. God bless you.

Whether you’re new to Medicare for the first time or currently looking at open enrollment or thinking about switching, here are some important points for you to understand. 

There are several ways that you can receive your Medicare coverage, or add onto that coverage. Medicare Supplement Plans and Medicare Advantage insurance are options that may sound similar but are quite different. One main thing they do have in common: private insurance companies such as United Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, AETNA and most others offer both.

Medicare Supplement plans protects people who buy traditional Medicare from the additional costs they might pay. The supplemental plans charge an additional premium to what a person may already pay for Medicare Parts A (many people get this free), B, and D.

Medicare Supplements Plans have various plans lettered A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. Medicare standardizes what is offered by the plans. The cost for them can vary, however, so it’s worth shopping around.

On the other hand, a Medicare Advantage Health Plan (Medicare Part C) may provide more help at a lower cost. Rather than paying for Parts A, B, and D, a person would enroll through a private insurance company. In many cases, it covers everything provided by Parts A, B, and D. Plus, it may offer additional services. Generally, the beneficiary pays the Medicare Advantage premium along the Part B premium.

You could compare Medicare Advantage Plans to private health insurance plans. Typically, most plans offer services such as office visits, lab work, and surgery. Some services may be covered after a small co-pay. Depending on your location, plans could offer HMO or PPO network plans with a yearly limit on total out-of-pocket expenses.  Generally what I have found is that people prefer to go onto a Medicare plan when they turn 65.  The benefits are unbeatable when comparing them to a traditional insurance plan.

You are not allowed to have both a Medicare Advantage Plan and a Medicare Supplement Plan. Yes, I have actually seen where someone has both types of plans.  This is so confusing for so many seniors today.

Three things to consider before choosing:

Understanding, the difference between the two, is essential folks. A true professional will listen to your needs and then make a recommendation to you. Helping you find what plan is best for you. And then if they’re really good, they’ll help you enroll. And that’s what I do, and I’ve been doing it for 31 years. Most of my business is referral business. You won’t find a quoting tool on my web site that you can run your own quotes. Quite frankly if you’re looking to run quotes there are other opportunities for you to do that.

I like to be here before during and after you purchase your Medicare. So, if you have questions, comments you don’t understand you’re confused. You’ve got a medical bill you didn’t think you’re going to get. You can call me, and we’ll talk about it, and I’m more likely to help you with it. Simply pick up the phone and call me at 1- 8 7 7- 5 4 9 -1 2 1 2.

The 2 most popular Medicare free analysis of your particle situation.  The best advice for you.  Tracy McManamon will break it all down for you.  Hear what this 31 year insurance industry expert has to say. Free consultation to Podcast listeners.

Are you so confused as to which Medicare Plan is best for you? This presentation walks you through the many differences in these two Medicare Insurance Plans. Knowing this information is critical before you choose the best Medicare plan for you.

Would you like to change your Medicare Supplement program without any underwriting questions.  Hurry this is for a limited time only in Ohio.  Lets discuss your opportunity.  Yes Silver Sneakers is included at NO Charge!