MEDICARE ENROLLMENT SEASON: WHAT YOU MUST KNOW
County seniors now have 46 plans to choose from, keeping advisers busy.
Peter Boll, a retiree from Palm Beach Gardens, said he has received at least eight large mailers from insurers for options to sign up for Medicare coverage.
“I think the mailman got a hernia carrying them,” Boll, 83, said. “It makes it hard for the average consumer.”
Open enrollment for Medicare began Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7, an important time for more than 4 million beneficiaries in Florida and about 55 million nationwide.
Hu n dreds of Palm Be a ch County residents are calling advisers daily for help to sort out expanded options. By Oct. 16, an agency providing free assistance to county seniors found itself booked up for appointments for telephone or in-person help through the first week of November.
“We definitely have more interest this year than last year,” said Desirae Mearns, lead project director for Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders, or SHINE, of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. “It’s been a whirlwind.”
Seniors in Palm Beach County have 46 plan options in 2018 compared to 43 last year, she said. SHINE’s office in West Palm Beach can be reached at 866684-5885.
About half the questions her agency gets are related to traditional Medicare, and half are for
plans managed by private insurance companies, known as Medicare Advantage, she said. For those choosing original Medicare, there are also prescription drug plans and Medigap plans they can buy.
Some callers, Mearns said, are asking about Medicare Plan F, which will not be available to new Medicare beneficiaries as of Jan. 1, 2020. Changes passed by Congress in 2015 will phase it out for new beneficiaries, though those
already enrolled can keep it. Plan F offers the lowest Medicare out-of-pocket costs among the standard options, though concerns were raised in Washington that it encouraged folks to go to the doctor for even minor issues without having to worry about paying something on each visit.
Medicare Part D prescription drug premiums are expected to drop slightly for 2018, and Part B premiums covering a range of doctor services and tests are not expected to change for most beneficiaries, though higher-income seniors could find themselves paying more following changes
enacted by Congress.
The average monthly premium for a Medicare Advantage plan will decrease, federal officials said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that the Medicare Advantage average monthly premium will drop about 6 percent in 2018 from an average of $31.91 in 2017 to $30.
More than three-fourths, or 77 percent, of Medicare Advantage enrollees remaining in their current plan will have the same or lower premiums for 2018, officials said.
Medicare Advantage enroll-
ment is projected to increase to 20.4 million in 2018, a 9 percent increase compared to 2017. More than a third of all Medicare enrollees, or 34 percent, are pro
jected to be in a Medicare Advantage plan in 2018.
“The success of Medicare Advantage and the prescription drug program demonstrates what a strong and transparent health market can do — increase quality while lowering costs,” said CMS Administrator Seema
Verma. “When Americans are empowered to choose the health care plans that fit their needs and the needs of their families, they demand more from their insurance plans and in turn health care plans, like any business, provide customers better service at a lower cost.”
Still, the options place the burden on seniors to figure out which plan works best for them, based on how much care they expect to need, what prescription drugs they are using, and many other factors.
“This is becoming more and more complex,” Boll said.
“There are so many. It’s hard to determine which one to choose.”
‘When Americans are empowered to choose the health care plans that fit their needs and the needs of their families, they demand more from their insurance plans and in turn health care plans, like any business, provide customers better service at a lower cost.’ Seema Verma
CMS administrator