Four days left for Medicare choices

The Medicare open enrollment ends December 7, this coming Thursday.

Thankfully the endless advertising will mostly be over.

Retirees get overwhelmed, stressed, confused and make mistakes.

The reason, it’s too complicated and there are too many choices, unnecessary choices which are there only to appease insurance companies.

The only coverage you need is basic Medicare and a Medigap plan,

I favor Plan G which covers your Medicare out-of-pocket cost except the Part B deductible. That provides adequate coverage and the freedom to choose virtually any provider or facility in the Country. Plan G also provides some emergency care traveling outside the Country.

When a MA plan is offered with no premium you can be sure there are co-pays and deductibles within the plan, your choice of providers is limited and your access to care managed. If you had an HMO or closed network plan before age 65, an MA plan may be acceptable.

The dental, vision and hearing benefits promised by some MA plans are minimal and routine costs can generally be managed by the retiree – save a little fund to do so.

Selecting prescription coverage is more difficult because you can’t predict what drugs you may take next year.

• Don’t select Rx coverage on premiums alone. It’s is your total likely annual cost that is important.
• Find out how reimbursement is handled for medication you are currently taking
• Learn the deductible and co-pays or co-insurance for each category of drug (called tiers). This includes brand and generic drugs and formulary and non-formulary drugs. Each drug plan has certain drugs in a drug class it favors, these are formulary drugs. You pay more for non-formulary drugs. All drug plans are required to cover at least on drug in a drug class (for example, one of the several drugs to lower cholesterol), but maybe not the one prescribed by your doctor. Talk to your doctor too.
• Once you have met your Rx plan annual deductible always check the price of a drug using GoodRx or similar plan. Their price may be less that your cost using your Part D plan.