The Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Period is underway through December 7. You could save a lot of money and headache if you check out your options. Most people don’t tend to switch Medicare drug plans or Medicare Advantage plans and many don’t even look to see how their benefits are changing next year, according to the latest research. To avoid big risks and beware of bad actors, check out this post. Here are a few additional tips:
If you have Medicare directly from the government and supplemental coverage that fills gaps, little is changing except your Medicare prescription drug plan options. Even if you have a Medicare prescription drug plan that’s meeting your needs, keep in mind that everything about it can change in 2023.
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan from a health insurance company, check to see how your provider network, out-of-pocket costs and additional benefits are changing and compare your options. You might want to switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan to save money. Some might have lower out-of-pocket maximums, and some might offer you better prescription drug coverage than others. You also might want to switch to traditional Medicare.
With traditional Medicare, you will need to pay for prescription drug coverage and supplemental coverage separately, but the total cost of that coverage could be far less than your out-of-pocket costs in a Medicare Advantage plan, and you will have coverage from most doctors and hospitals throughout the US.
As important as it is to look at all your options each open enrollment season, one recent survey found that most people with Medicare don’t switch plans from one year to the next. In fact, 45 percent don’t look at their options during the Open Enrollment Period. Four in ten people in Medicare Advantage plans don’t know how their benefits will change in 2023.
To be clear, there is a lot you can’t know about your future health care needs as well as differences among Medicare Advantage options, including your out-of-pocket costs if you are diagnosed with a serious health condition, the specialists your Medicare Advantage plan will cover and your plan’s denial rates. Traditional Medicare offers more predictable coverage and easier access to care from the physicians and hospitals you want to use.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans
- People in Medicare Advantage trade away access to care
- Costs in Medicare Advantage present barrier to care
- Seven reasons commercial insurance cannot meet our health care needs
- Well-kept secrets of Medicare Advantage plans
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