Review your Medicare options - it could save you a bundle

Medicare open enrollment begins October 15 and ends December 7 

By Rob Howard

Associate Editor

September  11, 2016

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Here we are at Medicare ‘Open Enrollment.’ Starting October 15 and continuing through December 7, all people with Medicare can change their health plan and prescription drug coverage for 2017. If you don’t do anything, the plan you have will simply continue. But that might be a bad idea.

Medicare Parts A and B can help out with you hospital and medical costs. Part D helps with your prescription drugs. Supplement policies are available to cover the rest. When I started on Medicare, I chose both a supplement policy and Part D, along with Parts A and B; my annual cost was $3,500.

After a couple of years of that I decided to use the open enrollment period to explore my options and try to get my costs down. And that led me to Medicare Part C, called Medicare Advantage plans. For both medical and Drug coverage, you pay your $104.80 Part B premium and either no

additional premium, or a small one.

The only caveat to this option is you will have copays. I have to pay $5 to my primary physician, $40 for a specialist. If I have to have  a medical procedure, it usually costs me around $125. But if you are in reasonably good health, if you switch to a Medicare Advantage plan you can save a

substantial amount of money. In my case, I saved almost $2,300 a year. 

To see if a different plan is right for you, long on to Medicare.gov to search for Plans, or call 1-800-MEDICARE.

Questions to ask yourself are:

• ·         Does the plan allow you to see your current doctors and go to your
  favorite hospital? The plan website usually has a provider directory
  where you can find this information.

• ·         What kind of co-pays does the plan require?

• ·         What other things does the plan provide? Many offer plans like ‘Silver
  Sneakers’ that give you a free fitness center membership. This is an
  important benefit, since an active senior is a healthier senior, and gym
  memberships often cost as much as $500 a year.

You can save a substantial amount of money. You have until December 7.

Read more article from The Gayly, here.

Go here for more information: Medicare and You 2016