It's That Time of Year Again!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  The time when Medicare folks will be receiving their Annual Notice of Change documents in the mail.  What, did you think I meant the Christmas season?  Sorry, no Peppermint Mocha lattes yet.  Just Pumpkin Spice, because the Notices are required to be mailed to you in September, so technically that's Autumn, right?  So please, please watch for them.  They are full of useful information (although sometimes it's not laid out very well!).   

What's in an Annual Notice of Change you ask?  It is mailed out from your current Advantage plan carrier or your Prescription drug plan carrier.  Sorry, if you're on a Supplement/Medigap plan you won't receive one.  The plan changes will be outlined for you.  If there is a change in doctor copays, annual maximum out-of-pocket amounts, and things like that will be outlined for you.  That way, you can review your plan and determine if it is still going to be a good plan for you for the upcoming year, beginning on January 1st.  See some changes you don't like, then you'll want to review some alternative plans.  The month of September is also a time when insurance agents are not allowed to call you.  But you may call your current Agent of Record to discuss these plan changes and what they mean to you.  

Which brings me to the next topic.  If you don't like the changes, what can you do about it?  Change it, of course!  Medicare sets aside 9 weeks each year for this purpose; the first 2 weeks from October 1st to 14th allows you to look at new plan offerings, and the next 7 weeks from October 15th to December 7th allows you to submit a new plan enrollment to make those necessary changes.  This is called the Open Enrollment and it's the time you'll want to do your research.  However, if you like your current plan and want to keep it, guess what?  You don't need to do anything.  If your plan doesn't hear from you by December 7th they will assume you want to keep it.  So to recap, we started Open Enrollment in Fall with our Pumpkin Spice Lattes and ended up in the Christmas season with our Peppermint Mocha Lattes.  Yummy!