Tag Archives: aging into medicare

TIME TO RESHOP YOUR MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT INSURANCE?

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Op-ed by D. Kenton Henry Editor, Broker 21 March 2022

Greetings from TheWoodlandsTXHealthInsurance.com, deep in the heart of The Woodlands, Texas, for 31 years now!

The “Annual Election Period” (AEP), when Medicare Recipients can change their Part D Drug Plans or enroll in a Medicare Advantage Plan, has closed for 2022. As always, it will reopen October 15th and run through December 7th, for a January 1 effective date. So (minus extenuating circumstances), people are locked into their existing drug and Medicare Advantage Plans for the remainder of the calendar year. 

During these AEP’s – when I am inundated with clients who instruct me to shop for their best plan for the coming calendar year – I am also asked, by many, to reshop their Medicare Supplement Plan. This in spite of the fact that I can reshop their Medicare Supplement Plan 365 days of the year! I suppose it’s a combination of not knowing this about Supplement plans and their simply being “out of sight … out of mind” until the AEP when every TV and radio ad is telling them to call for the Medicare benefits “they’re entitled to”! 

The first reality is – all Medicare Supplement premiums increase as we age. Couple this with cost increases within Medicare itself – which are inevitably passed on to premiums – and it behooves us to reshop our Medicare plans periodically. I recommend every two to three years.

The second reality is – outside the AEP – January 1 until October 15th – I am in a much better position to give the proper and utmost attention to my clients, and prospective clients, and ensure I am getting them approved for a Medicare Supplement plan for which:

1) they can realistically be fully approved without a rate-up in premium

2) which provides them benefits equal to or appropriate for their needs and

3) saves them significant premium dollars

Things which might provide further incentive to apply for replacement coverage are: 

1) they are now eligible for a “household discount” (typically 7%)

2) they are now in Medicare Supplement Plan F and realize conversion to Plan G will save them such significant premium savings it easily offsets the liability for the Part B calendar year out-patient deductible they will have to meet. Or . . .

3) they wish to save even more and apply for Plan N

Before proceeding to take an application, I make it abundantly clear to a prospective applicant that, now that they are more than six months past their date of enrollment in Medicare Part B – they no longer qualify for “Guaranteed Issue.” This means every applicant must qualify based on their health history. The process entails answering health-related questions and providing physician and prescription drug medications. The thing that most often results in an application being declined for issue is a pending or anticipated surgery or hospital stay. Absent these, if a person’s health issues are relatively controlled with medication, or otherwise – and their weight is relatively proportionate to their height – they stand a good chance of being approved. In which case, I would encourage them to apply for replacement coverage. At that point, the only thing at risk is the time it takes to complete an application. The worst case is a declination, which doesn’t preclude you from being approved at a later date. It is not like a derogatory remark on a credit report!

In conclusion (for those of you old enough to remember and – if you are on Medicare – you are!) now is a time when I am a bit like the “Maytag Repairman”. In other words, with the exception tending to my prospects just turning age 65 and aging into Medicare, I am sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. (smiling emoji)

I hope to hear from you, so please refer to my contact information just below. Aside from this, please read my feature article which follows immediately. It is relevant to all Medicare recipients but especially to those currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage primarily for the purpose of consolidating supplement coverage – such as dental and vision – with their medical insurance. Changes could well be coming. 

D. Kenton Henry Office: 281.367.6565 Text my cell 24/7: 713.907.7984 Email: Allplanhealthinsurance.com@gmail.com 

https://TheWoodlandsTXHealthInsurance.com https://Allplanhealthinsurance.com https://HealthandMedicareInsurance.com

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FEATURE ARTICLE: 

BNN BLOOMBERG

COMPANY NEWS 

Mar 15, 2022

Medicare Watchdog Warns of $12 Billion in Excess Payments

John Tozzi, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) — Medicare Advantage is leading the U.S. government to spend billions more on seniors’ medical care than it should and needs a significant makeover, a nonpartisan watchdog said in a report to lawmakers.

The program collected $12 billion in “excess payments” in 2020 over what the U.S. would have paid to cover people who used the private plans under standard Medicare, according to a report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, released Tuesday. 

Medicare has offered some private-sector version since the 1980s, and the current program, called Medicare Advantage, is nearly two decades old. It allows insurers to sell plans that provide Medicare benefits along with add-ons like dental or vision coverage. That can eliminate the need for consumers to purchase supplemental insurance that picks up costs not covered by Medicare itself.

However, MedPAC said swelling costs could threaten the sustainability of Medicare and a major overhaul of the popular program is urgently needed. The program paid Medicare Advantage plans $350 billion last year, MedPAC said.

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans has doubled over the past decade to cover nearly half of Medicare’s 64 million beneficiaries, fetching billions for large insurers including UnitedHealth Group Inc., Humana Inc. and CVS Health Corp.’s Aetna unit that have bet heavily on the business.

  It has also given rise to an ecosystem of smaller companies eager to cash in, such as tech-focused insurers like Clover Health Investments Corp. and Alignment Healthcare Inc., and clinics that cater to seniors on the plans, including Oak Street Health Inc. and Cano Health Inc. 

Many of those companies have seen their shares suffer recently due in part to concerns that it will be more difficult to make profits from the business than investors had once expected. 

Appropriate Pressure

MedPAC, established in the 1990s to advise lawmakers on Medicare policy, has long warned about excess Medicare Advantage payments. Private plans are on pace to cover half of all Medicare beneficiaries next year, according to the latest report, and MedPAC said they should be pushed to pare costs.

Medicare Advantage plans “need to face appropriate financial pressure” in line with providers in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program, the group said.

According to the report, excess payments are driven by plans getting paid more money by the government for taking care of sicker members. Each month, Medicare Advantage plans receive U.S. funds based on the health of their enrollees. For years, MedPAC and other authorities have claimed that insurers manipulate the system to pump up their revenue.

“These policy flaws diminish the integrity of the program and generate waste from beneficiary premiums and taxpayer funds,” MedPAC wrote. The commission said it supports having private plans as an option for Medicare members, but said they have never saved Medicare money.

Industry Backlash

Trade groups such as America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Better Medicare Alliance have disputed MedPAC’s criticism in the past. They say that the program provides better care than traditional Medicare.

Insurers say Medicare Advantage can eliminate the need to buy additional coverage to paper over gaps in the traditional program, and provide other important benefits like meal delivery or transportation. The plans can also cap out-of-pocket costs, which can be unlimited in Medicare without extra coverage.

Payments to Medicare Advantage plans for extra benefits have increased by 53% since 2019, MedPAC said, “yet we have no data about their use nor information about their value.”

  The commission acknowledged that Medicare Advantage plans can deliver lower-cost care. Yet the savings don’t accrue to taxpayers or others in the program, the commission wrote. 

“These efficiencies are shared exclusively by the companies sponsoring MA plans and MA enrollees, in the form of extra benefits,” the report said.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF ’72! – MEDICARE IS HERE FOR YOU!

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By Don Kenton Henry – editor, broker

Fellow classmates of the High School Class of 1972! Congratulations! It’s been thirty-six years since we graduated and went on to build careers and raise families. During this time we dutifully paid into Social Security and paid Medicare taxes. Most of us will be turning age 65 during the next year if we have not already done so. As such, we will be “aging into Medicare”. Never, in my life, have I looked forward to getting older,―until now. Because―as such―I will be eligible for Medicare and finally have an alternative to the Under Age 65 Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace for health insurance purposes. As a Medicare-related, private insurance specialist,―knowing all my plan options―along with knowing which plans I will enroll in―I am elated to finally being able to take advantage of the following benefits not currently available to any of us not currently on Medicare:

I know I will I be able to go to any doctor or hospital that sees Medicare patients. Additionally, I will be out of nothing―or virtually nothing―for my Medicare eligible medical expenses, per se, throughout the calendar year! (By “per se”, I mean aside from the out-patient prescription drug costs I will pay at the pharmacy counter.)

Even those of you who have had the benefit of employer-based group health insurance through throughout your working career ― have to had to meet a significant deductible before insurance benefits apply to your major medical expenses. In recent years, that has probably been at least $1,000 and, probably, more. Then you have been responsible for additional costs (coinsurance) thereafter!  Compare that to your share of a maximum of $183 per calendar year, should you go with the plan option I will most likely recommend for you!

Regarding Part D prescription drug plans ― you will have approximately three dozen to choose from. Each of these covers some drugs but does not cover others. And vice versa. The plan that is best for your spouse or neighbor is not necessarily the best plan for you. Our objective is to: (1) cover all your prescription drugs and (2) do so at your lowest possible total cost for both the plan and your prescription drugs for the calendar year. “Total Cost” is the sum of your plan premium, any applicable deductible, and your copays or coinsurance for your Rx drugs.

*If you would like me to identify your lowest cost Part D Medicare Prescription Drug Plan for 2019 ― email me, at Allplanhealthinsurance.com, a list of your current drug regimen and dosages. I will do so in the order received and forward the results via email.  

CHANGES TO MEDICARE PART D DRUG PLANS IN 2019:

  1. A) Stage 1, the Medicare Part D “Yearly Deductible Stage” is going to require a Medicare recipient member meet as much as a $415 deductible, up from $405. This does not mean a drug plan will increase your deductible, or even charge one in the first place. It simply means the Center For Medicare Services has informed the drug plans they may charge as much as that amount.
  2. B) Stage 2, the “Initial Coverage Stage” is going to $3,820. This is the limit your, and the plan’s, drug cost must reach before you enter the “Coverage Gap”.
  3. C) Your liability for your drug costs has been diminishing each year since 2011. This year, you will pay 25% of the cost of brand-name drugs, plus a dispensing fee, and 37% of the price for generic drugs.
  4. D) When your year to date personal drug costs reach $5,100 you enter the “Catastrophic Coverage Stage”. Therein, you will pay $3.40 of a drug that is treated like a generic and $8.50 or 5% of the cost of the drug―whichever is higher― for all other drugs.

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MEDICARE PART B 2019

There has been no announcement on whether Medicare Part B’s calendar year outpatient deductible of $183 will be changing.

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CONSIDERING MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT VS MEDICARE ADVANTAGE to cover those medical expenses not paid by Medicare? Refer to today’s FEATURED ARTICLE 1 on “Denials of Care” below then call me for my opinion on one vs the other.

Should pharmacists be subject to a “gag” clause preventing them from telling you a lower cost for your drug is available at the pharmacy counter? See FEATURED ARTICLE 2, below:

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

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Turning age 65 in April, I am right in this with you. I share a kinship, not only with my personal HS classmates, but everyone of my generation. I began my career out of college as social worker and then―believe it or not―a pharmaceutical sales person. I understand the perspective on brand name vs generic drugs, both from the drug companies’ and the consumer’s standpoint. (If you’d like to me to share this with you, off the record, please call me.)   I still like to help people and I get great satisfaction from ensuring I keep my client’s drug and medical costs to a minimum.

To assist you in this, I represent virtually every “A” rated (AM Best Rating) Medicare Supplement Plan and most of the Medicare Advantage and Part D Prescription plans I feel worthy of your consideration for 2019. I bring thirty-two years of experience in the industry to provide you an objective comparison of your options, simplify the enrollment process, and ensure you maintain the right plans for yourself, thereafter. I charge no fee for my services. I am compensated directly by the insurance company whose product you elect to utilize, and then―if, and only if―you elect to acquire that product through me. The key to you is―you are charged no more for that product than if went through the door of that insurance company to acquire it on your own. Additionally, when you call, text or email me, you know you are communicating with someone who knows your history and has a vested interest in keeping your business. Which means keeping you happy. This as opposed to a different faceless person at the other end of a toll-free number.

So―Class of ’72! Open enrollment begins October 15th for Medicare plans (and November 1st for your Under Age 65 family members in need of health insurance for 2019). Please call, text, email, or visit my websites for information and assistance. I’m certain our life experiences and objectives are much the same and I know peace of mind when it comes to our healthcare and costs is integral to our quality of life

Kenton Henry – Agent, broker, editor                                                                          Office: 281.367.6565                                                                                                  Text My Cell @ 713.907.7984                                                                                          Email: Allplanhealthinsurance.com@gmail.com                                  http://Allplanhealthinsurance.com                                  http://TheWoodlandsTXHealthInsurance.com          https://HealthandMedicareInsurance.com

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*FEATURED ARTICLE 1

BLOOMBERG

Private Medicare Plans Faulted by Watchdog Over Denials of Care

By  John Tozzi

September 26, 2018, 11:01 PM CDT

A new federal watchdog report warns that privately run Medicare health plans used by millions of older Americans may be improperly denying patients medical care.

Federal auditors have found “widespread and persistent problems related to denials of care and payment in Medicare Advantage,” the privately administered plans that insure more than 20 million people, according to the report from the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

Medicare Advantage plans collect a fixed fee from the government for taking care of patients 65 or older who qualify for traditional Medicare coverage. The fixed per-patient rates the government pays may give plans “an incentive to deny preauthorization of services for beneficiaries, and payments to providers, in order to increase profits,” the report said.

Medicare Advantage plans have become popular with consumers because they combine traditional Medicare benefits with additional coverage, such as vision, dental care, and prescription drugs.

The program paid $210 billion to Medicare Advantage plans last year. Companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc., Humana Inc., and Aetna Inc.are the largest sellers of the coverage. Enrollment in Medicare Advantage has roughly doubled in the past decade, and one-third of Medicare patients are now covered by the private plans.

In 2016, Medicare Advantage plans denied 4 percent of requests to approve treatment before it was provided, known as prior authorization, and 8 percent of requests for payment after treatment, according to the report.

Only 1 percent of patients disputed the insurers’ denials, but in those cases, the decisions were overturned three-quarters of the time, according to the report.

Improper denials “may contribute to physical harm for beneficiaries if they’re not getting access to services that they need,” said Rosemary Rawlins, the inspector general’s team leader on the report. Patients and doctors can also be harmed financially if not reimbursed for appropriate care, she said.

If plans aren’t providing the care they’re contracted to, it risks wasting taxpayers’ money. The government “has already paid to cover beneficiaries’ health care,” Rawlins said. Not every denial is an indication that patients are being blocked from needed treatment, however.

“You wouldn’t expect the denial rate to be zero,” Rawlins said. “Part of managing care is denying care that’s not needed.”

There’s a lot of variation in how often Medicare Advantage plan denials were overturned. In 2016, seven Medicare Advantage contracts had almost all of their denials reversed on appeal — more than 98 percent. Another 69 contracts had denial rates above 90 percent. The report doesn’t name specific companies or plans. Individual insurers can have more than one Medicare Advantage contract with the government.

Problems with denials of care aren’t isolated to a few plans, however. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, audits different organizations each year, “but consistently find problems related to denials of care and payment,” Rawlins said.

The CMS audits are one of many factors that affect health plans’ star ratings, which are intended to help Medicare patients shop for plans based on quality. But starting in 2019, as the result of a change by CMS, the audits will no longer be a factor in the ratings, “which diminishes the usefulness of the star ratings system as a tool for beneficiaries,” the report said.

The inspector general recommended that CMS increase its oversight of Medicare Advantage plans and give patients better information about violations. The agency concurred with the findings.

A CMS spokesperson said in an email that the agency is committed to “strong oversight and enforcement of the Medicare Advantage program to ensure that plans are delivering care to Medicare beneficiaries” as required.

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FEATURED ARTICLE 2

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Senate unanimously passes bill banning pharmacy ‘gag clauses’ in Medicare

by Kimberly Leonard

 September 05, 2018 03:03 PM

The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would ban Medicare insurers from enforcing “gag clauses” that forbid pharmacies from telling customers about cheaper ways to buy drugs.

The Know the Lowest Price Act is intended to help patients covered under Medicare to find out if their prescription would cost less if they were to pay for it out of pocket rather than through their insurance plan.

“Passing this bill and eliminating gag clauses gives patients more power to lower their healthcare costs,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who helped introduce the plan, said in a statement. “It makes prices transparent so patients can save money with less expensive prescriptions.”

The new rules explicitly apply to Medicare Part D, which pays for prescription drugs, and to Medicare Advantage, a healthcare plan managed by private insurers. Medicare is the program covering adults 65 and older and people with disabilities.

In the complexity of the system that involves pharmaceutical companies, drug reimbursements, middlemen known as pharmacy benefits managers, and health insurance companies, patients can sometimes end up paying more while others in the chain pay less. Private health insurers and pharmacy benefits managers use “gag clauses” in their contracts to prohibit pharmacists from informing customers that they can save money if they don’t go through their health plans.

Another bill passed in committee, known as the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, would provide the same protections for people who have private health insurance coverage. The Trump administration has called for Congress to undo the gag clauses and pass other measures to help reduce what patients pay for drugs.