Medicare Part D Prescription Plans: What you Need to know

 

Greetings! To those of you who are current clients, thank you so much for your continued business. It’s that time of year again! Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period runs through December 7th. Most of you know, during this time, a Medicare recipient may analyze how their prescription drug usage or their current Part D Prescription Drug plan may have or will be changing for the coming calendar year.

2018 DEDUCTIBLE – INITIAL COVERAGE – GAP – CATASTROPHIC THRESHOLDS

Each year, virtually every drug plan changes something material about their coverage. It may be the premium, deductible, drug tiers, copays, or the drugs they cover or don’t cover. It could be all these things. If you don’t read your ANNUAL NOTICE OF CHANGE from your current Part D plan carrier (which you are due by September 30th each year) you could be in for some surprises with your coverage in the coming calendar year!

COMMONLY OVERLOOKED DETAILS:

a) Many people get fixated on the premium and go with the lowest. It’s easy to do. They do this without factoring in applicable deductibles and copays. My lowest premium Part D plan in 2018 is $16.70 per month. Most often, the plan with the lower premium has a higher deductible and copays, so―especially if you are using expensive brand name drugs―you end up paying more for your coverage, and drugs, overall. The same applies to the plans with no deductible.

b) While an annual deductible as high as $405 may apply before your Rx drugs are available for their copays, very often, the deductible does not apply to Tier 1 Preferred Generics and Tier 2, Non-Preferred Generics. That makes a big difference for most people. This is an example of where it pays to carefully review the plan’s SUMMARY OF BENEFITS.

c) When tempted to go with a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plan, keep in mind you will have to accept whatever drug coverage is tied to your Medical plan. If you are using expensive drugs, that means you may not necessarily end up with your lowest cost for your drugs. As you would when you let me identify that in the “stand-alone” Part D market.

d) As I explained in a previous post―especially when it comes to brand name drugs―it pays to always ask the pharmacist “what is this pharmacy’s lowest cost for this drug?”. Often that cash price is actually lower than your plan’s copay. In which case ― just pay cash!

Part of the service I provide my clients is running their prescription drug regimen through my a program to identify whether a superior Part D Drug plan exists for them for the coming year. My goal is to have you on a plan which results in all your prescription drugs being covered at your lowest total “out-of-pocket” (TOOP) expense. TOOP is the sum of your premium, any applicable deductible, and the copays you pay for your drugs at the pharmacy counter or through the mail. If we are fortunate enough that your current drug plan still results in meeting these objectives, you simply stay the course and let your plan roll right into 2017! If it no longer results in your lowest TOOP, I will identify the plan that is and (with your instruction) enroll you in it.

Some of you have already seen a version of this (and some of you have been preemptive) and provided me your regimen. For you, I have been working most nights and weekends since October 15th providing you 2018 plan recommendations. If you received one, you need read no further unless you are yet to request that I apply on your behalf. In which case – request the application be emailed to you or – in the case of Aetna and Humana applications – simply request I apply on your behalf with your information I have on record. Please do not apply without my involvement. Mine is a volume business, and I don’t stay in business without it going through me. Even Kenton has to eat! So your business is greatly appreciated!

To accomplish this, I need each of you (who have not already done so) to respond to this email with a list of current drugs and dosages. I am quoting each person’s plan in the order received. Remember, we have until December 7th but applying early is always better than later. So, please, forward your drug regimen, and I will quote you as soon as possible.

As to those of you with Medicare Advantage Plan, who like your coverage, you need do nothing. Just keep paying the premium and let your coverage roll right into the new year. Most of my clients have Medicare Supplement. For those whose policies are no more than two years old, you can be fairly certain it remains competitively priced, and there is little to regain in changing plans. For those of you whose policy is older than two or three years, I am volunteering to re-shop* your plan, beginning in mid-January when all my client’s Part D plans and Under Age 65 health insurance is put to bed. It is simply too much to address during the Open Enrollment Period for both Medicare and Obamacare! The government puts me in the untenable role of having to process 12 months worth of business in 8 weeks. There is no point in hiring additional help. By the time I got them trained, I would have to lay them off!

As my phones will be very busy, you may want to text me during this period if it is important you speak with me right away. My cell phone number appears below. I look forward to keeping you as a client and working to limit your medical and Medicare-related insurance expenses!

Thanks so much!
Kenton Henry
Office: 281.367.6565
Text my cell @ 713.907.7984
Http://Allplanhealthinsurance.com
Http://TheWoodlandsTXHealthInsurance.com

For the latest in health and Medicare relative news, follow my blog @ Https://HealthandMedicareInsurance.com

*Remember – because all of you are six months past your enrollment in Medicare’s Part B – it will be necessary for you to answer a series of health questions and qualify (based on your health) for a new, replacement, Medicare Supplement policy. When the time comes, I can email you sample applications so you may review those questions.

 

HEALTH INSURANCE “OPEN ENROLLMENT” PERIOD 2014 – 2015: DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN (AND THEN SOME)?

So you thought last year’s open enrollment period (the limited time frame in which an individual may enroll in a health insurance plan for the coming calendar year) was a fiasco? Consider the words of Kevin Counihan, head of the federal insurance marketplace who says 2015’s hurdles may outstrip 2014’s. “Part of me thinks that this year is going to make last year look like the good old days,” said Counihan in an interview with the New York Times. Now that’s a scary thought indeed.

No one expects the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace website, Healthcare.gov, to have all the technological problems it had last year. (Although this agent and editor experienced an exasperating number in attempting to enroll clients through the website just in the last six weeks.) Rather the problems will result from, among others, two things:

1) Price matters. And, in large part, premiums will not be going down. BlueCross Association plans, for instance, have requested steep increases in general, up to 17.6% for Florida Blue. Double-digit―up to 30% increases may be common among those competitive last year and others, previously not competitive, may offer equally lower premiums. In those states where prices will increase predominately, and the consumer does not qualify for a subsidy, affordability will be an issue and cost a deterrent to enrollment in spite of the penalty for not purchasing health insurance. The penalty will increase to 2% of family income or $325 per adult and $162.50 per child, whichever is higher. The reality is most insurers are filing their proposed 2015 health insurance premiums for approval now, even though claims experience for the current year remains unknown with four months remaining. Will premiums increases be warranted? Will decreases be mere wishful thinking? The good news is, the number of companies participating in the market is going up and there will be 1.6 times more plans to choose from.

2) The open enrollment period will be cut in half. Three months down from six to be exact. This period will run from November 15th to Febraury15th. What this means is, not only will all those who wish to enroll in a plan for the first time be attempting to navigate the system, but all those who wish to change plans will also. With the administration’s objective of signing up an additional 5 million subscribers this year, the process may end up resembling a stampede of cows all trying to enter the Fort Worth stock yard chute simultaneously. Let us hope the end result is more pleasant for the participants.

Actuarial concerns relative to the fiscal viability of the Affordable Care Act (of great concern to this editor) aside, the consumer can expect this fall, through February 15th, to present a host of challenges from knowing which plan is best for them to being able to afford it. All the more reason for the consumer to seek the counsel of an independent health insurance specialist who is licensed (passed their state’s insurance exam); maintains errors and omissions insurance for your protection; has met his or her state’s continuing education classes and may have (as in the case of this agent) decades of experience in the health insurance market. These qualifications as opposed to government enrollers or “navigators” for whom none of this may apply.

― D. Kenton Henry, editor, agent, broker

KENTON AT CAPITOL 2 (2)

http://allplaninsurance.com

http://thewoodlandstxhealthinsurance.com

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FEATURED ARTICLES:

The New York Times

Business Day |​NYT Now

Bracing for New Challenges in Year 2 of Health Care Law

By REED ABELSON SEPT. 2, 2014

The first year of enrollment under the federal health care law was marred by the troubled start of HealthCare.gov, rampant confusion among consumers and a steep learning curve for insurers and government officials alike.

But insurance executives and managers of the online marketplaces are already girding for the coming open enrollment period, saying they fear it could be even more difficult than the last.

One challenge facing consumers will be wide swings in prices. Some insurers are seeking double-digit price increases, while others are hoping to snare more of the market by lowering premiums for the coming year. At the same time, the Obama administration is expected to try to persuade about five million more people to sign up while also trying to ensure that eight million people who now have coverage renew for another year.

Adding to the complexity is the shorter time frame for choosing a new policy: three months instead of six.

“In some respects, it’s going to be more complicated,” said Kevin Counihan, the former chief executive of Access Health CT, Connecticut’s online marketplace, who was just named as the head of the insurance marketplaces for the federal government. Connecticut’s marketplace was among the most successful state-based exchanges, sharply reducing the number of uninsured in the state. “Part of me thinks that this year is going to make last year look like the good old days.”

Kevin Counihan, head of the federal insurance marketplaces, says 2015’s hurdles may outstrip 2014’s. Credit Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

No one expects to face last year’s technological hurdles, in which consumers sometimes could not navigate the federal or state websites to buy a policy. HealthCare.gov is running relatively smoothly, and the states have been working to address technical problems with their marketplaces.

“The exchange can’t work worse than it did last year,” said Dr. Peter Beilenson, chief executive of Evergreen Health Co-op, an insurer in Maryland, where a faulty state-run marketplace prevented many people from signing up.

But the upheaval in insurance markets, with new carriers entering and the price of plans changing significantly, may make the coming year no easier than the last. While federal rules allow people to renew their coverage automatically for the next year in the same plan, many customers, especially if they were eligible for federal tax credits, will want to resurvey the landscape.

Just as there was an uproar when some people found out last year that their policies had been canceled, individuals this year may be surprised to find that they could be asked to pay much more for the same plan because their carrier is raising its prices or the amount of the federal tax credit they will receive is changing.

People will be renewing at the same time that others are enrolling for the first time, starting a week and a half before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 15. To ensure that they have a new plan by the beginning of the year, those who renew will have to sign up by Dec. 15. Exactly how the renewal process will work has not yet been determined.

“We’re still waiting on the details of the process,” said Paula Steiner, chief strategy officer for Health Care Service Corporation, which offers Blue Cross plans in five states. “We haven’t gone through any testing yet of any changes to the system for 2015.”

“I think there’s a possibility that there’s equal or more confusion this fall,” she said.

Those responsible for the federal marketplace say they are working hard to make the process as easy as possible. “We’re putting in place the simplest path for consumers this year to renew their coverage,” said Andrew Slavitt, principal deputy administrator for Medicare, which oversees the insurance marketplaces. Those who prefer to stay with the same plan will be able to renew their coverage automatically, as many do with employer coverage. People can renew by doing “absolutely nothing,” he said.

The federal online marketplace is being continuously improved, according to Mr. Slavitt, who said the government was updating the website to allow renewals. “We’re in a very different position than we were last year,” he said.

Dunia Padrino, left, with her sons Rolando Vega and Hanoy Castellon, learning about insurance under the Affordable Care Act last November in Hialeah, Fla. Credit Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Compared with this year, from the 19 states for which information is available, 30 carriers have requested entrance into the marketplaces for 2015 and 1.6 times more plans are being offered, with prices for 2015 likely to remain varied, as they were the previous year, according to McKinsey & Company’s Center for US Health System Reform, which is analyzing the insurance filings as they become available. Prices are rising about 30 percent for some plans, while decreasing by the same amount for others, depending on the market and policy. “We are definitely seeing a lot of volatility in pricing,” said Erica Hutchins Coe, a McKinsey expert.

Some of the large insurers, like some of the Blue Cross plans, have requested steep increases. Florida Blue, for example, expects to raise its rates by an average of 17.6 percent for 2015. Others, like some of the co-op plans, have been keeping prices low or even reducing rates.

Molina Healthcare, a company that has traditionally offered Medicaid coverage and now sells exchange policies, says its renewal strategy for the coming year is to emphasize that its members need not be concerned that the plan they selected will be more expensive. “One thing you can count on is the rates are flat or down,” said Lisa Rubino, senior vice president of exchanges for Molina.

In California, the state exchange is trying to get a step ahead by allowing people to begin renewing their plans Oct. 1. But anyone who wants to switch plans will still have to wait until Nov. 15, and many individuals may well want to shop around. In the Sacramento area, for example, someone who selected an H.M.O. plan from Anthem for 2014 faces a possible increase of nearly 17 percent, compared with a 2 percent increase for an H.M.O. plan from Kaiser Permanente in the same area.

Consumer advocates and others say nearly everyone with coverage should review their options ( https://www.brokeroffice.com/quote/quoteengine.jsp?login=insurnet) as well as whether their federal tax subsidy is likely to shift — either because their income may have changed or because the cost of the benchmark plan used to calculate the tax credit has changed.

Experts like Sabrina Corlette, a policy expert at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, say persuading those who did not sign up for coverage during the last open enrollment period to get coverage for 2015 will also present a significant challenge. People in this group were unaware they could get assistance with the cost of their premiums, decided the coverage was not worth the cost or simply found the process of enrolling too challenging.

“Most people assume in the first year they got the low-lying fruit,” Ms. Corlette said. Insurers and others “do have to widen the net,” she said, targeting hard-to-reach populations with what in the second year will often be “fewer resources and less time.”

Dr. Martin E. Hickey, chief executive of New Mexico Health Connections, a co-op that will rely on low prices to continue to attract members, said it was “a lot easier to retain a consumer than chase a new one.” In his state, many individuals failed to take advantage of the subsidies that reduced the cost of coverage substantially. “We didn’t communicate the affordability,” he said.

Even in California, which enrolled nearly 1.4 million people in its first open enrollment, there is acknowledgment that more effort is needed.

“We have a heavy lift again,” said Dana Howard, a spokesman for the state’s exchange, Covered California.

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THE HILL

Home | Policy | Healthcare

HealthCare.gov CEO sees challenges ahead

By Elise Viebeck – 09/03/14 10:50 AM EDT

The newly appointed CEO of HealthCare.gov is predicting fresh challenges for the system’s second enrollment period this November. Kevin Counihan, former head of Connecticut’s exchange, cited concerns such as the shorter sign-up period for 2015 plans that could create problems for officials and consumers alike.

“In some respects, it’s going to be more complicated,” Counihan told The New York Times in an interview. “Part of me thinks that this year is going to make last year look like the good old days.” The comment highlights the heady task facing federal health officials as they work to prevent a repeat of last year’s first enrollment period. Last year, technical flaws at HealthCare.gov and other exchanges plunged the enrollment process into chaos and created an enormous political headache for the Obama administration. Counihan did not indicate that his fears related to the technology, which has undergone extensive repairs since last October. The 2014 sign-up period was six months long, but with just three months to enroll more consumers, this year’s process could prove a tough climb as insurers and the government seek to convince hard-to-reach populations to buy health plans.

Existing policyholders are likely to encounter changes in their premium prices that could also cause confusion.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/216496-healthcaregov-ceo-sees-challenges-ahead