Don’t you love it when the Medicare Open enrollment period comes around every year? I’m not even eligible yet but I’ve been getting all kinds of junk in the mail about which Medicare plan to buy. And I hear that there is no lack of TV advertising. (Oddly, the enrollment period was changed from 11/15-12/31 as in years past to 10/15-12/7.) But here’s the common element: these ads and mail pieces encourage you to visit their website or call one of their “advisers” to determine which plan is best for you.
I have a better strategy for you: Visit www.medicare.gov and use their quick and easy search engine instead. I just did it myself and 59 medical and drug plans in my zip code 97086 popped up. If I narrow the search to Medicare Health plans with drug coverage the number drops to 11, including Original Medicare, with 5 different companies. But even so, can you imagine calling 20 different companies to find and compare your expected total annual out of pocket risk for all 11 plans?
Well, you don’t have to. Just select “sort results by lowest estimated annual health and drug cost” button and the search engine does it for you. Or, if you’re on lots of prescriptions (I’m not on any) you can key in all of them to find out which plan will give you the lowest out of pocket cost for your drugs.
So your first stop should be www.medicare.gov If you need help navigating this arena, just call or email me: 503-698-4812 [email protected]