Medicare Open Enrollment for 2022 - What You Need to Know
Yes, the holidays are over, and Open Enrollment is here!
October 15th marks the beginning of Medicare Open Enrollment season. This is an essential period to review and assess your coverage, plans, and healthcare needs.
Open enrollment is the ONLY time you can make changes to your Medicare Advantage Plan and Part D Plan. This year's Open Enrollment runs October 15th – December 7th for a January 1st, 2022 effective date.
During this time, Medicare recipients can change their Part D medication plan, change their current Medicare Advantage plan, switch from original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or elect to revert to original Medicare.
It is vital to remember, Medicare Parts A&B helps pay for hospital care outpatients and doctor visits, but it doesn’t cover everything. Medicare Parts A&B does not pay for prescription drugs, routine dental, acupuncture, long-term care, travel, etc. Depending on your current and projected needs, different Medicare options, such as Medicare Advantage Part C, Part D (prescription drug coverage), or a Medicare supplement, may work better for you and provide more coverage.
Considerations when choosing a Part D plan or reviewing your Medicare Advantage plan drug
coverage:
- Your monthly premium varies depending on the plan you choose
- Be aware of your brand-name prescriptions to ensure your needed medication will be covered
and at what tier for 2022.
- What the deductible is and whether it applies to brand name prescriptions or generic
- Copayments and coinsurance costs: these keep changing yearly!
- If you take insulin, which plans special offer savings
- Which pharmacies contract with that plan (there can be a significant cost difference)
- Whether you will reach the coverage gap during the year and what that means cost-wise
- Finally, the plan's Star Ratings, which shows their track record for handling claims and providing good customer service.
Original Medicare does not cover you if you travel outside the US. If you're planning any overseas travel, affordable and comprehensive travel insurance, evacuation, and COVID coverage are available.
After the intense past two years of the COVID crisis, we have all learned a bit more about the
importance of maintaining our health. Eating well, getting proper sleep, nutrition including plenty of green vegetables, and drinking enough water are the simplest things we can do to keep our body and mind strong. Reviewing your medications yearly with your provider is an important step. Coordinating care and learning about accessing the best possible providers is crucial. On many occasions accessing alternative medicine in combination with our Western medicine will be life-saving.
We also know how important our mental health is. We encourage you to take advantage of the excellent Medicare offering for so many kinds of therapies. Physical and Mental prevention treatment has never been more critical than now. Meditating, spending time in nature, walking, and gathering together safely with loved ones will be essential for our mental health breaks.
So many medical conditions are the result of being stressed and overwhelmed. We don’t need to wait to get diagnosed to take care of ourselves. We are all on this healthy ride together, no matter how old or young we are. Please get in touch with our team for advice and allow your resources on these topics - we would love to hear from you and help in any way possible.
Much ❤
Naama & The RightPlan team.
