Medicare Resources You Need to Know About
Thank you for joining us today! This week David Russell of Empower Brokerage will be covering 3 Medicare resources that you should know as a consumer.
Medicare & Me 2018
First and foremost, you should all be aware of the Medicare & You 2018 Guide. This is an excellent Medicare resource for consumers to know about. Now, many of the pages can be a bit confusing, so if this is the case, you can go ahead and contact a local agent to help you understand some of the insurance jargon within the official U.S. government guide. You will see our number below that you can call if confused, and an agent will be more than happy to guide you through this book!
Understanding Year Round Opportunity
You should know your options for enrolling in Medicare when AEP (Annual Enrollment Period) is not in session. Special Enrollment Periods (also known as an SEP) is a situation where you can enroll in a Medicare Advantage or Prescription Drug Plan outside of AEP. If you move to a new area where your plan is not available, lose coverage, or are diagnosed with a chronic illness, you may qualify for an SEP. If you are diagnosed with a critical illness like diabetes or heart failure or perhaps COPD, you should be aware that you can get out of your current plan and get into one that tailors towards those illnesses.
LIS (Low Income Subsidy)
The third Medicare resource you should know is LIS. Year round, if your income is in between a certain level, just a little bit above Medicaid, you will qualify for a low income subsidy. This will help pay for some of your prescription drugs. This will be immensely helpful if you find it difficult to pay for some of those copays. Once again, this is a year round opportunity, and a Medicare resource you should know about as a consumer.
To sum things up, you need to be aware of the Medicare & Me book, as well as the Special Enrollment Period for diagnosis of a chronic illness. Also, if your income goes below a certain amount, you may qualify for extra help and not even know it! I hope this has been a helpful video. You can visit our website for more information about your healthcare or give us a call directly at the number below!