Medicare Blog: Moorestown, Cranford NJ

SILVERSCRIPT CHOICE Part d plan - annual notice of Change (ANOC) - NJ

9/18/2019

As you may have read from our prior Blog posts and videos, the government has released a new Medicare Plan Finder tool for 2020 and will be shutting down the existing Medicare Plan Finder tool, which limits our ability to review Part D Drug Plans for 2020.

So, we wanted to send out a couple of examples of ANOCs (Annual Notice of Changes) for two of the more popular Part D Plans in NJ.

This ANOC above is for SilverScript Choice and the ANOC explains what is changing in 2020.

Monthly Premium: reducing $0.30 from $35.20 to $34.90
Deductible (tier 3-5): increasing $305 from $0 to $305
Tier 1 copay at Preferred Pharmacy: reduced $3 from $3 to $0

Tier 1 copay at Standard Pharmacy: reducing $2 from $7 to $5
Tier 2 copay at Preferred Pharmacy: reducing $13 from $14 to $1
Tier 2 copay at Standard Pharmacy: reducing $14 from $20 to $6

Tier 3 copay at Preferred Pharmacy: increasing $4 from $43 to $47
Tier 4 cost sharing at Preferred Pharmacy: reducing from 47% to 38%
Tier 4 cost sharing at Standard Pharmacy: reducing from 50% to 38%
Tier 5 cost sharing at Preferred Pharmacy: reducing from 33% to 27%
Tier 5 cost sharing at Standard Pharmacy: reducing from 33% to 27%

Bottom line, SilverScript Choice used to be the lowest premium plan with a $0 deductible. This year they introduced a deductible of $305 for higher tiered medications, but they did lower the cost sharing for basically every Tier of medication for 2020.

The 2020 Formulary has not been published yet but we recommend checking to make sure your drugs remain on the formulary for 2020.

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wellcare value script part d plan 2020 Annual notice of change

9/18/2019

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As you may have read from our prior Blog posts and videos, the government has released a new Medicare Plan Finder tool for 2020 and will be shutting down the existing Medicare Plan Finder tool, which limits our ability to review Part D Drug Plans for 2020.

So, we wanted to send out a couple of examples of ANOCs (Annual Notice of Changes) for two of the more popular Part D Plans in NJ.

This ANOC above is for WellCare Value Script and the ANOC explains what is changing in 2020.

Monthly Premium: increasing $3.80 from $11.90 to $15.70
Deductible (tier 3-5): increasing $20 from $415 to $435
Tier 1 copay at Preferred Pharmacy: remains at $0

Tier 1 copay at Standard Pharmacy: increasing $2 from $3 to $5
Tier 2 copay at Preferred Pharmacy: increasing $1 from $5 to $6
Tier 2 copay at Standard Pharmacy: increasing $3 from $8 to $11

Tier 3 copay at Preferred Pharmacy: increasing from $41 to $43
Tier 4 cost sharing at Preferred Pharmacy: increasing from 48% to 49%

Bottom line, if you have low cost Tier 1 generic medications this is probably still the best Plan for you in 2020. The 2020 Formulary has not been published yet so we can't confirm for sure, but hopefully this will become available in the next few weeks.

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Boston globe article with help from Justin

9/11/2019

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In the beginning of October, we will have an opportunity to review your Prescription Drug Plan for 2020. There are about 30 different Part D Plans to choose from, Medicare Part D coverage changes every year, and the Prescription plans change every year.

This year, we have some new challenges.

The Boston Globe released an article yesterday (with our help), which outlined some of these challenges.

Also, over the last few weeks, we have sent out a few communications related to new Medicare Plan Finder tool.

There are some significant gaps with the new Medicare Plan Finder. Most notably,
(1) the Total Estimated Cost Calculation (Premium + Drug Costs) is not available,and
(2) there is no ability to save the drug list information using the anonymous flow.

For issue #1, CMS has indicated this functionality will be added to the Medicare Plan Finder Tool by Annual Enrollment. This is absolutely critical for Senior Advisors to be able to determine the most cost effective Part D Plan. We don't want to hold up the Rx information forms any longer waiting for this fix, so we are sending out the Reminder emails so you can start to complete your Rx information. Please note, If CMS does not fix this issue by October, we will not be able to complete the Part D Plan Comparisons for 2020.

For issue #2, in order to review and save Drug Lists and comparisons, we are going to need to create/use your myMedicare.gov account credentials (username/password). On our Rx Information Form, you will see additional fields and a question to authorize Senior Advisors to create your myMedicare.gov account or use your existing account if you already created one.

If you would like us to complete the FREE Part D Analysis, you can complete our Rx information form.

Please be sure to select Plan Year "2020" for Annual Enrollment.

Here is a link to a short video that explains the new Rx information form.
If your drug list hasn't changed, we still need you to complete the online form so we can ensure we have the correct drug information for the Part D Analysis.

If you are not taking any medications, please quickly fill out the online form and answer "No" the question "Do you currently take any medications?"

The deadline to submit your form to us is November 15, but please do not wait until the last minute if you are able to submit sooner.

We have extended our processing time expectations this year due to the issues with the New Medicare Plan Finder tool and the unknown issues we expect to encounter with a brand new tool.

Our target turn-around times are below.

RX Forms submitted before October 8 - since the Part D drug plans for 2019 are not released until the first week of October, we will not be able to review your 2019 Part D Analysis until October. So, if you submit your RX information form prior to October 8, you should still receive an automatic email acknowledgement and then you will receive a Part D recommendation from us by October 31.
RX Forms submitted between October 8 and November 15- If you submit your RX information form between October 8 and November 15, you should receive a response / recommendation from us within 14-21 business days.

Do not submit your RX Forms after November 15 - we will not be able to guarantee that we will be able to review the Part D analysis and make a recommendation in time to make the December 7 deadline.

We look forward to enrolling you in the right 2020 Part D Plan for your specific situation.

Thank you for your continued business. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE PART D ANALYSIS

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2020 Part D Changes

9/10/2019

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Medicare Part D Changes Annually

Each year, Medicare changes the benefits provided under Medicare Part D. These changes could impact your annual costs for your Prescription Drug Coverage. Specifically in 2020 here are some key changes for Medicare Part D.

Initial Deductible: will be increased by $20 from $415 in 2019 to $435 in 2020. What does this mean for you? The initial deductible is the ‘first dollar’ spent on your prescriptions. Certain plans will have a $435 deductible, which means that the individual will have to pay their first $435 in drug costs before the benefits start, but this usually only applies to higher tiered medications. Other plans may offer a $0 deductible, which means that the benefits start immediately.
Initial Coverage Limit: will increase $200 from $3,820 in 2019 to $4,020 in 2020. What does this mean for you? The initial coverage limit protects individuals from the dreaded “Donut Hole” (aka Coverage Gap), which results in higher out-of-pocket costs. After the total retail drug cost exceeds the initial coverage limit, the individual will fall into the Donut hole. By increasing the initial coverage limit by $200, this is a minor improvement which lowers the probability of reaching (or delays the timing to reach) the donut hole , which is a good thing.
True Out-of-Pocket (TrOOP) Threshold: will increase from $5,100 in 2019 to $6,350 in 2020. What does this mean for you? In most cases, this won’t have an impact. Less than 5% of people actually reach this threshold. Catastrophic coverage benefits start when someone exceeds the Out-of-Pocket threshold. In Catastrophic coverage, individuals will pay a much lower fee for their drugs – either 5% of the drug cost or a specific co-pay amount, whichever is greater.

Generic Copay in Catastrophic Coverage– increasing from $3.40 in 2019 to $3.60 in 2020
Brand Name Copay in Catastrophic Coverage – increasing from $8.50 in 2019 to $8.95 in 2020

By increasing the Out-Pocket threshold by $1,250, this could have a significant impact (several hundred dollars) on those individuals that previously reached the Catastrophic Coverage level.

All of these Medicare Part D changes in 2020 will have an impact on selecting the right Part D Prescription Plan for 2020.

Prescription Plan Part D Changes Annually
In addition to the Medicare Part D changes, the insurance companies change their Prescription drug plans each year. These changes could impact the formulary (which drugs are covered), deductibles, premiums, etc.

It is imperative to select the right plan EACH YEAR to avoid the type of mistakes which could result in thousands of dollars of unnecessary costs!

There are about 25 Medicare Part D Prescription plan options in each state, and we strongly recommend using the tools on medicare.gov and/or contacting a trusted insurance broker to assist in this process.

A FREE Service offered to our clients…
We feel very strongly about ensuring our clients have the correct Part D Prescription Drug Card and thus, we provide the option for all of our clients to have their Prescription Drug coverage reviewed annually.

Click Here to Find out more about our FREE RX Analysis program.

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New Medicare Plan Finder Released 8/27/19

8/28/2019

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On Friday, August 16, 2019 we attended a webinar with CMS which provided a quick demo of the New Medicare Plan Finder (MPF) tool that is launching this year. We had some concerns after the demo regarding some lost functionality in the new tool.

Yesterday, Tuesday August 27, 2019, CMS launched the new Medicare Plan Finder tool and our initial review raised additional concerns for this upcoming Annual Enrollment Period (Oct 15 - Dec 7). In the full video (23 minutes), you will see a side-by-side comparison with the New MPF (left tab) and the Old MPF (right tab).

If you would prefer to skip to the highest Severity issues, you will find the list below with the timestamp of the video in which the issue is reviewed.

Issue #1 (11:40 into the video)
New MPF doesn't Calculate/Sort Total Overall Expense (Premium + Drug Costs).
The main reason we use the Old Medicare Plan Finder is to identify the most cost effective Part D Plan for our clients (when they initially enroll in Medicare Part D) and during Annual Enrollment Period each year (Oct 15 - Dec 7).

Below is a sample screenshot of the Old MPF Plan Results page which shows the Total Cost as of Today (Premium + Drugs) and sorts the list accordingly...

After entering in the zip code, drug information, and pharmacy, the Old MPF quickly calculates the TOTAL overall expense (Premium + Drugs) for all ~30 Part D Plans available in the area and then automatically sorts the list based on the lowest overall expense. This calculation and sorting of ~30 Part D Plans is Invaluable. We would not have the time to go through ~30 different Part D Plans to manually calculate the total projected expense and find the lowest overall number for thousands of clients in the short window of Oct 15 - Dec 7.

Last year during Annual Enrollment, this functionality allowed us to save our Medicare clients $2 Million + in Part D costs alone!

The New MPF does not have this functionality to calculate the Total Overall Expense (Premium + Drugs) and sort the Plans accordingly. Thus, we will not be able to efficiently find the most cost-effective Part D Plans for our clients with the New MPF in it's current state.

Issue #2 (9:50 into the video)
New MPF doesn't have the ability to save Drug List ID.
As mentioned, we review thousands of Part D Plans each year during the Annual Enrollment. One of the nice benefits of the Old MPF is something called a "Drug List ID" which allows us to store an identifier for a particular Drug List, so we don't have to re-enter every single medication each time we rerun the drug analysis.

The New MPF doesn't have this Drug List ID or any functionality to save a Drug List that was used for a Part D analysis.

(The new MPF will have functionality to pull Rx claims data for authenticated Beneficiaries with a username & Password, so this could help with some of the Rx entries, but the new MPF still doesn't allow us to save the Drug List that is being used for the Analysis.)

Issue #3 (16:25 into the video)
Report functionality is very limited with the new MPF.
One of the other great benefits of the Old MPF is the ability to create a clean and comprehensive report which outlines all of the details of the Part D Plans being compared. The information in these reports provides everything we need to know about a Part D Plan including:

Premium,
Deductible
Total Projected Overall Expense for the Year
Projected Drug Costs for each of the Drugs at each of the Pharmacies entered
If you will reach the Donut Hole (and when),
If you will reach Catastrophic Coverage (and when)
Drug Tiers for the Medications being taken, Prior Authorization or Step Therapy Required for each medication
Projected costs by month including Tables & Charts
And more!

Below is a link to a short video that provides an overview of the Reports that are available in the Old MPF.

In the New MPF, there is very limited Reporting capability which is highlighted starting at the 16:25 mark of the video review mentioned above.

We will continue to provide our feedback to CMS to hopefully get these concerns addressed.

Also, there will be impacts to our online Rx information form and Email Reminders to all of our clients for their latest Rx information. We won't know the full impacts (and be able to implement the changes) until we see the updates/fixes to the MPF over the next few weeks.

We will keep you posted as we get more updates.

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New Medicare Plan Finder Launching Soon!

8/22/2019

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On Friday, August 16, 2019 I attended the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Webinar*, which provided an overview of new MPF tool which will be launching “before Labor Day 2019”.

Please note that all of my feedback below is based on a very brief 30-minute demo (and 30 min Q&A) that was provided by CMS.

My initial reaction is that the intentions are good, but a system overhaul of this magnitude should never be launched this close to the highest volume period of activity (i.e. Annual Enrollment) for a system.

There are some major changes in the new tool, which will significantly impact Medicare Beneficiaries and agents that use the Medicare Plan Finder tool.

I will do my best to highlight some of the positives first…

Some of the Positives:

Authenticated Medicare Plan Finder – the new Medicare Plan Finder will allow for an Anonymous search (like the Current MPF), however there will also be a new type of Search that allows for an Authenticated login. If a user creates an account and logs in, the tool will be able to query the last 12 months of Rx Claims Data for that individual. This could be helpful to pull a drug list for an existing Medicare Beneficiary.
Part B Drug Costs Available in the new Medicare Plan Finder Tool – in the current MPF tool, Part B drug costs are not available. These Part B drugs can be some of the most expensive drugs so it’s difficult to project costs for individuals that will be taking these medications. In the new tool, Part B drug costs will be available if you use the Medicare Advantage Search Path (since most Plans require Beneficiaries to pay 20% of Part B drug costs).
3 Pharmacies instead of 2 Pharmacies – the current MPF tool only allows the user to search for costs based 2 Pharmacies. The new tool will allow a third pharmacy to be added to the Cost Comparison.
Drug List max of 40 drugs (instead of 25) – the current tool limits the number of medications that can be entered to 25. The new tool will increase that limit to 40 medications.
New “Look & Feel” – the new tool has a new “look and feel” that is intended to improve navigation and clarity.

Some Concerns:

The Existing Tool will not be available for this AEP – as mentioned earlier, a change of this magnitude should either be run in parallel with the existing system OR it should be deployed in an off-season, rather than the busiest time of the year for the MPF.
Drug List ID No Longer Available – The existing system has a Drug List ID, which allows a Medicare Beneficiary to pull up the list of Drugs that was used on a prior Plan Search so they don’t have to re-enter all the same Drug Info again, and again, and again…and again… each time they want to shop for a Plan. The New Tool will no longer have this functionality. Thus, when someone is using the tool to shop for a Plan for the first time, they will have to re-enter their Rx information every time they want to go back in and shop the Plans again. For one or two medications, this isn’t a big deal. However, if a Beneficiary has a long list of medications this can be incredibly cumbersome. For Agents that have to do hundreds or even thousands of these Rx reviews in just a few short months, these extra steps can be extremely detrimental to being able to recommend the best Plans possible for Medicare Beneficiaries.
Creating PDF summary reports – functionality available? The Existing MPF tool allows a user to create a very detailed and comprehensive report which outlines Drug Costs by month, at different pharmacies, timing for reaching the Doughnut Hole, Catastrophic Coverage, etc. These reports are invaluable for providing a clear outline of cost projections to Medicare Beneficiaries. During the Webinar, we were not shown this report functionality, so it is not clear whether the new tool will allow for this level of reporting. If this reporting is not available, this would create major communication and expectation issues with Medicare Beneficiaries.

At Senior Advisors, we still plan to provide the FREE Annual Review of Part D coverage for all of our clients as we have in the past. However, this year will certainly be more challenging and we ask for your patience as we work through these reviews using a brand new tool for 2020 Plans.

* A recording of this webinar along with PowerPoint slides will be posted in the “Resources” tab of the NTP website at https://cmsnationaltrainingprogram.cms.gov/, as soon as the Plan Finder is publicly launched.

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GAO Study on Medicare Plan Finder

8/8/2019

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For Medicare Beneficiaries on Medicare Advantage Plans or Part D Prescription Plans, there is an opportunity each year to review and switch these Plans during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 - December 7).

The best tool available to analyze these options is the Medicare Plan Finder (MPF) on Medicare.gov. This tool allows us to search for the best Medicare Advantage Plans and Part D Prescription Plans for each individual based on their specific medications/needs.

I cannot overstate the importance of the MPF for finding the right plan. Without a tool like the MPF, there would be no efficient way to shop for the best Plan for each individual in each service area across the country. The tool allows someone to quickly compare over 20 different Part D Plan options and 10-30 different Medicare Advantage Plan options (depending on the service area).

Over the years, there have been some flaws with the system, but overall it is quite an effective tool for Agents to shop for these Medicare Plans.

Recently, the the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study which highlighted some usability issues with the MPF according to “stakeholders and research studies”.

What GAO Found
The Medicare Plan Finder (MPF) website—a primary resource for comparing Medicare coverage options—is difficult for beneficiaries to use and provides incomplete information, according to stakeholders and research studies. These sources and directors of State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP) GAO surveyed—who assist beneficiaries with their Medicare coverage choices—reported that beneficiaries struggle with using MPF because it can be difficult to find information on the website and the information can be hard to understand. For example, MPF

requires navigation through multiple pages before displaying plan details,
lacks prominent instructions to help beneficiaries find information, and
contains complex terms that make it difficult for beneficiaries to understand information.

In response to GAO's survey, 73 percent of SHIP directors reported that beneficiaries experience difficulty finding information in MPF, while 18 percent reported that SHIP counselors experience difficulty.

My perspective is slightly different. I think the MPF does a great job of providing a quick comparison of coverage options for Medicare Beneficiaries. Sure, it’s not perfect (and there are even times when the data is off, which is a problem), but overall I think the MPF tool is incredibly valuable.

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Aetna Medicare Summit 2019 - guest speaker

7/22/2019

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(Left to Right) Don Dempsey, Director of Government Affairs at CVS, Douglas Lubenow, President at Senior Advisors

Each summer, Aetna hosts a Summit Meeting with their largest distribution partners in the country to review some of their potential plan changes for the following year.

This year's event took place last week in Chicago, and we are excited that Doug Lubenow, was asked to present at this year's Summit. The audience included 500+ distribution partners from around the country. Doug presented with the Director of Government Affairs of CVS, Don Dempsey. Doug and Don discussed some legislative updates that are currently being worked on to improve the Medicare system. Some of the key bills discussed were:

HR-2564 - Medicare Enrollment Protection Act. This bill is basically trying to fix the Medicare COBRA Trap which penalizes people over the age of 65 who enroll in a COBRA for 18 months (and do not enroll in Medicare Part B). This bill would fix this problem so these individuals would be able to enroll in Medicare Part B with no penalties/delays after their 18 months of COBRA ends.
HR-1788 - Changes to Part B Late Enrollment Penalties. People that miss their Part B Enrollment window (and don't have other credible Group Coverage), are eventually hit with a Part B Late Enrollment Penalty which lasts for the rest of the individual's life. This bill would change these Late Enrollment Penalties to reduce the number of situations in which the Penalties apply and also change the duration of the penalty from lifetime to a shorter time period.
Bill TBD - Putting a Cap on the Out-of-Pocket Exposure for Part D of Medicare. Currently, there is no cap on the Out-of-Pocket spending limit for Part D of Medicare. This basically means if you have very expensive medications, you will continue to pay a copay/coinsurance for your medications for the entire year regardless of how much you have spent. There is something called Catastrophic Coverage with Part D in which the member only has to pay 5% of their drugs after they reach a True-out-of-pocket limit (e.g. $5,100 in 2019), however 5% of very expensive medications could still be thousands of additional dollars per year in drug expenses. This bill would change Part D of Medicare to include a CAP on the Out-of-Pocket limit that an individual could pay for medications in a given year.

Doug presented the impacts of each of these items as well as the reasons that we are supportive of these changes to help improve the Medicare System.

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What would "Medicare for All" Mean for you?

5/2/2019

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Since this is such a politically-charged topic, I try my best to steer clear of the discussion.

However as we get closer to the 2020 election it is important that everyone starts to get educated on the "Medicare For All" proposals that are being discussed.

KFF.org released an article last week that provides a nice summary of each of the options being discussed, which range from a complete Single Payer Plan (everything is free for everyone) to a public option for the ACA Plans, to Medicare Buy-In Option. The KFF article provides a lot of detail, and I have just provided my thoughts below.

Medicare-For-All Single Payer; e.g. Sanders Plan - S. 1129

In theory, this sounds great. Free Insurance for everyone. No Premiums. No Cost-Sharing.
In reality, the costs for such a dramatic change to the healthcare system would be astronomical (most projections show $30 Trillion +).
This Plan would also completely replace the health insurance for the 180 million people who currently have Private Insurance Plans (majority of which are satisfied with their plans).
Additionally, this plan would completely replace the current Medicare system. What impact would this have on the current Medicare beneficiaries who are generally very satisfied with their coverage?

Public Plan through ACA Marketplace; e.g. Cardin's Plan - S. 3

This Plan would provide a Public (Government run) Insurance Plan that would be available in the ACA Marketplace.
This Plan would leverage the Medicare Platform/rules.
Based on the current Medicare system (without adding all of these incremental millions of pre-65 individuals), The Medicare Trustees Report estimates the depletion of the Hospital Trust Fund by 2026.
By adding incremental millions of people (in addition to the 10,000 people per day turning 65) onto the Medicare system, this would likely create additional financial strain on the Medicare system. What impact would this have on the current Medicare beneficiaries who are generally very satisfied with their coverage?

Medicare Buy-In Options, e.g. Stabenow's Plan S. 470

This Plan would provide a "buy-in" option into the current Medicare system starting at age 50.
In theory, this is also an interesting option that would provide indidviuals an option to buy-in to Medicare at a younger age than 65.
Similar to the Public Plan through the ACA Marketplace, this would likely create additional financial strain on the Medicare system. What impact would this have on the current Medicare beneficiaries who are generally very satisfied with their coverage?

What Should we Do?
I completely agree that our Health Care system is flawed in this country and we need some significant improvements. Some key areas, I believe we need to address are below:

Cost Transparency - anyone who has ever tried to decipher an EOB (Explanation of Benefits) can appreciate the horrendous lack of clarity and transparency with regards to Medical costs in our country. The billed amounts, approved amounts, etc. create confusion and stress for anyone affected by high medical bills. Trying to understand (and potential shop) the pricing for a Procedure prior to scheduling it, can be extremely frustrating. Bottom line, we need better pricing transparency. Fortunately, Medicare released a Procedure Price Lookup tool at the end of 2018 to start providing more clarity around pricing. My initial review of the tool back in February 2019 seemed to indicate the pricing data in the tool is not accurate when compared to actual Medicare claims data found on myMedicare.gov. I am hopeful that the data will improve over time and we will be able to get more accurate pricing information.
Prescription Drug Costs - My frustration peaks when I think about Prescription drug costs in this country. Folks with chronic conditions are essentially held hostage to the costs of their medications, even those medications that have been around nearly 100 years (such as Insulin for diabetics). This country does need improvements to the entire Supply Chain and Pricing Practices for Drugs including the ability to negotiate with Drug Manufacturers.
Stabilize the ACA Marketplace- The Affordable Care Act never realized its goal of truly 'Affordable" healthcare. It did improve access to Healthcare to 10 million+ individuals who did not have Health Insurance prior. Thus, the ACA should NOT be repealed; it needs to be stabilized with a reintroduction of the ACA Mandate penalty which helps keep health people in the health insurance pool (which helps keep premiums more stable across the board). Also, there are several proposals that would create high-risk pools backed by the government which would help to cap the exposure in high-claimant situations. High-claimants (less than 20% of people) make up 80+% of healthcare costs in this country. These high-risk pools would help address these costs so that the premiums can be kept stable across the board.

This is by no means a fully comprehensive Plan. However, I believe these are some of the key areas that we need to focus on to improve our Health Care system.

With any proposal you study, be sure to ask yourself... What impact would this have on the current Medicare beneficiaries (who are generally very satisfied with their coverage)?

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Medicare will not cover these expenses

4/4/2019

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Generally speaking, Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement is the best Medical Coverage most people will ever have. For example, if you have a Plan G Medicare Supplement, the only Medical out-of-pocket Exposure for Medicare covered services is the Part B deductible ($185 in 2019).

However, there are certain services that are not covered by Medicare, which we frequently get questions on.

Dental, Vision, and Hearing - Original Medicare does not provide Dental, Vision or Hearing coverage. If it is a medically necessary procedure (e.g. Glaucoma, Wet Macular Degeneration, Cataracts, Diabetes related vision issues), these would be covered by Medicare Part B. But, for basic dental, vision, and hearing services, these are not covered by Medicare. The average Medicare Beneficiary spends about ~$922 / year on Dental expenses alone. Some individuals choose to self-insure for this Coverage, while others continue to prefer to have actual Dental Insurance (or Vision or Hearing). Here is a link to more information about a Dental, Vision, and Hearing option from Manhattan Life, and also a Dental option from Delta Dental (in NJ).
Medical Expenses during International Travel - Unfortunately, Original Medicare does not provide any coverage while you are traveling Internationally. There are certain Medicare Supplements (e.g. Plan C, F, G, N) that provide a minimal level of Medical Coverage for Foreign Travel Emergencies. These plans provide a lifetime maximum benefit of $50,000. There is a $250 deductible, and then 80/20 coverage after the deductible. This coverage CANNOT be used for Medical Evacuation, which could cost $30,000-$100,000+ to be transported back to the United States for care. For individuals that would like additional International coverage, here is a link to some reasonable options from GeoBlue (a Blue Cross Blue Shield Company).
Long-Term Care Expenses - Medicare Part A will cover Skilled Nursing Care, if you are transferred from the hospital (after a 3-day admitted stay in the hospital) to a Skilled Nursing Facility. This is NOT long-term care (or custodial care). This is basically like rehab (e.g. after a knee replacement). Long-Term care is NOT covered by Medicare, and about 75% of people will need some form of Long-Term (or Custodial Care) as they get older. Traditional Long-Term Care Plans have gotten very expensive and they are generally "Use It or Lose It" benefits. There are some hybrid options that are now available which blend LTC benefits with Return of Premium and/or Life Insurance benefits so the premiums are not "lost" if you don't use the LTC benefit. You can find more info and request a quote here for LTC benefits.

This is not a comprehensive list of everything that is not covered by Medicare. Rather these are just some of the key areas we get questions about.

A few months ago, Medicare released a new FREE app called "What's Covered" which is a great tool to see what is and what is not covered by Medicare.

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SILVERSCRIPT CHOICE Part d plan - annual notice of Change (ANOC) - NJ

wellcare value script part d plan 2020 Annual notice of change

Boston globe article with help from Justin

2020 Part D Changes

New Medicare Plan Finder Released 8/27/19

New Medicare Plan Finder Launching Soon!

GAO Study on Medicare Plan Finder

Aetna Medicare Summit 2019 - guest speaker

What would "Medicare for All" Mean for you?

Medicare will not cover these expenses

Justin Lubenow

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