Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
So what is Medicare anyway? Page 3
Medicare & Insurance
October 20, 2016
October Issue
Counseling offered on many Medicare insurance topics BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Dawn L und calls her self “ a M edicare nerd.” “I’ve always worked in t he aging field,” said L und, w ho is dir ector o f M edicare programs a t S enior C ommunity S ervices in Minnetonka. Fall h as bee n a busy time f or t he agency f or t he last 20 y ears, w hen they beg an o ffering Medicare he alth insurance counseling. “Our ag ency a nd Linkage Line are the only tw o in M innesota w ho o ffer unbiased co unselDawn L und is ing,” Lund said. “We director of M edi- assist p eople w ith care p rograms a t non-biased guidSenior C ommunity ance o n M edicare Services i n M in- options year-round.” In 2015, a n estinetonka. (S ubmitmated 1,717 c lients ted photo)
received hel p t hrough M edicare he alth insurance counseling classes offered at Senior Community Services. It is just one of the programs offered at the agency, whose vision is t o “ mobilize t he co mmunity t o reimagine agin g.” The ag ency o ffers educational w orkshops a t sev eral l ocations, plus c onfidential, individual assist ance by appointment a t nine lo cations f or p eople who need more help. A total of 45 ac tive volunteers conduct the c lasses, a fter r eceiving 20 ho urs o f training. “The calib er o f p eople [v olunteers] w e get is kind of incredible,” Lund said. The open-enrollment period for insurance this year runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. You ca n s elect co verage f or t he first time then, or make changes in your current coverage. “Everybody’s si tuation is different, Lund said. “It’s like a puzzle.” During the enrollment period, you can make c hanges t o va rious asp ects o f y our coverage. • You can switch f rom Or iginal Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or vice versa. • You can als o switch f rom one Medi-
In 2015, an estimated 1,717 clients received help through Medicare health insurance counseling classes offered at Senior Community Services. care Advantage plan to another, or from one M edicare P art D (p rescription dr ug) plan to another. And if you didn’t enroll in a Medicare Part D plan when you were first eligible, you can do s o during the general open enr ollment, a lthough a la te enr ollment penalty may apply. Among t he most im portant decisio ns newly retired people must make is what to do about health care once they are no longer covered by their employer’s plan. Even if t hey’ve b een r etired f or s ome time a nd c hose a he alth p lan in t he past, each y ear’s o pen-enrollment p eriod gi ves retired p ersons a cha nce to r econsider other, sometimes better, options. It is wise, during th e o pen e nrollment pe riod, t o
check a plan to see if there will be changes; check p rescription lists a nd co verage f or those p rescriptions; a nd t hen c heck o n new plans and changes to other plans to be sure coverage is being provided at the most affordable cost. According t o L und, i t is im portant t o have a s econdary p lan in p lace t o assist with the costs that Medicare does not cover. For example, when you go to a doctor, Medicare co vers 80 p ercent o f t hat cost. With nothing else in place, you are responsible for the remaining 20 percent. For p eople w ho ca nnot a fford another plan, L und said, Senior Partners Care is COUNSELING - TO PAGE 6