Proposed plans to bring back OEP

A few years ago, OEP (Open Enrollment Period) occurred just after AEP (Annual Election Period).  OEP was from January 1st to March 31st and gave Medicare beneficiaries the ability to make one change to their MA, MAPD, or Part D plan. However, now we have the MA/MAPD disenrollment period from January 1st to February 14th.

Click Here to view the full article from SMS-U. 

Budget Proposal Seeks Home Health Care Copay

As we head into the wrap up of OEP Congress and the President will be busy trying to work on making Medicare a fiscally viable program. One of the latest proposals would affect Medicare’s Home Health Care benefit:

• A large portion of the proposed budgetary increase is supposed to come from instituting $100 Medicare copayments for Medicare patients who use home health care. 
• The $100 copayment is supposed to produce $730 million from patients who currently use home health care but do not pay for the services they receive.
• The proposed copayment would apply to episodes of care requiring five or more visits over a period of 60 days or less, which in 2008 would have applied to 63 percent of episodes.
• The problem with the assumption that many people are using home health care that could instead seek outpatient care is that home health care prevents a lot of inpatient hospital stays.

Join us at Senior Marketing Specialist for the first of two webinars this Wednesday November 20^th to find out more about an inexpensive answer to help your clients recover at home, regardless of other coverage including Medicare.

Using the Medicare and You 2014 Handbook

NOTE: If you do not have a copy of the 2014 Medicare and You book, CLICK HERE to view how to order and / or download your copy from Medicare.gov.

The Medicare and You publication is a great tool for agents to use in the field.  This is a Medicare approved piece, and many prospects and relate to it since they are used to getting them annually.

We recommend that you not only get a copy, but you also use it to help answer your clients questions.  

Below are some key pages in the 2014 book.  Of course, you may find other pages useful depending your clientele, but these are some great starting points when using the book:

Page 14 - Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace

Page 16 – Medicare Choices (Medigap / MA Flowchart)

Page 24 – Other insurance and Medicare

Page 58 – Medicare.gov plan finder

Page 59 – Medicare Choices plan chart

Page 67 – 71 – Medigap plans

Page 73 – MA plan types

Page 78 – How MA plans work

Page 80 – MA enrollment

Page 93 Part D Layout

Page 100 – Other programs and Part D

Page 110 - Medicaid

You cannot mark on CMS approved pieces and leave them behind.  If you have a copy where you take notes (as you should) write OFFICE COPY on the front with black marker so clients do not ask to keep yours.

(This article was written by Mike Gattorna of Senior Marketing Specialists.)