{"id":5940,"date":"2020-09-21T13:36:17","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T18:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/?p=5940"},"modified":"2020-09-21T13:36:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T18:36:17","slug":"facts-about-medicare-open-enrollment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/facts-about-medicare-open-enrollment\/","title":{"rendered":"Facts About Medicare Open Enrollment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>How much do you know about the different coverage options?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Medicare\u2019s open enrollment period runs from October 15 to December 7.<\/strong>&nbsp;If you are enrolling in Medicare for the first time, give yourself plenty of time. You may discover that it is much more complex than an employer-sponsored group health plan.<sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you enroll in Medicare, you pay multiple premiums for multiple types of coverage (Parts A and B, as well as the Part D prescription drug plan). Unlike a group health plan, there are no caps on out-of-pocket costs and a risk that you might have to pay a hospital insurance deductible more than once per year. Original Medicare also does not cover some costs that many seniors would like to cover, such as dental and vision care expenses.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why so many retirees decide to buy Medigap policies or enroll in comprehensive Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans\u2014they recognize the shortcomings of original Medicare. The downside of Part C plans is that you are restricted to the doctors in their networks. Original Medicare allows you to choose any doctor that accepts Medicare (though it is smart to have a Medigap policy as well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can freely switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another in the open enrollment period; you can also enroll in one without having to go through underwriting. If you want to move from a Part C plan back into original Medicare, you may not be able to supplement Parts A and B with a Medigap plan right away because underwriting will be required.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you are enrolling in Medicare for the first time or considering a change in coverage, it is vital to understand these matters. If you have questions, visit Medicare.gov or&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ssa.gov\/medicare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ssa.gov\/medicare<\/a>&nbsp;for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Citations<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cnbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cnbc.com<\/a>, August 26, 2020<br>2.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/medicare.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">medicare.gov<\/a>, September 16, 2020<br>3.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/medicare.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">medicare.gov<\/a>, September 16, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How much do you know about the different coverage options? Medicare\u2019s open enrollment period runs from October 15 to December 7.&nbsp;If you are enrolling in Medicare for the first time, give yourself plenty of time. You may discover that it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}