The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, although new to some Medicare beneficiaries, has been around before. In 2011, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period was altered and changed to the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period. The disenrollment period took the open enrollment period’s place from 2011 until 2018.
In 2019, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period
Health Insurance
Your Medicare eligibility date impacts the coverage that you qualify for. If you are eligible for Medicare before 2020, then your options will be different than those of Americans who become eligible from January 1, 2020 on. Since Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in 2015, the plans with no
Have you ever enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, just to discover in January that your doctor doesn’t accept your new coverage, or to realize you should have stayed in a particular network? As a result, you had to remain in a plan that was less suitable for your specific needs for an entire year.
Do you monitor your Social Security number for any signs of fraudulent use? A new survey suggests you think that you should, but you probably don’t.
According to the 2018 Capital One Credit Protection and Security Survey, only one in seven Americans uses a service to monitor activity on their Social Security number – but
The Crushing Effects Of Medical Debt How pervasive is America’s medical debt problem? According to 2017 data from the credit bureau Experian, unpaid medical debt in America topped $127 billion. New data from Consumer Reports shows that almost 30% of insured Americans had unpaid medical debt turned over to collection agencies in the past two
A poor credit score makes your financial life difficult in a number of ways. You receive poorer interest rates and terms on credit cards, it’s harder to qualify for mortgages, and, “When it comes time to get insurance, maybe your insurance premiums will be a little more expensive because you have a low credit score,”
If you’re a Medicare beneficiary, check your mail very carefully. You’ll be receiving a new Medicare card with an important new identification number that you’ll need soon.
Your current Medicare ID card contains a Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN), which is the same as your Social Security number. Your HICN serves as your identification for
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you should receive 1095 forms along with the W-2, 1099, and other tax forms that you receive from employers and financial institutions. The 1095 forms verify your health care insurance status for tax purposes. 1095-A forms debuted in 2015, while taxpayers received 1095-B or 1095-C forms for the
Millions of Americans choose to supplement their Original Medicare benefits with additional coverage that helps to cover the gaps. Medigap plans in America are standardized, and for decades, Medigap Plan F has been a top seller. This is largely because it covers all of the deductibles, coinsurance, and copays that would normally be your responsibility
Nearly 4 million people turn 65 every year here in America and many of them are looking forward to retiring soon. There’s a lot of financial planning that goes into retirement, such as when to apply for Social Security benefits and when to begin distributions from retirement accounts.
It’s also important to plan for your
Every year, thousands of Medicare beneficiaries enroll in Medicare Advantage plans during the fall Annual Election Period. With low premiums and ancillary “extras” built in, these plans on paper appeal to many individuals. However, in all the election period excitement, people sometimes overlook aspects of Medicare Advantage coverage that are important. All too often, January
Successful retirement planning requires a good understanding of what you want to do in retirement and a reasonable estimate of your expected expenses. Once you have a grasp of your likely retirement costs, you know approximately how much money you will need to salt away. However, one retirement expense is notoriously difficult to predict –
Did you quit smoking last year? Move into a gated community? Do you live within five miles of the nearest fire station?
These factors – and many others – make you a safer bet for your homeowner’s insurer, which means you can get a significant discount on your insurance premium. Something as simple as installing
What does it take to be financially prepared for potential healthcare costs in retirement? As the old saying goes, “Needing insurance is like needing a parachute. If it isn’t there the first time, chances are you won’t need it again.” Healthcare costs can add up for even the healthiest of retirees, so what can we
In a recent survey, more people than not believe that President Trump will lower business taxes, but the same wasn’t true for their own personal taxes. On other critical issues in the news, Americans are torn, but not Trump voters.
As our government acts on repealing ObamaCare, with restructuring our antiquated tax system on deck,
June 28 is National Insurance Awareness Day and less than a week later, on the Fourth of July, we celebrate Independence Day. This is the perfect time to brush up on your knowledge of fireworks safety and how potential damage or injury could be covered by your insurance policies. For many Americans, the Fourth of
It’s bad enough when your day is derailed by an unexpected trip to the doctor, but it’s even worse when you can’t afford to pay the bill. Unfortunately, too many Americans find themselves in this position, according to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos for the healthcare transparency group Amino.
The survey found that 37%
How much money do you think that you need to retire? There are many assumptions involved in answering that question, but one assumption is the greatest of all: how much money will you need for your health care costs? Fidelity projects that a 65-year old couple who retired in 2016 should expect an average cost
The end of the year is full of activities. Family, school, and work obligations can keep you running constantly, without the time to consider other important things – such as whether you have used all of the health care and dental plan benefits covered by your insurance.
Are insurance concerns not high on your holiday
Fall is here, which means that it is time for the annual running of the workplace benefits gantlet. In all the rush to pick healthcare plans and sort out this HMO from that HSA, do not let your FSA get lost in the alphabet soup of offerings. That is a Flexible Spending Account, and it
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) were born out of the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare, if you prefer) as an attempt to lower costs and improve the quality of care to Medicare patients. The principle is to provide coordinated care instead of the potentially fractured care that sends patients back-and-forth among disparate doctors and specialists.
By
The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare if you prefer) has probably had a significant impact on your health insurance. Did you realize that Obamacare has had an effect on your taxes as well? Here are a few of the tax ramifications of the ACA.
Individual Mandate – If you are aware of only one
For most kinds of insurance, you have an option of buying through a broker or insurance agent, or buying directly from an insurance carrier. Younger, tech-savvy purchasers have been attracted to the convenience of direct online insurance shopping, but there is still room in the market for your friendly local insurance agent.
If you are
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was enacted in 1974 primarily to set standards for private pension programs. Prior to ERISA, the management of some large pension funds had been indulging in questionable investments and loans. ERISA was enacted to make sure that pensioners get the benefits that they deserve from their fund contributions.
It is a hectic and bittersweet time as your children head off to college. There are so many issues to consider that it is easy to forget one important aspect — insurance.
Insurance policies and coverage will generally change once your children are no longer under your roof. However, with some planning, those changes may
MoneyTips Among the most attractive features of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) are the tax credits that are available to low income families to make health insurance more affordable. If you purchased your health insurance through one of the Exchanges (either Federal or state-based), you qualified for a tax credit or other subsidies if
Medicare has one important difference when compared to most other health plans – Medicare Parts A and B do not have a cap on out-of pocket costs. These costs can add up quickly, especially for chronic or long-term illnesses. Premiums and most deductible and co-insurance situations are straightforward, but some costs are not. These Medicare
Medical insurance is experiencing tumultuous change with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”). As of January 1, 2014, every American is required to have minimum insurance in force. However, many of us are still uncertain about how to obtain suitable coverage. This article aims to cut through the confusion, to set you on
Along with Social Security, Medicare plays a powerful role in protecting the health and welfare of seniors in the United States. While Social Security provides vital retirement income, Medicare ensures that citizens aged 65 and older receive a reasonable standard of health insurance coverage. Participants in both Social Security and Medicare have earned these benefits
Medicaid Basics
Medicaid and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program) exist to ensure health coverage for low-income Americans. CHIP is designed to cover children of families who have incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage.
Many people think of Medicaid as being for younger Americans and Medicare for