Prepare Now for the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period

If you’re receiving healthcare benefits from Medicare, there are only a few chances each year to make changes to your coverage. One of those periods is quickly approaching: the Annual Enrollment Period, which runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. During this time, you can:

• Change from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage Plan (or vice versa)
• Switch from one Medicare Advantage Plan to a different one
• Join a Medicare drug plan
• Drop your Medicare drug coverage
• Change from one Medicare drug plan to a different one

Here are four steps to take to prepare now:

Step 1: Review your current plan. You should soon receive notices from Medicare detailing your current coverage and any changes that will be going into effect for the coming year. Look for an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), and review your 2021 “Medicare & You” handbook.

Step 2: Consider your health insurance needs for the coming year. What health services do you expect to need? What medications do you take? Do you need dental, vision, or hearing coverage? Having an idea of what services you’ll need will help you decide which plan is best for you.

Step 3: Compare your current coverage with other available options, including deciding whether Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage Plan will work better for you. If you’re happy with your current plan, you don’t need to do anything. But if you decide you’d like a change, now is the time to make that change. There are a few differences between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans, so click here for information. 

Step 4: Contact us! If you’ve decided that a Medicare Advantage Plan is the way to go, or you need to purchase Medicare Supplement coverage (“Medigap”) to complement your Original Medicare, Lakewood Financial can help. We know sorting through Medicare information can be confusing, but our agents can help you make sense of it all.

Healthcare can be a significant expense during retirement. Choosing the right Medicare benefits package for you can help ease that financial burden. We represent companies that offer Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Prescription Drug plans. For more information, give us a call at 941-747-4600 or click here. For additional information on Medicare benefits and plans, please see  https://www.medicare.gov/.