Medicare Open Enrolment System Research Paper

What you need to know about Medicare open enrollment
Medicare is a government run health insurance plan for people with disability and those who are age 65 and above. Some of the critical components of Medicare include Medicare Parts A and B, Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Drug Coverage (Part D). During the annual Medicare Enrollment period, beneficiaries of Medicare are given an opportunity to change their coverage. One of the biggest challenges faced by seniors during the enrollment period is lack of awareness. This disconnect causes hundreds of thousands of seniors to miss out on Medicare benefits every year. Here are 8 things every senior needs to know about Medicare and Open Enrollment.

1. Open Enrollment Date
The Medicare Open Enrollment …show more content…
First, you can choose Original Medicare as a separate entity, and include a Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage or Part D option. Individuals who are collecting their Railroad Retirement Board (RBR) or Social Security automatically qualify to receive Hospital Insurance in Medicare Part A plan and Medical Insurance in Medicare Part B. Medicare Part B, however, comes with a premium. For this reason, you must decide whether you want to keep it. Alternatively, you can choose Medicare Part C plan, which comes with Original Medicare plus other extra benefits, such as prescription drug. The Medicare Part C works the same way as PPO or HMO, which means you can choose any doctor within the service network or outside the network for an extra …show more content…
Keep Track of Your Payments
Whenever you choose to add, change or drop a plan, always keep an eye on your payments. Some of the charges you need to monitor include; the premium amount; the total out of pocket expenses from the previous year and the changes in deductibles, prescription drug cost and co-pays.

7. Missed Deadlines
If you miss your deadline, you may be forced to wait until next year to make changes to your plan. Otherwise you may be forced to pay higher premiums and other penalties. However, there is a second enrollment window that starts from January 1 to February 16 (2016). During this second enrollment period, you can do the following:
• Switch your plan to Original Medicare, if you have Medicare Advantage Plan.
• Switch to Original Medicare Plan and add drug coverage to an existing plan. Coverage begins from the first day of the month after enrollment; once the submissions have been received.

8. Seek Help
The process of enrolling or making changes to a Medicare plan can be very tasking. If you do not understand anything, just ask for help. If you want instructions on how to sign up for any Medicare Plan, visit www.mediacre.gov or call Medicare at 1-800-MEDIACRE

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