You have until December 7 to change your Medicare plan for next year, and the first help you find may not be on your side.
Your Daily Dad Joke
What do you call a factory that makes OK products?
A satisfactory.
Picking a plan before December 7
I’m on a Medicare Advantage plan, and I love it. This year mine gives me a $4,000 allowance for dental care. Amazing.
But picking the right Medicare plan for you is complicated. Every plan is a different mix of doctors, drugs, extras and costs, and what works for me might be wrong for you.
That’s why I wanted to pass this along now. Open enrollment started October 15 and runs through December 7, and Medicare.gov says that’s the window to join, drop or switch plans for coverage that starts January 1.
You may have seen a warning this month that Medicare scammers are buying their way to the top of search results. That one comes straight from the FTC, which says “scammers and dishonest businesses sometimes pay to appear at the top,” with web addresses that look like the government’s when they aren’t.
So your question is probably a fair one. Who do I trust to help me pick?
Here’s what I’d tell a friend. Medicare itself and the insurance companies offer excellent research material to help you decide. Type medicare.gov into your browser yourself instead of clicking the first thing a search shows you, and scroll past anything marked “Ad” or “Sponsored.” The plan finder there lets you put in your own drugs and doctors and compare.
I’ve also seen people pick a plan by whatever an agent or broker told them. Keep in mind that agents and brokers are generally paid by the insurers, so they might not have your best interest in mind. Plenty of them are honest. But the same reporting says an agent who doesn’t offer every plan in your area has to tell you that. It’s a fair thing to ask.
If you want a person to walk through it with you, every state has a free counseling program called SHIP. SHIP describes itself as one-on-one help “at no cost to you” from “a trusted, unbiased source,” and the number is 877-839-2675.
And if someone calls you out of the blue asking for your Medicare number, hang up. Michigan’s regulators told WDIV to call 1-800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227) yourself to check, because caller ID can be faked.
I know. Nobody wakes up excited to compare insurance plans.
So here’s the one thing I’d do this week. Sit down with your plan’s paperwork, or your parent’s, and run it through the plan finder at medicare.gov. If you want to know what a plan will really cost you, this is what I’d look at past the star rating. It’s always best to do your own research and decide what works best for you.
Anyway, I wanted to make sure you heard about it while there’s still plenty of time before December 7.
Who helped you pick your Medicare plan, or who would you ask? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.
A plan you chose on purpose, after looking for yourself, is worth more than one somebody sold you on a phone call. You’ve got time to do this right. I’ll see you tomorrow.
— Steve
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A longer video from me: The Fastest Way Out of Debt Nobody Recommends. Everyone has a list of ways out of debt, and bankruptcy usually comes last, if anyone mentions it at all. I walk through each option, what it really costs you, and why the one nobody recommends is often the fastest way out.
SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.
If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.
This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.