Medicare Open Enrollment runs until Dec. 7
Oct. 18—PLATTSBURGH — Tis' the season of pumpkin spice, apple anything and Medicare Open Enrollment, which started Oct. 15 and runs until Dec. 7.
"It would be anybody who needs or wants to make changes for the upcoming year," Christa Tyler, services for the aging specialist/HIICAP coordinator, said.
"These people are 65 years and older. There are some people that are in Medicare due to disability. All the plans change from year to year like the monthly premiums chance, drug coverage changes.
"I do know there that are some changes coming with the drug plans for 2025, but this year a lot of the drug plans have gone up. There's only one or two that actually went down."
Tyler is still waiting on pricing for Medicare Supplement Plans.
"I'm not sure what those are at this present time," she said.
"I do know that they lost some companies for the Medicare Advantage Plans. That's why we encourage people to make sure that they're having everything checked from year to year because there's always changes being made, and we always want to make sure that they have the coverage that best suits their health needs. January 1 through March 31 is when you can change your Medicare Advantage Plans."
People can sign up online at: www.medicare.gov
"That gives people a lot of information about Medicare," Tyler said.
"That's generally where we go, too, to enroll people in Medicare Advantage Plans and drug plans because we just put their medications into the Medicare Plan Finder. Then, it populates the lowest out-of-pocket plan for that person based on their medications. That's something anybody can do.
"People with a Special Enrollment, they can make changes to their plan as well anytime throughout the year."
GETTING READY
Anyone who is turning 65 has a seven-month window to enroll.
"It is the three months prior to the month of their birthday," Tyler said.
"It is the month of their birthday and then the three months following their birthday month.
And if people don't enroll when they are supposed to there is a 1% late penalty fee for the drug plans, which is acquired for every year you do not have it. There is also a 10% penalty for every year that you did not sign up for Part B. You've got do it."
Penalties can be wiped out.
"There's the Medicare Savings Program, and if you're income eligible for that program that program will wipe that late fee out. It also pays for your Part D premium helps. It pushes you into a program called Extra Help, which helps with the cost of your medications."
OPEN ENROLLMENT
The public can call the Clinton County Office for the Aging at 518-565-4620.
"We can do most of this right over the phone," Tyler said.
"We can sit up in-person appointments if that works better for some people. I would recommend that people also apply for EPIC. It's a state pharmaceutical assistance program that helps with the cost of medications. They can fill out out the application and once they've been approved, then they provide the pharmacist with their EPIC information from their card. Once it's in their system, they'll start getting discounts after they meet the requirements for the programs. We have applications here at the office. You can download the application at health.ny.gov."
Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
Twitter@RobinCaudell
