Many seniors are not aware of the fact that they can save a substantial sum of money by making changes to their current Medicare plans and enrolling in Medicare Advantage Plans. In order to qualify for an advantage plan, seniors must be enrolled in a Medicare Parts A and B program. Part A Medicare is a benefit designed to cover medical expenses and disability income, and Part B is the supplement insurance. If you would like to remain on the Part A coverage, but would like additional benefits such as prescription drug coverage or vision benefits, you can enroll in the Medicare Advantage Plans.
While enrolling in a Medicare Advantage Plan, you will typically have a monthly premium that will be more than the combined monthly premium of Medicare Parts A and B. For most seniors who are covered under Medicare Parts A and B, the difference between the monthly premiums of Medicare Advantage Plans and the coverages provided by traditional Medicare is minimal. Even some seniors that are currently covered under a Medicare Advantage plan will find that the benefits they receive far outweigh the amount of money they have to pay in premiums annually. There is no doubt that the additional benefits provided by a Medicare Advantage plan are worth the cost of enrollment and the increase in monthly premiums, but do not forget that the old saying about money going where the money can and going right doesn’t apply to the Medicare Advantage Plans.
Another mistake that many seniors make is not taking full advantage of the coverage provided by their HMO or PPO plan. If a Medicare Supplement Plan requires that you take certain medications, don’t fail to see if your health insurance company provides a prescription drug benefit that will cover these drugs. Although your Medicare Supplement Plan may cover other medications that you regularly take, the coverage of your medications should include those that are specific to the medications your doctor prescribes for you.
Do not fail to complete all necessary paperwork for your services. It is often overlooked, but the Medicare Services part of the plan will require you to list all of your expected future services, as well as all of the services that are already performed for each of these services. Even though it is unnecessary, many seniors continue to miss this important part of their coverage. While filling out the forms to get your coverage started, they do tend to overlook this part of their process and believe that they have covered all of the services they need. Later, when they need one of the services that were not covered, they discover that they have not.
Another mistake that is often made is thinking that the office visits covered by the medications in the Part D plans are not covered by the Part A plan. The truth is that only those medications that are necessary to help you live your current life are covered by Part D, and nothing more. Any extra health services that are not covered by Parts A and B are not covered by Part A. As such, if you run out of prescription drugs or you decide to stop taking your existing medications, it will be necessary to add them to your Medigap coverage.
One other mistake that often happens is for seniors to get their prescription drugs through their family doctors. However, this is not the only place that you can fill prescriptions. Many pharmacies now offer convenient delivery services that allow you to receive your medications at home, without having to drive to the office. This allows you to avoid wasting time at the office as well as avoid wasting money on medication refill expenses. Although most of these common Medicare mistakes may seem insignificant, they are extremely expensive and could end up costing you much more than the $20 a month that you would pay for generic coverage.
