“Tips for Medicare’s open enrollment season” article features 65 Incorporated
“Medicare’s open enrollment season begins this week, amid all the tumult of the government shutdown and the launch of the Affordable Care Act health exchanges. This is the season when the nation’s 50 million Medicare beneficiaries who are 65 or older can choose, switch, add or drop their 2014 health and prescription plan coverage. The open enrollment period is scheduled to end Dec. 7.
Making the right choices might save you, or your parents, hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Trouble is, open enrollment is always a baffling process. Compounded this year by the shutdown and Obamacare, “it’s definitely more confusing than normal,” says Diane Omdahl, founder and president of 65 Incorporated, a firm that provides Medicare advice and information.
Under normal circumstances, Omdahl would be encouraging Medicare beneficiaries to start reviewing their options right now. “However, until the shutdown is over and the government is back up to speed, it might be best to postpone making any decisions,” she says. (If the government shutdown lasts for a while, there’s a chance open enrollment will be extended past Dec. 7.)”
Still, it’s not too early – or even too late — to learn the basic do’s and, more importantly, the don’ts to reduce this year’s confusion.
Read the full Market Watch article.
