“How do I know if my Medicare Advantage or Part D Prescription Drug Plan benefits or cost-sharing are changing in 2021?”
The easiest way to know what has changed with your plan is to review your plan’s Annual Notice of Change document. Plans are required to ensure their members receive these notices by September 30th. All changes to the plans are spelled out in the notice. For example… if you have a Medicare Advantage plan and your specialist copay this year is $20 but next year it is changing to $30, you will see that noted.
When we do our plan research for you each year, we are looking for very specific things. We look to make sure your plan is still available in 2021, we check to see if your doctors and hospitals are still in the plan’s network, and we check your medications to make sure they are still covered at a reasonable cost. As benefits and cost-sharing typically don’t change much from year to year, we don’t take those things into consideration UNLESS some major changes have happened. That being said, it is CRITICAL that you review your Annual Notice of Change document to ensure you are happy with what you see. If you’re not, let us know and we’ll be happy to discuss other plan options with you based on the things you find most important.
REMINDER… remember to check your email (junk and spam too) this month for the email from our team requesting updated information from you so we can research 2021 plans. If we don’t have an email on file for you, we will be calling to gather the data. Our recommendations will not come out until the end of October. If you get a “STAY” recommendation and you are happy – you don’t need to do anything. If you get a “GO” recommendation, please give us a call to schedule a meeting.
If you have questions, call us 602-281-3898. We are always here to help and make things 123 Easy!