Do You Want Out Of Your Current Senior Health Plan?

There is a change in Medicare for open enrollment in 2011. Seniors may change Medicare Advantage plans and drug plans (part D) on October 15th through December 7th.

Medicare Supplement plans are a whole different kettle of fish. Many people think they can only change senior health plans during open enrollment. That only holds true for Medicare Advantage and the drug plans. Medicare supplement plans, you know the ones with the alphabet letters A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, N may be changed any time during the year as long as you medically qualify to do so. The only thing that would disqualify you in the great state of Florida, for instance, is End Stage Renal Disease or ESRD.

Why should you switch plans you may ask? When Medicare modernization legislation became effective in June 2010 Medicare Supplement Plan J was eliminated from the line up of standardized Medigap policies available for purchase as a senior health plan. If you bought Plan J prior to June 2010 you are grandfathered-in and able to keep your supplement. But is that in your best interests? Plan J was the most expensive plan available because it was the most comprehensive. But changes in Medicare have eliminated some Medicare supplement Plan J benefits. Some Plan J benefits are no longer relevant because those benefits are now included as standard Medicare benefits. For example Plan J included home health care and preventative care benefits because neither of them were included in Medicare. Those two benefits were also the difference between Plan J and the less expensive Plan F. When those changes were implemented in June of 2010 Plan J was eliminated for new sales but those already enrolled were able to keep it. If you have Plan J and your health has changed you may want to keep it to avoid underwriting.

There are some other reasons for switching from Plan J if you are healthy enough to do so. Because Plan J is no longer being sold to new enrollees the insurance pool will become smaller each year as people switch to other plans or pass away. With a smaller risk pool the premiums will become higher at a greater rate than other senior health plans. Another reason to switch may be to save money. Two new plans were introduced as part of Medicares modernization. Plans M and N are available at a much lower premium. Plan N has become very popular with seniors. Also, many carriers are offering Plan N with very little underwriting. Plan N will require insureds to pay a portion of Part B coinsurance or co-payments. If your budget is tight you might want to take a look at this plan. Just make sure to keep your current plan until the new one is issued. Interested in exploring switching plans?