Medicare Qualification Letter

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Did anyone else receive a Medicare open enrollment qualification request card in the mail? It said:

"You will soon be in a unique position when you turn 65. You will be in your 'Open Enrollment' period. This means you can choose any Medicare Supplement, Part D or take advantage of any new plans without any medical questions. The right choices can save you hundreds of dollars each year. Don't delay, you only have one 'Open Enrollment'. Take advantage of this review by returning this card. An agent will contact you with a review of your healthcare benefits and information about new Medicare programs. This is a solicitation of insurance. Please acknowledge by 10/18/2016.

Is this legit or a scam?
 

debodun said:
Did anyone else receive a Medicare open enrollment qualification request card in the mail? It said:

"You will soon be in a unique position when you turn 65. You will be in your 'Open Enrollment' period. This means you can choose any Medicare Supplement, Part D or take advantage of any new plans without any medical questions. The right choices can save you hundreds of dollars each year. Don't delay, you only have one 'Open Enrollment'. Take advantage of this review by returning this card. An agent will contact you with a review of your healthcare benefits and information about new Medicare programs. This is a solicitation of insurance. Please acknowledge by 10/18/2016.

Is this legit or a scam?
Click to expand...

My hubby will turn 65 next month. Medicare sent him his part A and B card. He did not receive a card like you described. I think you got an advertisement from an insurance company wanting you to give up your traditional Medicare.
 
I think it`s just a solicitation to sell you a Medicare supplement plan. You do need one but it`s nice if you can find someone who comes recommended by someone you know. For example,my brother`s former wife,whom I have known since I was 7 years old,sold us our plan. I knew she would look out for us.
 

It's open enrollment time and the card is probably to allow them to call you and solicit you for a supplemental plan. I got a lot of them last year. I wouldn't call it a scam, they're probably wanting you to buy into their plan but before you do that, find out what your options are. Oh, it's all such fun!
 
What letterhead is the letter on? I think the "this is a solicitation for insurance" phrase is the key. It's from an insurance company wanting to sell you a supplement.

You DO need to find a supplement or advantage plan to fill in the Medicare gaps, or else you could be paying a lot of extra money for medical services, especially in case of something major. And it is true that you need to choose one within the open enrollment period.

My Medicare Advantage plan saved me thousands of dollars when I had my hips replaced.

You need to do the research and find the best plan for you, but I wouldn't risk going without one. There are also independent brokers out there who can assist you in finding the right plan -- there's a lot to consider.
 
Butterfly said:
What letterhead is the letter on?
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The return envelope (not pre-paid) has an address of Direct Data Services. The envelope it was mailed in has a return address of Senior Information Processing. Both have addresses in the same city, but different PO Box numbers.


Butterfly said:
My Medicare Advantage plan saved me thousands of dollars when I had my hips replaced.
Click to expand...

I already called the local SS office and they said I would be getting Part A & B automatically. What's the difference between those and the Medicare Advantage plan?

When I retired 6 years ago, I was kept on my employment health insurance (United Health Care). My employer said that when I turn 65, Medicare will become my primary health insurance and United will automatically become the supplementary insurance. Also my prescription plan will not change.

Are these facts correct?
 
My husband and I went to the local SS office and signed up for Part A & B. We had to shop around for a supplemental plan and prescription plan. We went with my husband's insurance company he had before he retired (Anthem Blue Cross). But found that "Silver Scripts" was the most affordable for prescriptions. Lordy, the government makes it so difficult to understand all the options! We have been very pleased with who we chose. There are alot of Life Insurance Companies out there trying to get into the health care business. I was just not comfortable going with any of them. It's all very confusing!
 
I have to recant what I just posted. We got our Part A automatically when we got retirement age (that covers hospital, it will pick up what your personal insurance does not pay) but had to go to SS office to apply for Part B (and maybe you can do that online). That is a charge to you, either you pay to Medicare each month or they deduct it from your SS check each month. Part B is not free but it is a huge benefit when you go to the doctor or get like a flu shot at your local pharmacy. You should still have a supplement policy for what Medicare B does not pay.
 
debodun said:
The return envelope (not pre-paid) has an address of Direct Data Services. The envelope it was mailed in has a return address of Senior Information Processing. Both have addresses in the same city, but different PO Box numbers.


I already called the local SS office and they said I would be getting Part A & B automatically. What's the difference between those and the Medicare Advantage plan?

When I retired 6 years ago, I was kept on my employment health insurance (United Health Care). My employer said that when I turn 65, Medicare will become my primary health insurance and United will automatically become the supplementary insurance. Also my prescription plan will not change.

Are these facts correct?
Click to expand...


Debodun, the only way you are going to get a good answer to this question is to contact the insurance carrier that you have now and ask them, and THEN call Medicare and verify that it can work that way.

If you don't verify, you might get left holding the bag, and you do not want to risk facing a big fat medical bill and finding out that you have no creditable supplementary insurance coverage. Just because someone in your employer's office told you stuff a while ago about what would happen does not make it true, and if that person is mistaken or if the rules have changed, you could really be in for trouble. CHECK on it and make sure your understanding is correct -- from that insurance carrier, not from the employer. Check on that Part D thing, too.

Medicare by itself leaves you with a lot of gaping holes in coverage. To cover those gaps, you need some kind of advantage plan, or Medicare supplement. You'll need to make some decisions before your enrollment time runs out. If you don't take part D in time or have other creditable part D coverage, you will face penalties for not enrolling timely. There are deadlines and enrollment periods for this stuff, so you can't afford to fool around.


This isn't something to guess about -- you need good, professional advice.
 
Butterfly, you are so right! Do not leave it up to your employer to give a hoot about your coverage! Part B from the Medicare runs about $130/month. And then you gotta choose a plan you can afford to cover what Part B does not. We get something in the mail every day about supplemental coverage (mostly from AARP wanting you to use United Health Care). But I want to be able to choose my doctor and facility, Kaiser and United are limited to where you can go for health care. Do your research!
 
And it is such a minefield -- all the insurance jargon and legalese and differences between "will cover" and "may cover" and tiers of drugs and so on. I just spent the last hour reviewing the notice of change from my carrier (gave me a headache, and I used to work with this stuff). I think I've got it, but I'm going to call the carrier tomorrow and verify that I am understanding it correctly.

And Maggiemae, you are so right about the employer not giving a hoot. If you rely on their word and it wasn't correct or they misled you, you will be the one to suffer. They'll either deny they ever made such representations to you, or say that you misunderstood what they said. And the carrier certainly doesn't give a hoot what your employer told you. An employer can't make promises about what an insurance carrier will or will not cover in a future year, and Part D is a whole different ball of snakes than regular prescription coverage. The ONLY way to be sure is to verify with both Medicare and the other carrier, and get a certificate of coverage from the other carrier.
 
debodun said:
When I retired 6 years ago, I was kept on my employment health insurance (United Health Care). My employer said that when I turn 65, Medicare will become my primary health insurance and United will automatically become the supplementary insurance. Also my prescription plan will not change.
Are these facts correct?
Click to expand...

They may be correct, but you should contact your former employer's benefits department several months prior to reaching age 65 to determine what actions you need to take to ensure you maintain health insurance coverage.
 

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