The new Medicare Plan Finder will be the
exclusive source of information for 2020 Part D drug plans and Medicare
Advantage plans. According to a CMS promotional video, beneficiaries can
create an “online account for a personalized experience.” People approaching age
65 or getting ready to retire will have to select some type of plan. However,
they will not be able to create the new Medicare Plan Finder personalized
experience.
To recognize the impact of changes, you must
understand how the current or Legacy Plan Finder operates.
George turned 65 in January 2019 so he started
checking out Medicare in November 2018. Rather than do the research himself, George
visited an independent insurance agent. She entered George’s medications into
the Plan Finder. As soon as the agent entered the last drug, the system
generated a Drug List ID (number) and a Password Date (the date of initial
entry). She wrote down that information, gave it to George, and then proceeded
to enter pharmacies and help him review plans.
Three weeks later, George decided to visit his
SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) counselor. He shared his Drug
List ID and Password Date with the counselor and together they studied
plans.
After those two sessions, George logged into
the Legacy Plan Finder at home, just to check out a few things, and then was
set to enroll in the plan of his choice.
Fast forward to September 2019.
Janice is planning to retire in October so she
goes to the Legacy Plan Finder, enters her medications and pharmacies, writes
down the Drug List ID and Password Date, and starts her research.
Then, Janice’s retirement date changes to
January 1, 2020. She must now use the new Medicare Plan Finder. Surprise! She
cannot access her record because information vanished with the old Plan Finder.
Because she does not yet have a Medicare number, she cannot establish a My
Medicare.gov account and, without an account, the system does not save
information. Okay, she understands that so she’ll do a thorough review in one
sitting. Janice proceeds to enter her medications (all 11 of them) and
pharmacies again. She finds three plans that look good and prints out every
piece of information.
In December, her physician orders three new
medications, including one that is very costly. If Janice wants to find the
most cost-effective plan, she must enter all her medications (now 14 in all)
and pharmacies again.
Janice retires as planned, on January 1, 2020,
but she is not done with data entry. If she plans to use the
Medicare Plan Finder to help her during the 2020 Fall Open Enrollment Period,
she must enter everything one more time. However, because she now has a
Medicare number, she can set up an account with a user name and password and
she’ll be good to go.
Those getting ready to enroll in Medicare will
face headaches. Without a Medicare number, they cannot establish an account and
save their information. It’s likely they will re-enter information multiple
times during the enrollment process. With 10,000 people turning 65 every day,
and thousands more retiring, there will be lots of headaches as they try to
figure out Medicare.
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