Open enrollment is here for Medicare Advantage—and here’s what you need to do to keep yourself safe:   Don’t purchase a plan from someone who contacts you—either by mail, phone, or message. Use the Medicare plan finder tool to compare plans but be careful. There are many look-alike web pages which are actually sales tools in disguise. The real Medicare plan finder too ends in .gov. Once you find a plan, purchase it...

    Medicare Advantage plans are offering all sorts of goodies this year.     Home health, house cleaning, even Apple Watches.       Don’t get distracted.       None of these have been proven to help your health.       You’re not buying health insurance for all the add-ons, you’re buying it for access to the doctors you want and to limit the personal expense of your healthcare.      ...

    You may be invited to one or more sales gatherings this Medicare Advantage open enrollment systems.       You know the kind.  They offer you free lunch and other assorted goodies in exchange for your attention.       They’re usually sponsored through a local senior center or other institution.       Handle with care.       They are no different than those offers for free cruises or free nights...

    There are many online Medicare Advantage buying guides that scam you into thinking they are the official one sponsored by the government even though they are not.       They use that false credibility to steer you to plans they prefer instead of what’s best for you.       This is the link to the government website—note that it ends in .gov.       Finding an “insurance home” is the...

    Only buy a Medicare Advantage plan from someone you choose.     If someone contacts you from out of the blue or corners you at the local big box store or even attracts your attention from a mailer—don’t buy from them.     Shop on the Medicare Advantage plan selector if you must and contract the insurer directly.       Or, better yet, find and stick with an “insurance home.”    ...

    When you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, if you don’t pick a PCP one will be assigned to you “at random.”       That should be your last option.       Get recommendations from your friends and family for a PCP. (Avoid online ratings, but that’s another post.)       Or better yet, get a recommendation from the agent at your “insurance home.”       They very much...

    There’s one thing missing from the new Medicare Advantage Plan Finder Site.     If you choose an HMO plan, you still need a referral from a PCP to see a specialist.     The pricing of the Medicare Advantage plans you see on the site make Medicare Advantage HMOs look pretty good compared to traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage PPOs (check out the differences here).     But if you like the freedom...

    The government has redesigned it’s new Medicare Advantage plan finder for the first time in ten years.   Find it here.   It’s straightforward and easy to use, though most of the information is supplied by the plan and isn’t confirmed by the government, so take it all with a grain of salt.   You can use it to shop, but not to enroll—enroll through an “insurance home” instead.   Find an agency...

    This upcoming Medicare Advantage open enrollment season, every salesman and agent will be pushing the fact that their plan includes a new home care benefit.     The benefit will cover having a personal care assistant come to your home to perform bathing, housecleaning and other personal services.     But:     You’re going to have to be quite infirm to qualify—so actually receiving the benefit is far from a given.  ...