Hello, I am Rebecca Davis the Medicare Wonder Woman. I wanted to take a few moments to explain the up coming changes for Medicare recipients that take effect on January of 2021. The Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS announced in June of 2020 that they have lifted one of the biggest regulations for people diagnosed with ESRD. ESRD or End-Stage Renal Disease is a condition that affects the kidneys, causing them to not function properly, this results in the patient being put on dialysis long term. Before now, if you were diagnosed with ESRD, you had limited options for additional medicare plans. This also meant that you could not change your plan once you were diagnosed with this condition. This is no longer the case. Now you can change your Medicare Advantage plan that you have or actually get on a plan if you missed your initial enrollment period. There are some stipulations so you want to make sure you speak with a licensed insurance agent to discover all your options.
The other major change taking place is the Part D Senior Savings Model that CMS also announced in June of 2020. This is in response to the Executive Order by the President to put a cap on Insulin prices. The model guarantees that the patient will only have to pay a maximum of $35 a month copay for their insulin. The model does not apply to all insulin products or brands. The insulin brand must also be covered by your Part D insurance plan. There is a complete list of all the covered brands of insulin on the CMS website. This Model is expected to save people 66% on their insulin this coming year alone.
The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is currently going on and will end on December 7th. This is the time to switch Medicare plans for the new year. If you have any questions or want to learn more you can visit any of the websites listed or give us a call at 254-918-5444 and come see how I take the wonder out of medicare.
