Resolve common Medicare concerns with SHIBA assistance from January through March

||| FROM LENA KASSA for ORCAS SENIOR CENTER |||

January through March is your opportunity to correct many common Medicare problems. Your local Statewide Health Insurance Benefit Advisors (SHIBA) volunteers can help you with the following problems:

You didn’t receive your new Drug or Medicare Advantage Plan card. Sometimes the cards get lost in the mail and sometimes applications get lost and never reach the insurance company. If you have an enrollment confirmation code from the Medicare.gov website or the insurance company, a SHIBA volunteer may be able to help you. 

Your doctor isn’t in your Medicare Advantage Plan’s network. If you relied on information provided by the plan or shown in the Medicare.gov plan finder, then SHIBA volunteers may be able to help you make a change.

Your pharmacy doesn’t accept your Medicare drug plan. If you confirmed that they were in network by calling the plan or checking on the Medicare.gov plan finder before you enrolled but now you learn that they are not in the plan’s network, then SHIBA volunteers may be able to help you make a change.

You don’t like your Medicare Advantage Plan. Between now and the end of March you can switch to a different Advantage Plan, go back to a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) plan that you dropped when you enrolled in the Advantage Plan, if you have never had an Advantage Plan before, or drop your Advantage Plan and enroll in a drug plan

You haven’t enrolled in Medicare yet. During the months of January, February, and March, people who are eligible for Medicare but haven’t yet enrolled can enroll in Medicare Parts A and/or B and their enrollment will be effective on the first day of the following month. You may have to pay late enrollment penalties. If you have not signed up for Medicare before, you can also sign up for a Medicare drug plan, Advantage Plan, or buy a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy but you may also have a late enrollment penalty for your drug plan.

SHIBA, sponsored by Orcas Senior Center, is a free, unbiased, and confidential informational service offered through the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Call the Orcas Island SHIBA office at 360-376-5892 to schedule a counseling session.