Tag: Medicare open enrollment

Finding Medicare Advantage Providers for 2027 Is Easier but Not Flawless

RETIRING        The government has made improvements to the Medicare Plan Finder, a key online tool, in time for open enrollment. It helps seniors compare policies to avoid costly surprises.

By Susan Jaffe | The New York Times | October 14, 2026

Finding the best private Medicare Advantage plan that meets multiple medical needs at the right price and includes trusted doctors and hospitals can be like winning at bingo.

To make it easier to sort through dozens of Advantage plans, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has upgraded its indispensable Medicare Plan Finder website.

For the first time, beneficiaries and those who help them can type in the name of any licensed health care provider — not just doctors, which was the case last year — and find which Advantage plans they accept.

Medicare Advantage is a private alternative to the government-run traditional Medicare program that offers extra benefits the federal program doesn’t. It also has a cap on out-of-pocket expenses. But it usually requires members to use health care professionals in a plan’s network. Doctors and hospitals can leave the network plan any time, while Advantage members cannot (with rare exceptions). [Continued The New York Times.]

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Medicare Surprise: Drug Plan Prices Touted During Open Enrollment Can Rise Within a Month

By Susan Jaffe  | Kaiser Health News | May 3, 2022 | This KHN story also ran on

Something strange happened between the time Linda Griffith signed up for a new Medicare prescription drug plan during last fall’s enrollment period and when she tried to fill her first prescription in January.

She picked a Humana drug plan for its low prices, with help from her longtime insurance agent and Medicare’s Plan Finder, an online pricing tool for comparing a dizzying array of options. But instead of the $70.09 she expected to pay for her dextroamphetamine, used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, her pharmacist told her she owed $275.90.

“I didn’t pick it up because I thought something as wrong,” said Griffith, 73, a retired construction company accountant who lives in the Northern California town of Weaverville.  “To me, when you purchase a plan, you have an implied contract,” she said. “I say I will pay the premium on time for this plan. And they’re going to make sure I get the drug for a certain amount.”

But it often doesn’t work that way.  [Full story in Kaiser Health News, NPR  and Tampa Bay Times]  

 

 

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