Tag: Medicare Plan Finder

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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Website Errors Raise Calls For Medicare To Be Flexible With Seniors’ Enrollment

Seniors will be able to change plans any time next year if they discover their coverage doesn’t provide what the government’s Plan Finder promised. 

By Susan Jaffe  | Kaiser Health News | December 6, 2019 | This article also ran on

Saturday is the deadline for most people with Medicare coverage to sign up for private drug and medical plans for next year. But members of Congress, health care advocates and insurance agents worry that enrollment decisions based on bad information from the government’s revamped, error-prone Plan Finder website will bring unwelcome surprises.

Beneficiaries could be stuck in plans that cost too much and don’t meet their medical needs — with no way out until 2021.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told Kaiser Health News that beneficiaries would be able to change plans next year because of Plan Finder misinformation, although officials provided few details. [Continued at Kaiser Health News or NPR.]   …

Trumpeted New Medicare Advantage Benefits Will Be Hard For Seniors To Find

By Susan Jaffe  | Kaiser Health News | November 9, 2018 | This KHN story also ran on 

For some older adults, private Medicare Advantage plans next year will offer a host of new benefits, such as transportation to medical appointments, home-delivered meals, wheelchair ramps, bathroom grab bars or air conditioners for asthma sufferers.

But the new benefits will not be widely available, and they won’t be easy to find.

Of the 3,700 plans across the country next year, only 273 in 21 states will offer at least one. About 7 percent of Advantage members — 1.5 million people — will have access, Medicare officials estimate.

That means even for the savviest shoppers it will be a challenge to figure out which plans offer the new benefits and who qualifies for them.

Medicare officials have touted the expansion as historic and an innovative way to keep seniors healthy and independent. Despite that enthusiasm, a full listing of the new services is not available on the web-based “Medicare Plan Finder,” the government tool used by beneficiaries, counselors and insurance agents to sort through dozens of plan options. [Continued at Kaiser Health News, NPR and CNN]…