Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Post related to Medicare health insurance, Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D prescription Drug Plans, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans.
Anthem Blue Cross of California has introduced a Medicare Supplement plan that offers vision and hearing benefits. Medicare Part B does not cover eye glasses or hearing aids. The vision and hearing benefits are included in the California Blue Cross Innovative Plan F Medicare Supplement. Glasses And Hearing Aids One of the great frustrations for […]
The 2018 guidelines reflect the 2.1 percent price increase between calendar years 2016 and 2017. After this inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to standardize the differences between family and household sizes. Included with this informational bulletin is the 2018 Dual Eligible Standards chart that displays the new standards for the Medicare Savings Program categories.
One of my clients received a letter from Covered California notifying her that her monthly premium would jump from $63.64 to $993.45 per month. The letter casually stated that the premium increase was 147.2%. The client is a household of two people one eligible for Covered California and the spouse is on Medicare. When I went through the renewal procedure on the updated Covered California website, I had to re-confirm that the spouse was on Medicare. The final eligibility results were that the Medicare spouse could select a plan at the full premium amount while the primary applicant could select a plan with the monthly subsidies.
This high level overview and will not address every situation that a Medicare beneficiary may find them self in. This short primer is meant help you understand the different parts of Medicare and how they work, or don’t work, together. The following information can also be found in the Medicare and You Handbook.
The similarities between Medicare Advantage plan and the ACA plans through the Marketplace are straight forward. Individuals are enrolling in private ACA health insurance and the federal government is subsidizing part of the cost of the health insurance to make it affordable. One of the main differences is how the federal government reimburses the insurer. Medicare beneficiaries receive an indirect subsidy to purchase a Medicare Advantage plan according to county they live in and based on historical health care cost data. Individuals and families enrolling in a health plan through an Affordable Care Act exchange receive a subsidy based on their income.
The Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), who regulates most of the individual and family plans offered through Covered California, has developed a website to allow consumers to compare health insurance companies. The Health Plan Dashboard website does not assign any performance review ratings. But it does give consumers a high level view of some of the data collect on the health plans such as enrollment, complaints, and enforcement actions for medical, dental, and vision plans.
There are a variety of reasons why a household member needs to be removed from a family’s Covered California account. In some unfortunate instances a family member has died. Other times a young adult ages-off the plan or a spouse gains other coverage such as Medicare.
Every family is unique in their health care needs. There are situations when each family member may require a different health plan to meet their particular health challenges. Unfortunately, many families who enroll in a health plan through Covered California are unaware that not all the family must be on the same health plan.
Anthem Blue Cross of California Medicare Advantage dual eligibility with Medi-Cal Special Needs Plans May 30, 2015 This guidance is generally applicable for all health insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans for dual eligible beneficiaries. Dual Eligibles (Duals) are individuals who are entitled to benefits from both the federal Medicare and state-run […]
There are certain situations where Medicare will pay for your health care services after another insurance plan pays first. There are also situations where Medicare will pay for your health care services, but you will have to pay them back after an insurance settlement reach after an accident you are involved with that is not […]
