Posted by zzsutton in Medicare, Medicare Drug Plans.
Tags: Medicare, Medicare Drug Plan
Why is it so easy to get very high level information about prescription drug coverage to go with medicare and so difficult to get specifics? Who knows what happens if your pharmacy sells generics at less than your copay? Unfortunately, the sales people are trained to make sales, but they are terrible at answering specific questions. The Medicare site gives the plans “star” ratings on a number of dimensions, but none of them do very well.
More updates to come…
Posted by zzsutton in Uncategorized.
Tags: Olympics, travel, travel planning, Winter Games
Want to know more about the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver? Check out all the latest on the games at travour.com. We had the chance to attend the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, and the experience was great! We also went to the closing ceremonies–what a show!
The venues are great. They will be especially spectacular in Vancouver.
Posted by zzsutton in Medicare, Medicare Drug Plans.
Tags: Lipitor, Medicare
Not really on the other subjects in this blog, but my pharmacist told me a couple of months ago about a discount program offered by Pfizer at the Lipitor website.
Pfizer covers part of your copay ($15 per month, in my case). Unfortunately, the discount stops when I (or anyone) makes it to Medicare. I wish my pharmacist had told me about this much earler.
Posted by zzsutton in Social Security.
Tags: Medicare, Medicare Drug Plan, Medicare Part D, Social Security
You can find a description of Medicare and a definition of the various “parts” of Medicare at Future Years and some more detailed information on the Medicare Drug Plans.
The Medicare site has a moderately useful tool to help you choose a drug plan. You enter the drugs you are taking, and the tool returns a number of drug plans in your area, including a number sorted by expected cost of premiums and drugs.
While anyone may purchase a Medicare Drug Plan, there is a means (income) test that can effect the cost of the plan. Largely, these plans divide drugs into three categories, ranging from generics (which have small or no copayment) through “non-preferred” (brand name) drugs, which may have substantial copayments.
Posted by zzsutton in Blog, Travel Planning, travel.
Tags: travel, travel planning, Travour
Travour.com now has a micro blogging facility to allow and encourage travellers to share their experiences and profit from the experiences and knowledge of others using the site. Check it out at http://shout.travour.com.
I note that there is also a Travour community building on Twitter.
Posted by zzsutton in Medicare, Social Security.
Tags: Medicare, Social Security
I’m now a couple of months from Medicare age, so I decided it was time to find out more. Here are a few important lessons I’ve learned:
You can apply for Medicare without penalty in a 6 month window (3 months before to 3 months after) around your 65th birthday. For more information, click here.
Lesson 1: Apply for Medicare as soon as you are able. Getting your Medicare card will take 30-45 days, and the Medicare card will come with lots of other materials that MAY be beneficial (not sure–I haven’t gotten mine yet).
Online registration for Medicare is not offered at this time; you can register for Medicare by calling 1-800-Medicare or by going to a local social security office. You can register for supplemental drug coverage on line. I went to the local Social Security office and was quite disappointed to find that the person with whom I met could register me for Medicare but could not answer ANY of my Medicare questions.
Lesson 2: Always make an appointment before going to the Social Security Office
Lesson 3: Assume the people at the Social Security office won’t know anything about Medicare.
Lesson 4: Register for medicare over the phone directly with Medicare.
Lesson 5: The Medicare.gov web site has lots of good information and a moderately useful tool for determining candidates for Part D (prescription drug benefits) plans you might choose.
Lesson 6: Supplemental medical plans are standardized into plans identified by letters (e.g., A,F, J, etc). You should choose which plan best meets your needs and then look at insurers serving your area to compare costs and participants’ evaluations of the plans (available at medicare.gov)
Lesson 7: The choice of supplemental medical plans and drug coverage plans is much more difficult than it should be.
Lesson 8: Sign up for Medicare on time. There is a lifelong cost penalty for not doing so.
