After You Apply
Enrolling is not the finish line. Here are the four habits that make a Medicare plan easy to live with, and the help that carries on for as long as you are our client.
Four things to do straight away
Enrolling is not quite the finish line. These four habits are what separate people who use their plan well from people who are surprised by it.
1. Set up a username and password on the insurance company website
This is the single most important best practice you can adopt. As soon as your insurance card arrives, log on to the insurance company website or download their app and set up your login. Everything else on this list depends on it.
2. Read your policy
Have you ever read a health insurance policy? Most people have not. Read yours, especially the pages that outline what is covered. You do not have to memorize it. You just need to know where to look when a question comes up. The plan description is on the insurance company website.
3. Verify your providers accept Medicare
Go to Medicare.gov, find the tool for looking up doctors and other health professionals, and enter the provider name and your zip code. Check that your providers accept Medicare, and ideally that they accept assignment. A provider who accepts assignment bills you only the Medicare deductible and coinsurance. A non-participating provider is still paid by Medicare but can add up to a 15 percent excess charge, which Plan G and Plan F cover and Plan N does not. Only a provider who has formally opted out of Medicare leaves the whole bill to you. If you have an Advantage plan, you are limited to that plan network instead.
4. Learn where your claims information lives
Log on to the insurance company website and click the Claims section. You will see every claim that has been processed: what the doctor billed, what Medicare allowed as the negotiated fee, and what your supplement paid. It is genuinely satisfying to see how much the Medicare negotiated fee saves you.
The Four Folder System
You will be surprised at the amount of paperwork associated with Medicare. Hopper Insurance Services created the four folder system because four labeled folders solve almost all of it.
Medicare
Your initial Medicare acceptance paperwork and any documents related to Medicare in general.
Supplement or Advantage
Your policy for your Medicare Supplement or Advantage plan, plus anything else worth keeping about it.
Prescription Plan
Your original Part D policy and miscellaneous information related to prescriptions.
EOB
Explanation of Benefits forms from Medicare and from your supplement. Most recent in front and you have an easy claims history.
You Have a Trusted Advisor
You have a trusted advisor in Hopper Insurance Services. We are here to help you now and in the future with all of your health insurance needs.
Call or drop by
We are here to help you now and in the future with all of your health insurance needs. Call and we can usually solve problems right on the spot.
Periodic updates
Each year there is an annual open enrollment for prescription drug plans, October 15 to December 7. For most people that is the one chance each year to change plans, and we alert you before it opens. Certain life events, such as a move, losing other coverage, or qualifying for Extra Help, open a Special Enrollment Period at other times. We also email clients when something important changes in health insurance.
Plan review
We are always available to review your plans and make sure you still have the best value and the most appropriate coverage for your situation.
Something Come Up?
Call or drop by. Claims, billing, an unexpected letter in the mail: bring it to us and we can usually solve it on the spot.