Learning the ins and outs of Medicare can feel a lot like learning a foreign language. It might seem like complicated gibberish at first, but as you immerse yourself in its complexities, over time you’ll reap the rewards.
The problem, unfortunately, is just that: time. Many of us barely have time to manage our daily lives, let alone tackle the language of Medicare.
That’s why we’ve recruited the help of one of our insurance experts, Corban Latimore.* View the podcast or read the transcript below to learn the different parts of Medicare, important dates to watch for, and more – in less than 15 minutes.
Note: This article and podcast are intended as general education information only. To discuss your specific situation, speak with a with a qualified professional.
What are Medicare’s key enrollment dates?
Initial Enrollment Period (IEP): Varies based on birth date. Most commonly, initial enrollment begins three months before your 65th birthday and ends three months after.
Annual Enrollment Period (AEP): October 15 – December 7. This is an opportunity to change Medicare plans or providers, regardless of which Medicare plan you’re currently on.
Open Enrollment Period: January 1 – March 31. This is open only if you’d like to disenroll from a Medicare Advantage Plan and return to a base Medicare plan instead.
General Enrollment Period: January 1 – March 31. If you missed your IEP when you aged into Medicare, you can enroll during this period instead. If you’re hoping to enroll in a Medicare Advantage or Drug plan, you’ll need to wait until April 1 – June 30.
Special Enrollment Period: Depends on eligibility. Reach out to an ICCU insurance agent to see if you qualify.
What are Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D?
Part A: Covers hospital care, skilled nursing facility care, nursing home care, hospice, and home health services. If you worked over 10 years before enrolling, you’ve likely already paid your portion of the premium through your paychecks.
Part B: Covers outpatient services (doctor visits), preventative services, annual wellness visits, ambulance transportation, and durable medical services. Part B does require a premium, which fluctuates from year to year and varies depending on wages, taxes, etc. If you don’t enroll in Part B during initial enrollment, you may face a late enrollment fee.
Part C: Covers Medicare fitness programs, non-emergency medical transportation, dental and vision, and occasionally prescription drug coverage. Part C is provided by private insurance companies who partner with institutions like Idaho Central Insurance Services to present customized options to you. Generally, you can choose between two sub-options: Medicare Advantage and Medigap. Coverage depends on county.
Part D: Covers prescription drugs. If you don’t enroll in Part D during initial enrollment, you may face a late enrollment fee.
How much Medicare coverage do you need?
While no single article or podcast can give you every piece of information you need to decide your medical care, these basics should give you a roadmap to finding quality coverage. Everyone has different medical needs and preferences, and depending on location, most people have different plans available to them.
To learn more about the Medicare coverage available to you, reach out to an Idaho Central Insurance Services agent. They’ll walk you through the specifics and provide advice tailored to your situation.
Read the Transcript
Idaho Central Insurance Services is a subsidiary of Idaho Central Credit Union. Products and services discussed in this video are separate and distinct from those provided by Idaho Central Credit Union.
Laura: Hello and welcome to Your Daily Balance, Idaho Central Credit Union’s video podcast where we’re here to bring you tips and tricks to helping you on your way to achieving financial success. And today we’re here to talk about all things insurance services. How are you, Corban?
Corban: I’m good.
Laura: Okay. This is kind of cool because, no matter what stage you are in your life, we have some new products that we want to talk about. Well, not new, I mean, but some really cool products, insurance products at Idaho Central. And you’re the specialist, so we’re going to dig right in on this. First of all, Corban Latimore, what’s your role at ICCU and our insurance services?
Corban: Yep, currently I am an Idaho Central insurance agent with Idaho Central Insurance Services where we help with all things Medicare and life insurance.
Laura: Great, and how long have you been with ICCU?
Corban: I’ve been here just over nine years now, and within my current role as an insurance agent, a little over a year and a half.
Laura: Great. And I’m sure, I’m sure you’ve learned a lot about it. And today we’re going to try to break it down for people because sometimes insurance services can be complicated. And then also, especially Medicare things. There are some, there are some key dates that we want to hit on during this podcast to really help educate our members.
Okay, so let’s first talk about the team of insurance agents that we have at ICCU. Tell me about that team and what kinds of things they cover.
Corban: Yeah, so we have an awesome team. We have six total individuals in our group. We have our manager, and we have agents in Ada County, Twin Falls, at Pocatello. And we cover all sorts of areas to cover as much of Idaho as we can. We’re looking into getting into North Idaho as well. But, yeah, our, our focus is Medicare and life insurance. So we do our best to reach out to our membership that’s approaching the age of 65 and even those over the age of 65 that are currently on Medicare or looking to retire. That’s our main focus as far as making sure they’re getting taken care of and getting those answers to the questions they’re seeking.
Laura: Yeah and when you reach out to people, you’re able to really dig into all of the different options that are available, right? So there are, we use a lot of different carriers and things like that too. How does that work? How do you kind of individualize that?
Corban: Yeah, so with Idaho Central Insurance Services, we try to be contracted with as many carriers as we can throughout Idaho, so we can provide our members with all the options that are available to them, so we don’t have to force them onto a plan that doesn’t make sense. We can provide options so they, they don’t feel pressured by any means, and they feel comfortable going with us because we’re giving them the best solution possible.
Laura: Yeah, and then you can dig into premiums and deductibles and copays and all that kind of stuff to make sure it’s something that fits for them.
Exactly. Yeah we try to make it more of an individualized approach. As far as, you know, every situation’s different for everybody. So not, it’s not a one size fits all type of plan for every area. So that’s, that’s what we do best as far as making it a more personalized approach.
Yeah. So speaking directly with Medicare, I think one of the things that, especially timely around this time of year too, is that there are some key dates that we want to hit on. I guess the first one, and it doesn’t really have to do with this time of year, is initial enrollment. That has to do with your birthday. How does that work? So 65 is the magical age, right? That’s when Medicare starts kicking in.
Yep. Yeah, it’s, that’s kind of the confusing world of Medicare. There’s all sorts of different dates and enrollment periods for everybody. But really the magic number is 65. That’s the most common one. So that’s what, what’s known as your initial enrollment period. So they give you a little bit of a window to work with when you’re aging into Medicare. So, three months before your 65th birthday and three months after. So, you essentially have a seven-month window to work with to enroll in the different parts of Medicare and along with the Advantage Plans or supplemental plans that might be available.
So if you’re approaching your 65th birthday, calling our insurance services would be the best thing to do, because you can really start exploring it from the ground up, figuring out what the best options are, and you’re going to get the best, the best coverage at that point when you start right at 65.
Exactly. Yeah, so better to get a head start on it. We have people reaching out to us well before their 65th birthday just to get a headstart on things. But yeah, when people are approaching their window, most people have a good idea of where they’re at and, you know, they’re trying not to put it off and miss the boat. So, yeah, the sooner they can reach out, the faster we can get ahead of it and show them what plans are available and making sure all parts of Medicare are lined up for them.
Okay. And then, okay, here’s the key dates: October 15th through December 7th. Tell us why those dates are so important. And I think we should say them again: October 15th through December 7th, right?
Right, yep. Yeah, this is a huge, this is the next big enrollment window for everybody that’s on Medicare. So the annual enrollment period, which is October 15th through December 7th, that is a, a huge, window for everybody to make a change on whatever plan they’re on. So, you can’t really change a plan at any point during the year, you have to do it within this window. So if there’s been any changes to your existing plan, or if you’re, for example, on a different medication that you’ve been prescribed throughout the year, and your current plan doesn’t cover it, October 15th through December 7th is the time to find a plan that’s going to cover you.
Yeah, and that, and that is super important. I think if somebody already has Medicare but they do want to explore different options or different even different providers, right? Coming to us and talking to us probably before that time period so that you can make those changes during those dates.
Exactly.
And then what’s the, what’s the other thing when you call it open enrollment?
Open enrollment–that’s another window. And so this date falls between January 1st and March 31st. And usually it’s for anybody that’s currently on a Medicare Advantage plan, allows them the option to disenroll and go back to just original Medicare or anybody who may have missed their initial enrollment window. They have a chance within that January 1st through March 31st window to pick a new plan, so they’re covered.
Good. Good. Well, I love that there’s all of that, and like you said, there are kind of a lot of key dates in there. Okay, so let’s just one more time round this out. Initial enrollment, that is when you’re turning 65, three months before, three months after.
Yep.
Okay. Annual enrollment, dates between …
October 15th and December 7th.
Okay, it’s like a quiz. And then open enrollment is between …
January 1st and March 31st.
Great. Okay. We’ve covered all of the dates. Just mark your calendars like It’s important when you’re around that that age range there. Okay So one other thing that I wanted to cover today is a brief outline of the Medicare plans. Because we hear about A B C and D and if we can just kind of break those down individually, what does A mean, and then we’ll kind of go through the letters.
Yep, so it’s the whole list of the alphabet. [cross-talk] Yep, so it’s just kind of sorting that out. So, yeah, this is where people can get confused. Within Medicare, you have Parts A, Part B, Part C, and Part D. Those are the four big parts that you need to keep in mind.
So, with Medicare Part A, this is the most common one. This is your hospital coverage. And this is the one that everybody’s been paying into. Every paycheck you get, there’s that Medicare portion that comes out that’s been going towards this premium. So, the rule of thumb is as long as you’ve worked at least 10 years or more, you’ve paid your portion into this premium, so by the time you turn 65 and are eligible for it, you no longer have a premium, you have to pay for Part A.
Oh, that’s really good.
Now Part B is your medical coverage. And Part B does have a premium, so a lot of people will overlook this. So when you do retire, and you are ready to enroll in Medicare, you enroll in Part B, and this premium fluctuates from year to year. As of this year, it’s $174. And it depends on how much you’ve made and how much you’ve claimed on taxes, but There’s different tiers, but the lowest is 174.70, and going into next year, that’ll, that’ll change.
And then, that’s original Medicare. It’s Part A and Part B. That’s kind of just the bare bones. Now where Idaho Central comes into play with Idaho Central Insurance Services is we are contracted with these carriers that carry these Part C plans. So Part C is done by the private insurance companies.
And there’s really two realms within Part C. There’s Medicare Advantage plans and there’s Supplemental or Medigap plans. And it’s one or the other. You can’t have both. So it kind of just depends on every situation. It’s not a, like I said, one size fits all. It depends on what gives people the most peace of mind is going to give them the coverage that they think is adequate for their needs.
So with Medicare Advantage plans, those are determined by county, so depending on where you live, there’s certain plans that are available and some plans that aren’t available.
Okay.
And certain plans will cover prescriptions and some things will cover co pays differently, so that’s just the thing we like to dissect and make sure people are getting set up correctly.
Can I stop you right there? Because I have a question. When people do, when it does come down to those conversations, is the best thing for them to do to reach out to you directly, to check on our website, get our contact information and reach out so they can have those detailed conversations? Because it does seem more complicated when you get down into the C & D area, right?
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s definitely a complex world. And it’s something that agents all over the world that are trying to digest as well because these plans all change from year to year. So we have to be on top of exactly what you said. It’s best to reach out to an agent, especially with Idaho Central Insurance Services, just to get that expertise and that knowledge behind it to make sure you’re not going astray and you’re getting the plan that, that you can work with throughout the rest of the year.
Yeah. Okay. I didn’t mean to like, stop you there, but now we’re into Medicare D, and that one is the prescription drug coverage, right?
Yep. Part D is kind of, that’s the easy one to associate with, prescription, just think part D prescription drugs. So it is one thing that’s, you’re going to want to have, there are late enrollment windows or penalties that, that can happen. Most importantly with part B and part D.
So if you don’t enroll in a Part B or Part D plan, when you’re 65 and first eligible, there’s potential consequence of having a late enrollment penalty down the road. So, regardless if you take prescriptions or not when you turn 65 and enroll in Medicare, you’re going to want to make sure you get a Part D prescription drug plan.
Yeah, that’s the time. That’s the time. Those are the key things that I think an expert can really help walk you through. So I appreciate that you’re here for our members. That is really awesome because it can be kind of, can be kind of complicated. Have you had any success stories with a member that you would like to share? I know we kind of talked about one ahead of time, but I think it would be really cool for, for our viewers to see that or to hear about that.
Yeah, one of my favorite stories, it was the last enrollment window or the last enrollment period for October 15th through December 7th. We had this gentleman who was on a plan that had been around for ages, and at the time last year this plan was leaving the county that he lived in.
And so when I met with him he was pretty discouraged, he’d been on this plan for 10 years. He didn’t really know if there’s anything else out there. He had a lot of health complications, was on a lot of prescriptions, so the plan he was on, he was comfortable with because he knew what it covered and what what he could use it for.
So when I met with him, he was determined that there wasn’t going to be a plan that fit him as good as the other plan.
But after doing our due diligence and kind of seeing what his needs were, we were actually able to find him an even stronger plan, that saved him a lot of money. There was a plan that had a $0 premium. He was already paying a hundred-dollar premium every month for the plan he had, but we were able to save him a hundred dollars every month, and out of all the prescriptions he was taking, we saved him over two thousand dollars for the whole year.
Oh my gosh, that’s a big deal.
Yeah, it was, it was a huge difference. And just to see the sigh of relief in his face when he’s like, I didn’t think there was anything better than what I had. And it’s just all part of what we do here with Idaho Central in general. We, we look out for their interests. We’re not trying to force them on anything that doesn’t make sense. We were able to find them a better solution.
Well, thank you so much for sharing that. I think that is fantastic. And it just really speaks to what we always do, really, at ICCU. And it’s finding ways to help our members achieve financial success. And that could be with their traditional financial products and services, but it can also be with our insurance services. So I think that’s, that’s really awesome.
Thank you.
Well, thank you so much for being here. It’s been a pleasure talking to you. Our insurance services team is here to help guide you through this process and answer any questions that you may have. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel to be notified of future episodes and we will see you next time.
*We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options. There is no obligation to enroll in order to receive our services. Not endorsed by or affiliated with Medicare. Idaho Central Insurance Services, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Idaho Central Credit Union and a licensed insurance agency. Business conducted with Idaho Central Insurance Services, LLC is separate and distinct from any business conducted with Idaho Central Credit Union. Insurance products are not products or obligations of Idaho Central Credit Union. Insurance products are not products or obligations of Idaho Central Credit Union, are not NCUA or federally insured, are not endorsed or guaranteed by Idaho Central Credit Union or any government agency and may lose value.
