Medicare is a hot topic for you and your parents. Today on AM Buffalo we walk you through an event that will pave the way to a sea of answers. Medicare Enrollment Fair and Expo is hosted by Sheridan Benefits and is taking place at Samuel’s Grande Manor on November 9th. It is sponsored by the three local insurance carriers, Independent Health, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Univera Healthcare.
Cathy Aquino, vice president sales, Medicare, consumer and small group market at Independent Health Association says we are in the annual enrollment period. It is the once-a-year time that Medicare beneficiaries are able to make a change with the current plan you are enrolled in and or change plans and enroll in a new one for a period during this time which is effective for January 2023.
What are some of the highlights from these companies?
Tom Sass, vice president of consumer markets at Highmark says, “Our plans are getting better and one of the benefits we are really proud of to be able to offer is comprehensive dental.” He says dental health is important to people as much as their medical health. Also, other benefits that are important like primary care and specialist co-pays.
Andrew Napierala, vice president, Medicare and individual market sales at Univera Health Care says, “Similar to what Tom mentioned, dental is something we are adding. We are keeping our preventative dental in there at zero cost share. We are also adding comprehensive dental and a $1,000 allowance every year.” He says it is something people have been asking for long time and they are happy to bring it to the market. Andrew says the other thing they are very happy about this year is PPO vs. HMO. They are introducing a PPO plan for some extended out of area coverage. It is going to have a $19 price point and he says it is good for people who travel out of the area or are snowbirds. He goes on to say that plan is going to have a flex card and people can have $500 on it that they can use for dental, vision or hearing.
Cathy says in 20223, Independent Health will continue their HMO and PPO plans and new for select plans is the PERS device. PERS is the Personal Emergency Response Service at no cost to their members. She says, “In addition we have a variety of zeros across our benefit plans, so we have zero-dollar co-payments for primary doctor visits, zero dollar co-payments for tier one medications and preventative services are at no cost. In addition, our preventative and routine dental services and routine eye exams as well as our gym membership, the Silver Sneakers program is at no cost for our customer.”
Maria Schenk, Sheridan Benefits says they are excited to be hosting this event on with sponsorship from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Univera Healthcare and Independent Health. She says, “ It is a very important time of year for anybody on Medicare and we are bringing this together so there is a one-stop shop where everybody can come out and hear about all these great enhancements to all these products to see what is going to be best for them”
What should you bring? You should bring what you currently have today, a list of providers you have today and not just your doctors but where you go for lab work, hospitals, everything and a list of your medications.
For more information go to https://sheridanbenefits.com/
