Why is it so important to consider taking a look at your healthcare plan during open enrollment? Laura Mongeon, executive director, United Healthcare Medicare & retirement, New York says choosing a Medicare plan is the most important decision a person can make, not only for their health and wellbeing, but also for your wallet. She says you really need to take the time between today and tomorrow to make those decisions if you haven’t already done so. Look at your current coverage and see if anything has changed for next year, does it still meet my needs overall. Laura says by overall needs it means their health needs and also meeting their overall budget needs.
What should you look for in a healthcare plan? Laura says really when you are looking at a healthcare plan or a Medicare Advantage plan, you are looking for access to care and making sure it meets your needs. Also making sure it includes your preferred doctors; does it have your primary care physicians, your preferred hospitals, specialists which is so important. Medicare Advantage offers those additional benefits that people really like. She says they offer vision, dental and we also offer wellness benefits and that’s so important and if someone is comfortable using their wellness benefits virtually we have that and we also have the wellness benefits that offers gyms or the local health clubs around us, so it is really important to pick out what is really important to them. Laura says one of the most important things to look at is if they are taking medications, are they covered? She says to take a look at your current list of medications that you are taking and make sure that they are covered, not only for this year but also for next year and make sure you are looking at your total out-of-pocket cost. Laura says that means is there any kind of deductible, is there a prescription co-pay and also check with your plan because we offer different programs. She says we offer a Medicare insulin savings program so if someone is on insulin they would only pay $35 for covered prescription, which is a very big savings for some people.
For more information go to UHCmedicarehealthplans.com
If you would like to talk to someone, give them at call 844-678-7838 (TTY:711)
