Medicare  Savings Programs  is also known as Medicare Buy-In programs or Medicare  Premium  Payment Programs ,  this helps you pay your Medicare costs if you have limited income and savings.  There are three main programs each with different benefits and eligibility requirements: Qualified Medicare  Beneficiary  (QMB) : Pays for Medicare Parts A and B  premiums. If you have QMB, typically   you should not be billed   for Medicare-covered services when seeing Medicare providers or providers in your   Medicare Advantage   Plan’s   network . Specified Low-income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) : Pays for Medicare  Part B  premium. Qualifying Individual (QI) Program : also pays for Medicare Part B premium. If you will enroll, you will also automatically get  Extra Help.   To qualify for an MSP, you must have Medicare  Part A  and meet income and asset guidelines.  If you do not have Pa...

Medicare   enrollment  can be complicated if you live outside the United States. This means that you do not live inside the  50 states of the U.S, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands. Although Medicare does not typically cover medical costs you receive when you live abroad, you still need to choose whether to enroll in Medicare when you become eligible or to turn down enrollment.  This is subject to consideration as well; Whether you plan to return to the U.S. Whether you are working or volunteering outside the U.S. The potential costs of delayed enrollment If you are  65 or older and qualify for Medicare , you can enroll in Medicare Parts A and B, also known as  Original Medicare , either before or after you leave the U.S . However, you must remember that Medicare will typically not cover medical care you receive outside the U.S.  Part A coverage is the best to keep eve...

Before Medicare included an optional prescription drug benefit, many members had to choose what they should do first, either to pay their electric bills and buy their groceries or getting first their prescriptions filled. However today, it has improved especially for seniors who take the time to carefully choose a Part D plan that covers their medications with potential savings each year.  Here are the seven rules of the road when choosing Part D Prescription Coverage: 1.      Know your shopping window. You have from October 15 to December 7 to shop around for a new Part D plan or change your Medicare Advantag e coverage for the following year. It’s important to keep in mind that changes will take effect starting in January, leaving you the option to change your mind more than once during the fall open enrollmen t window. And if you’re enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get anothe r opportunity to change your m...

What if I am already enrolled on a Medicare Advantage Plan and suddenly I had a change of heart, can I still make changes? There is a three-month window that started January 01 in which beneficiaries can change their coverage either by switching to another Medicare Advantage Plan, dropping it or go back to the basic Medicare plan. However, you must be aware that there are potential snags involved in the move. In other words, you must do your diligence and study your options and choices because another mistake on your choices and you will be stuck with it for the rest of the year.  The current three-month opportunity started just a few weeks after the close of Medicare’s annual fall open enrollment when a variety of options were available for those who wanted to make changes to their coverage.  For this current period, however, there are restrictions.  1. For starters, you can only switch once . This means that once you move to a different Advantage Plan o...

Some Medicare Advantage Plans cover services that are not covered by Original Medicare. Common supplemental benefits include dental care, vision care, and hearing aids. In 2019, Medicare Advantage Plans were granted more flexibility in the supplemental benefits. This includes the ability to offer benefits that are not directly considered medical care and this might include in-home supports and home modifications. For this year, 2020, plans are now allowed to begin offering supplemental benefits that are not primarily health-related for individuals who have chronic illnesses. These benefits might include meal delivery, transportation for non-medical needs, and home air cleaners.  Fact:  Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes referred to as Part C, contract with the federal government and are paid a fixed amount per person to provide Medicare benefits. Plans must provide all Part A and Part B services offered by Original Medicare, but can do so wit...