It’s that time of year again – open enrollment for Medicare and insurance coverage through many employers.
- Medicare open enrollment: October 15, 2022 – December 7, 2022
- Employer open enrollment: commonly in October or November (always confirm the dates with your HR Department)
When reviewing coverage and possible changes, we consider the following:
1 – How’s it working for you?
If you are not happy with your current coverage, this is the perfect time to make a change. If you are happy with it (perhaps because you haven’t used it?), then it may be fine to stay with what you have. An annual review of the options is always good.
2 – Has something changed in your life?
For health insurance, some of the common changes are adding a family member (or dropping a family member from coverage) or a change in health conditions.
On a personal note, a family member recently developed a new chronic condition that has baseline medical costs (assuming no complications) of around $20,000/yr before insurance. While insurance is covering everything well this year, you can bet I’ll be checking our options in more detail every year going forward.
3 – Has something changed in your plan?
Many things can change in insurance plans, including premiums, coverage, and in-network providers.
We recently saw the following changes in a retiree’s Medicare Part D plan. For 5 years she was paying relatively low premiums for Part D prescription coverage. This fall, she was notified that the monthly premium will triple in 2023. The annual premium will increase from less than $250 to over $600 per year. For this retiree, the annual review can be made by looking at published data on a state website.
Washington state retirees can compare plans here.
2023 Part D information is here.
4 – Will prior elections continue or roll over? Or do you need to sign up to continue the benefit?
If there are no changes to a health plan, the default option is typically to keep the plan and make no changes. If the plan changes, you might be moved into a different default option. For some other benefits, such as certain types of FSAs, we sometimes see that the default is set at $0 even if you contributed in the current year. If you do not elect a higher amount, you will not be able to participate in it.
The information on this site is not intended as tax, accounting or legal advice, as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as an endorsement of any company, security, fund, or other securities or non-securities offering. The information on this site should not be relied upon for purposes of transacting in securities or other investment vehicles.
The information on this site is provided “AS IS” and without warranties of any kind either express or implied. To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable laws, Big Red Abacus, LLC dba Abacus Financial Planning disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to: implied warranties of merchantability, non-infringement, and suitability for a particular purpose.
AFP does not warrant that the information will be free from error. Your use of the information is at your sole risk. Under no circumstances shall AFP be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential damages that result from the use of, or the inability to use, the information provided on this site, even if AFP or an AFP authorized representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Information contained on this site should not be considered a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any security in any jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation, or recommendation would be unlawful or unauthorized.
The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy/convenience. When you link to any of the websites provided here, you are leaving this website. We make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these websites. Abacus Financial Planning is not liable for any direct or indirect technical or system issues or any consequences arising out of your access to or your use of third-party technology, websites, information and programs made available through this website. When you access one of these websites, you are leaving our website and assume total responsibility and risk for use of the websites you are visiting. Abacus Financial Planning does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to Abacus Financial Planning’s website or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility thereof.