Krystal Hampton, Medicare Insurance Agent

Answer: It's not mandatory however if you need a new Direct Express card, Medicare ID card, or Social Security card then yes you would need to notify them.

You would need to notify your insurance broker about your new address if you're under an advantage plan so that your policy isn't cancelled with the carrrier due to being outside of your previous service area.

But for Medicare or Social Security directly? Depends.

Answer: There really isn't a big disadvantage of Medicare Advantage plans over Medicare supplement plans or vice versa.

For Medicare supplement plans, the drawbacks would be:

-Doctors and hospitals do not have to accept the supplement.

-Premiums are around $60 to $250.

- If you get a high deductible plan G, the medical deductible is around $2400 or higher.

-Supplement coverage does not include dental, vision, hearing, or prescription drugs.

-If you don't apply around the time you obtain Medicare, enrolling in a supplement would be harder the older you get based on what happens in life (if you get sick, etc).

For Medicare Advantage plans, the drawbacks would be:

-Doctors and hospitals do not have to accept the Medicare Advantage plan.

-There may be a monthly premium of around $10-25.

-There might be a deductible to pay before using intpatient or outpatient services (typically around $375 to $750)

-Copays might be cost-share and that percentage of cost-share might be 50%

-Dental coverage might not cover comprehensive coverage (surgeries, bridges, dentures, root-canals, or even somtimes simple extractions)

Some things to know:

If you live on the East Coast there are many different advantage plans to choose from that don't have all of these pitfalls.

If you live on the West Coast or in the MidWest, then it might be preferable to lean supplement as there might not be a healthy advantage market to choose from.

Likewise if you are going through some major medical situations and are above the poverty level, it might be preferable to lean supplement as your medical costs would be covered after paying a low deductible.

If you are not unhealthy then it might be preferable to go advantage as there are other benefits (like Medicare part B reduction or consolidation of costs) you could use.

Working with an Medicare insurance broker, they'll understand the benefits and pitfalls of each section and would help you navigate which direction you would want to go.

Answer: I'll be turning 65 in April. I have full VA coverage and good hospital and doctor coverage through Eisenhower here in the desert. The VA doesn't provide dental care. Do I still need to enroll in Medicare? And if so, which part makes sense for my situation? Full disclosure, you don't have to enroll in Medicare if you don't want to, because you have full VA benefits. You can just go to the VA clinic and be a hospital for all of your services. But get this, if you were to travel anywhere outside of your hospital or your clinic, then you're going to be going into different clinics and different hospitals. And because you don't have Medicare, then you're subject to lots and lots of funds and bills that you have to pay. So it's really within your best interest to get Medicare, both Part A and Part B, and then get on what is called a Medicare Advantage Part B Giveback or Part B Buy Down option, which would lower the cost of that Part B down to where you won't necessarily have to be paying that much for your Part B. But yeah, to be honest, you don't need to be on Original Medicare. But if you're going to be traveling, doing any type of going back and forth in between your town and around the state, then yes, getting Original Medicare is more beneficial for you, as well as getting on a Part B Buy Down Medicare Advantage policy would be good for you. Now in regards to your dental care, the Medicare Advantage Part B Buy Down does include dental care. But you want to check to make sure which carrier and which policy has the benefit amounts that you would need to get that dental care. If it doesn't give you enough dental care, then given the fact that you're on a Part B Reduction policy, that's if you do get one, then you can get a standalone dental policy that better suits your dental needs. And I hope this helps.

Answer: I live in Tennessee, turned 65 in August, and signed up for Medicare Part A only. I have coverage through my wife's Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, which she'll keep for about seven more years. Will I owe a penalty now or later if I wait until she retires to get Part B? As long as you have credible coverage for Part B, you're fine. You won't owe a penalty, but when you do apply for Part B, you will have to have a separate form that you'll need to fill out saying that you did have credible coverage at the time that you waited to get Part B. Only check Medicare.gov, which is www.medicare.gov, for that information and those forms that you'll need to fill out as well. So be on the lookout for that, and I hope this helps.

Answer: Automation is helping improve efficiency and compliance by speeding up the process and how we brokers take your information. For starters, when you give us your Medicare ID, we're able to look it up through a system called Markz. Markz can then tell us what plan you're under and go a little bit deeper in the needs analysis process with you. Also, depending on whether your agent or broker is using either a service amplifier or a connector, if it's through a connector, then you yourself would be given a personal URL code where you can go in and pretty much enroll yourself into any plan you want to be enrolled in, so long as you're doing this in the annual enrollment period or open-run enrollment period. Making sure that the annual enrollment period is from October 15 through December 7, and the open enrollment period is between January 1 and March 31, so long as you're doing it in between there. But yeah, that's pretty much it. That's how automation is helping improve efficiency and compliance.

Answer: Should I worry about my income affecting my Medicare eligibility? No, you shouldn't worry about your income affecting your Medicare eligibility if you make under at least 100K. If you make under 100K, then the free part A, if you worked at least 40 hours, will be available to you. If you make over 100K, then you may want to check Medicare.gov or call 1-800-Medicare to see if you may be getting Medicare Part A at $0 or Medicare Part B at the current marketplace rate, which is at $185. Because once you get past that threshold, then it may be at cost. But don't take my word for it. Always, always, always, always check Medicare.gov or call 1-800-Medicare for that information, especially if you're making over 100K. Okay, that's it. Hope to see you soon.

Answer: Who qualifies for Medicare coverage if they're under 65? The only group of people that qualifies for Medicare coverage if they're under the age of 65 is if they are disabled and have been disabled for at least two years. That's the only group that can qualify for Medicare coverage if they're under the age of 65. So if you have a disability and you're getting Social Security Disability income and you have been getting that Social Security Disability income for at least two years, then you're able to qualify for Medicare. So I hope this helps.

Answer: Why do doctors not like Medicare Advantage plans? Well, the first big disclaimer I have to say is that not all doctors dislike Medicare Advantage plans. Just in a general sense, if I had to put a percentage on it, I would say the majority of doctors do like Medicare Advantage plans. But there is a specific cohort, usually in private practice, that don't like Medicare Advantage plans, generally based on the claims process and how to write a claim against a client's Medicare Advantage policy, and the rules do change.

So if a doctor who has a private practice needs to submit a claim against one of their patients' Medicare Advantage plans and they mistype the wrong thing, say their billing department miscoded something or mistyped the wrong thing, then it can go a long way for that claim to be paid out, or it may go through prior authorizations, and that takes a long time. So that's really the main reason why some specific doctors don't like Medicare Advantage plans.

Then the other reason, which has been talked about on specific doctors' YouTube channels, is the fact that some of them claim they are not getting paid enough with specific insurance carriers that cater to Medicare recipients. So they're saying that they're not getting paid enough for that through a Medicare Advantage plan. So that's something completely sideways as well.

Do I think they have a legitimate claim as an insurance broker? I am not at liberty to say. I mean, that is between them and the insurance carrier and the Department of Insurance for the state they live in. So yeah, that's pretty much it as to why some doctors may not like Medicare Advantage plans. Now, always keep in mind though, that you can use an in-network doctor. You don't necessarily have to use any doctor that may feel that way. So I hope this helps. Bye.

Answer: Does Medicare cover healthcare services on a cruise ship? To be honest with you, I honestly don't know the answer to this question. Generally, under Medicare, you can only go so many miles outside of the United States where Medicare will cover anything. Generally, anything outside of the United States is not covered. But you would definitely check your evidence of coverage document, also known as a member service agreement, as well as get in contact with Medicare.gov, www.medicare.gov, or call 1-800-MEDICARE to get a further explanation of that. From what I know, it only covers up to a little bit outside of the US border, and cruise ships go all over the place. They go to the Bahamas, they go to the Yucatan, they go to all the other islands in the Caribbean. So if you get off the ship, then you're in that territory, and that doesn't necessarily cover. But don't take my word for it. Definitely call 1-800-MEDICARE or check www.medicare.gov, as well as your evidence of coverage document and member service agreement in your specific plan. I hope this helps.

Answer: What role do you think technology will play in the future of Medicare? To be honest with you, I think the role of technology will be significant. We're already kind of seeing it right now with the PURL links. What's happening now with the PURL links? If anyone doesn't know, if you're using technology now, a broker can send you their URL where you can go into the area or the website, type in your zip code, put in all of your information, and you, the client or the customer, can enroll in a Medicare Advantage policy, a Medicare Supplement policy, or a standalone prescription drug policy. So that's where the future of Medicare is going. It's going completely digital. And it's really because of the cases of compliance and making sure that all Medicare-related applications are done compliantly. Gone are the days of using the telephone to enroll in a Medicare Advantage policy, a Medicare Supplement policy, or a standalone prescription drug policy. Now, based on compliance and because people have been making accusations against certain insurance agents or insurance brokers or even through insurance carriers, it's now going to be completely digital with a customer doing it themselves with their own personalized URLs from their agent or their broker and filling out all of the necessary paperwork there. So that's pretty much it.

Answer: Yes you can. You change your Medigap policy the month of your birthday and the following month only.

Answer: If you move to a rural area, you may not have a lot of Medicare Advantage policies to choose from.

If this happens to you, consider getting a Medigap policy instead which isn't location specific.

Answer: Doctors are able to enter and exit healthcare policies at will. They do not need to accept your policy.

To prevent not being able to see your doctor, consider enrolling in a PPO plan.

Answer: The most cost effective way for a health 65 year old to structure their Medicare coverage is to get a major policy and gap insurances to cover it.

Gap insurances could be for hospital and doctor's copays and coinsurances or for dental, vision and hearing copays and coinsurances.

So for a healthy 65 year old this could mean getting a Medicare Advantage policy with a gap insurance or getting a Medigap policy with a gap insurance.

They would need to speak to a licensed Medicare agent to learn more about what other savings there could be as well.

Answer: Yes you can apply for a Medigap policy during annual enrollment period, which is from October 15th through December 7th.

To do so, you would have to exchange your Medicare Advantage plan to a standalone prescription drug plan and then enroll into a guaranteed issue Medigap plan.

You can also enroll into a Medigap policy from January 1st through March 31st as well.

Answer: If your income drops after retirement, you could lower your Medicare part B premium by applying for state Medicaid.

If you are eligible for state Medicaid, apply, and then are approved for state Medicaid, your state will pay 100% of your Medicare part B premium.

If you are not eligible for state Medicaid, there are other ways to reduce your part B premium but that would require you to speak to a licensed medicare agent who can help you.

Answer: Orignal Medicare does cover asthma and other breathing conditions, but the cost may vary depending on the type of condition someone has.

Medicare part B only covers 80% of cost relating to durable medical equipment, like nebulizers but that's only after the deductible is met which is around $250.

Answer: The biggest misconception that people have about Medicare is people think that Original Medicare (part A and part B, with a prescription drug plan only not any other policy) covers everything without copays or deductibles, which couldn't be further from the truth.

Medicare part A, which covers hospital stays, has a medical deductible around $1600.

That means that the person will have to pay $1600 upfront before Medicare covers their hospital stay.

Medicare part B, which covers doctor's visits, has a medical deductible around $250 and a cost-share of around 20%.

That means that before Medicare can pay for a visit to the doctor's, the person would have to pay $250 of their bill upfront. Afterwards, the person would have to pay 20% of all costs.

So if a doctor's visit is around $1000, they would have to pay $200 every single time they visted the doctor.

Although Original Medicare covers some medical expenses, it has huge gaps and those gaps. Medicare doesn't cover all medical expenses, leaving the person with very little to pay. Medicare should be covered with additional insurance.

Not a lot of people know that and they are surprised when they learn about that!

Answer: If you are confused about if your cholesterol medication counts towards your coverage gap, check your current evidence of coverage document (also known as a member service agreement) and find the section labelled "prescription drugs".

Your evidence of coverage document will tell you whether or not covered prescriptions under your prescription drug plan count toward your coverage gap as well as other information you may not know about your prescription drug plan.

Answer: The one thing I like most about being a Medicare agent is the fact that I can help people. Whether it is fixing a current issue with their policy or finding a new policy, I'm happy when I can find an answer to someone's problem.