Rick Bechtel, Medicare Insurance Broker

Answer: If, by "long-term care," the hospital is referring to a Skilled Nursing Facility, then that would be covered by Medicare for up to 20 days with no copay, once you meet the $1,736 deductible. After that 20-day period. After that, you would have no coverage. On the other hand, if by "long-term care," they are referring to a Long-Term-Care facility, per se - e.g. a nursing home - then that lies outside of the bounds of Medicare coverage.

Answer: Not enough to go on here. It matters whether your United Healthcare plan is an Advantage plan or Medigap insurance. It also matters whether the "Moda Supplement" plan you refer to is a Medigap plan. So, here are two possible answers:

a) If your United plan is an Advantage plan, you can wait until Dec. to do the Moda enrollment. However, you will need to also enroll in a Part D prescription drug plan, also to take effect on Jan. 1. In that case, your Advantage plan will automatically be cancelled as of the end of December.

b) If your United plan and Moda plan are both Medigap plans, then you can switch into the Moda plan at any point and have it take effect on the first day of the following month. However, you can, if you wish, switch to a different Part D plan during the Annual Enrollment Period, and the new plan will also take effect on Jan. 1.

Answer: Medicare does cover Cologuard and the FIT stool test once every three years (under Part B). However the new blood test or CT colonography are not covered. If one of these comes back positive, your first step should be to visit your primary care physician to get a proper diagnosis and determine next step(s).

Answer: Medicare provides coverage for a stay in a skilled nursing facility, but does not cover long-term care. Therefore, nor do Medicare Advantage plans, nor Medigap insurance. Long-term care insurance is an entirely separate concept.

Answer: A couple of ways. Obviously you can call your providers (or visit their website, in many cases), and they can tell you. Or, you can visit www.medicare.gov, which provides a method by which you can specify your doctors and it will tell you which plans they are in network with. Or, if you have a plan or two in mind, you can visit their websites and do a search there.

Answer: Potentially, yes, in some limited circumstances. Medicare coverage for kids is only intended for children with disabilities. The child must be under 22, and can be covered until they turn 26. Their parent or guardian must have met certain work-related requirements. Other conditions apply, as well.

Answer: The ANOCs are generally sent out in September - often later September. If you get into October and haven't received it (or perhaps you mistook it for junk mail and tossed it), you can either call Member Services and have them send you another, or log into your carrier's website, which should have a link that you can click to see it online. If you have questions, the most direct place to ask them is by calling your plan's Member Services number - on your Member card.

Answer: First, Aetna should inform you by letter if your hospital is going out of network. Aside from that, you can contact Aetna Member Services (number on your card) or call your hospital. Finally, once the Annual Enrollment Period begins (10/15 - 12/7), you can check on Aetna's website to see if it shows your hospital in network for next year.

Answer: Pretty much anything. You can change from one Advantage plan to another. You can disenroll from your Advantage plan and switch to Medigap insurance along with a Part D prescription drug plan. You can disenroll from Medigap and go into an Advantage plan. Etc. You even can revert to just traditional Medicare - although that would subject you to considerable financial exposure.

Answer: The answer is, you can. It's more a question of whether you will have coverage. With Medicare, itself, or with Medigap insurance, you can see any doctor who accepts Medicare. Advantage plans, however, do have networks, and going outside the network can result in paying a higher share of the cost.

Answer: You will have a two-month period in which to enroll in Medicare based on when your creditable coverage at work comes to an end. You then also will have a Special Enrollment Period in which to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan or Medigap insurance (together with a Part D plan). You will need to submit a form signed by both yourself and your employer which attests to the fact that you have had "creditable" coverage since turning 65.

Answer: Multiple answers: Yes, in that every Advantage plan provides coverage for a visit to an urgent care center or ER. Some plans (both PPO and HMO) do also provide coverage to providers anywhere in the U.S. who are in network in that location. You would go to the plan's website, enter the local zip code, and you can then see the list of network providers. A visit to any of them will be treated as in-network even though you do not live in that location.

Answer: If you are being helped by an agent, the agent should investigate available plans in part based on the network status of your providers. If not, you can go to www.medicare.gov, where you can enter your providers (prescriptions as well), and it will show you which plans have them in network.

Answer: Yes. The 20-employee rule applies to the number of employees covered by the employer's group plan.

Answer: If you are not working with a registered agent or broker, you can visit www.medicare.gov, which provides a means by which you can enter your prescriptions, specify your doctors, and indicate which pharmacies you want to look at. From there, the system will show you available Advantage plans rank-ordered by their annual combined premium + prescription copays.

Answer: You can, although it is quite expensive. You and your doctor should discuss your options at that point. It also will depend on what kind of supplemental coverage you have. Some Advantage plans, for example, have better coverage through that period than does Medicare, itself. As for Medicare, itself, that coverage can only restart after you go through a minimum 60-day period without being in the SNF. This is much the same as for hospital visits. It's all about so-called "Benefit Periods."

Answer: It's not clear what your actual question is, but it's impossible to give you a completely detailed answer, given the number of variables you've provided.

What I can tell you is that, once you turn 65, your Medicare will continue as it is now.

However, your C-SNP implied Medicaid coverage, and that will evolve into the post-65 version. Whether your C-SNP will still be compatible will depend on the C-SNP, itself. Something you'll need to look into. If not, there will certainly be other C-SNPs available.

Answer: To begin with, HealthSpring is a Medigap plan. Both Medicare, itself, and Medigap plans have no networks, per se. You can visit any provider who accepts Medicare.

That said, you should begin by examining whether, or to what extent, your providers lie outside of the network for your company plan. If that is minimal, then it may not be worth continuing to pay both Part B and Medigap premiums - which could easily exceed any higher copays you might encounter.

However, the other issue - which I would need to research further - is whether you can have coverage by the group plan, Medicare and Medigap. You can have Medicare as the secondary payer behind your group plan, but that may be all.

Answer: To my knowledge, no, although this is something of an esoteric question. If by "Medicaid Ends," you mean that Medicaid suddenly no longer covers your Part B premiums, then there won't be any other way to escape having to pay those, yourself. If you don't, you likely will lose Part B at some point, and then will begin to accumulate penalties.

Answer: If I'm reading your question correctly, the one option available to you (if it works) is to request a one-year look-back, rather than the standard two-year. This can make a difference if your income was significantly lower that year, than for the year before. There is a form you can use to make this request.

Answer: The Medicare landscape has become more and more complicated and confusing year-by-year, which results in two reasons to seek professional help: (a) To avoid the otherwise enormous challenge of mastering Medicare oneself, and (b) To guard against errors with potentially costly consequences. Medicare agents are licensed within their states, and are appointed with both Medicare and those insurance carriers with whom they work (often more than one). They undergo rigorous training every year, and their work is highly regulated. Additionally, their services are entirely free of charge to their clients. Basically, working with an agent is a way to access that expertise and feel confident about the decision(s) you reach, at no cost to you.

Answer: To some extent, Part D enrollment periods overlap with those for Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans - e.g., the Initial Enrollment Period (7 months surrounding one's 65th birthday) and Annual Election Period (Oct. 15 to Dec. 7), along with a host of Special Enrollment Periods relating to specific events such as moving to a different county or retiring and losing group coverage. There also are Part D Special Enrollment Periods for folks who are also enrolled in Medicaid and/or Medicare's Limited Income Subsidy (LIS) program. One common misconception has to do with Medigap insurance. A Part D plan is required of anyone enrolled in Medigap, but while Medigap enrollment can be done at any time of year, such is not the case for Part D plans.