Ep. 86: End of Year Investing and Medicare Planning

Medicare Open Enrollment is now open! For the fall of 2017, the annual election period (AEP) will be from October 15th to December 30th in the Central Florida area (the deadline has been pushed back from December 7th due to Hurricane Irma).

There are many things that you will be able to do during this period, including switching from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, enroll in a Medicare Part D Plan, switch from Medicare to Medicare Advantage (or vice versa), and a few other things as well. In this week’s show, we cover some specific questions about this Annual Election Period to help make sure you have the information you’ll need.

Here were some of the main questions we were able to answer about who can take advantage of this annual election period.

 

Who is the annual election period applicable too?

This period is applicable for people that are over 65 and currently on Medicare, typically on Part A and Part B, that either have a Part D, or a Medicare Advantage Plan that wish to make changes.

Individuals who are retiring, who have not yet turned on their Part B or are losing benefits because of retirement, will receive a special election period loss of employment group coverage. So the December 30th deadline is not even applicable to these individuals, they have a completely different time period.

What if you are disabled and on Medicare, does this election period still apply to you?

Yes, it absolutely still applies to you. The same election period will apply to you as it does for the individuals described above.

What if you are 64 & 1/2, and you will be taking Medicare in 6 months, does this apply to you?

Unforanetly, no it does not apply to those individuals. In fact, someone who is turning 65 in December will not be able to utilize this election period. individuals turning 65 have a 7-month window to make their decisions around Medicare, as well as 3 months before and 3 months after their 65th birthday before any penalties occur.

 

Greg Russler joins us this week to discuss everything you’ll need to know about Medicare and the Annual Election Period!

Episode 86: End of Year Investing and Medicare Planning

 

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