Your fall Medicare enrollment checklist
How to effectively and efficiently re-evaluate your prescription drug or Medicare Advantage coverage
Healthcare is one of the most significant expenses in retirement, and making smart choices about your Medicare enrollment can help you manage these costs.
One of the best ways to be smart about Medicare is to pay attention during the annual fall enrollment season, which began on Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. This is the time of year when you can switch between Original Medicare and Advantage, or make changes to your current Part D or Advantage plan coverage to make sure you're getting the best deal financially--and the best match of healthcare providers and drug coverage.
Even if you like your current coverage, it can pay to take a careful look at your options during open enrollment. The design of your prescription drug plan coverage can change annually, and Advantage plans can make changes to their networks of healthcare providers at any time.
If you're enrolled only in original Medicare with a Medigap supplemental plan, there's no need to re-evaluate your Medigap coverage. But if you have original Medicare and a Part D drug plan, it definitely makes sense to review your drug plan annually to see what drugs will be covered and at what cost, and how they will be delivered.
In my latest Morningstar column, I run down the options for 2022 Medicare enrollment. (Note: the column is outside Morningstar’s paywall right now, but that probably won’t last, so check it out soon!)
Over-the-counter hearing aids
The Food and Drug Administration outlined a plan to make hearing aids available without a medical exam. That would create a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids that could help improve access to and reduce the cost of the devices for people with mild to moderate hearing impairments. Audio companies such as Bose and Apple are developing inexpensive devices for the expected new market.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-studying-potential-of-airpods-as-health-device-11634122800?st=hbhf8uir60dfsd0&reflink=article_gmail_share