5 common Medicare Open Enrollment mistakes

The rules can be mystifying, so before you make any decisions or change your current plan, do your homework carefully to avoid potentially expensive mistakes, and to ensure you reap new benefits enacted under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks LaSure.

If you want to make a change, the time to do so is during Open Enrollment, which runs from October 15 through December 7 each year. Current Medicare beneficiaries (including those in Medicare Advantage plans) can sign up for or change their Part D prescription drug coverage, switch between Medicare Advantage (MA) plans or between MA and traditional Medicare coverage.    

New Medicare enrollments normally take place just before, during, or after your 65^th birthday month. If you miss that window, you must wait you to enroll until the first quarter of the year (anytime between Jan 1 and March 31). In some situations, you may have to pay a penalty. In other cases, you may qualify for a Special Enrollment Period and avoid additional lifetime surcharges.

New benefits save beneficiaries money

Some benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act are already in effect. These include a $35 monthly cap on insulin and coverage of all CDC-recommended vaccines for anyone 65 or older. Brooks LaSure highlighted elimination of cost-sharing for the shingles vaccine, an option that often previously cost an older individual several hundred dollars out of pocket.

Other benefits will be rolled out over the next few years, including capping prescription drug costs. Eligibility for the low income subsidy program, Extra Help expands in 2024 as well. The program helps more people afford their Part D prescription drug plan…