It is time to remind all seniors that the Medicare Open Enrollment period begins on October 15, 2018 and runs through December 7, 2018. During this time, beneficiaries can make changes to their Medicare supplemental coverage. These dates are important because once the enrollment period has ended no further changes to Medicare enrollment can be made until the following year. If you are not satisfied with your current insurance coverage or uncertain about it, this is the time to seek good advice.
During this 8-week period, seniors may join a new Medicare Advantage Plan or Part D prescription drug plan, switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage Plan or switch from a Medicare Advantage Plan to Original Medicare (with or without a Part D plan). OurSeniors.net exists to help meet the needs of seniors in all ways possible and helping with medical insurance and Medicare questions has to be at the top of every senior’s ‘needs list.’
Seniors should be thinking about their 2019 enrollment choices now. If you have any unanswered questions, there is a new OurSeniors.net partner and Approved Vendor who can help. Humana is a well-known name in healthcare, especially in senior care, and the Medicare Open Enrollment period is the perfect time to talk to them about your Medicare options. Have you investigated the extras provided by Medicare Advantage Plans? Do you know which plans have network requirements, include drug coverage or offer benefits like the SilverSneakers® Fitness Program?
Humana’s Daytona Beach
Humana’s Daytona Beach office is located at 1500 Beville Road. Seniors can call the office at 386-200-4191 to get full information about the many choices open to them. Do not put this important decision off. The choice you make between October 15th and December 7th will determine your health care options for 2019!
There is another new Medicare development that will affect almost every one of our seniors! You should soon be getting a new Medicare card if you have not already received it. The old Medicare cards identified beneficiaries by their Social Security numbers, and that was regarded as a security risk. It could be too easily copied and used as a doorway to identity theft. The new cards will use something called a “Medicare Beneficiary Identifier” or MBI.
Each Medicare patient will have a unique identifier containing eleven characters that may be either numbers or letters. These characters are randomly generated by computer and assigned to a unique Medicare recipient, like you. Here is an example: 1HT9-KR4-NB46. This identifier number is used only for Medicare insurance claims, and nothing else. This is very different from a Social Security number that often finds its way onto tax returns, bank accounts and other important (and confidential) documents.
There will probably be “fake news” stories about some plot connected with the new cards, but the characters have no meaning, hidden or obvious. The MBI’s 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th characters will always be a letter, while characters 1, 4, 7, 10, and 11 will always be a number. The 3rd and 6th characters may be a letter or a number.
Here are some things to know about the new cards and their MBIs
- You should start using the new card as soon as it is received. The new card is a replacement for, not an addition to, your old Medicare card. You can probably destroy your old card safely, but if you want to keep it for any reason, put it away in a safe place and do not carry it.
- The dashes seen above aren’t used as part of the MBI. They won’t be entered into computer systems or used in file formats. If you enter your MBI by hand on written documents, there may be no space for the dashes. Do not be upset by this.
- Doctors’ offices and other providers will be able to start using the new identifier right away, so take it with you.
- Do not be tempted to use the MBI as a password or other identifier. The whole point of this new system is to make the identifier absolutely unique to Medicare insurance, not a widely used item like your Social Security number.
- Get used to hearing it called an “identifier,” not a “number.” Remember that its characters are both letters and numbers.
Medicare is one of the most important elements in any senior lifestyle, and nowhere is this more important than in the senior living, Florida life! The health and wellbeing of Florida’s seniors is absolutely vital to the future of our state. OurSeniors.net will continue to keep its readers and viewers informed on this most important topic.
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You can contact an OurSeniors.net Advisor by phone at 866-333-2657 (se habla Español), or by using Contact Us. Check out our website at OurSeniors.net and take an online look at our senior living magazine, OurSeniors.net Magazine. You can view the entire OurSeniors.net Directory of Approved Vendors by just clicking its link.
