While Medicare offers great options for more comprehensive coverages, Preventive care is one that is often overlooked. Prevention is the best way to insure overall health. Medicare has 2 categories of Preventive care: “New to Medicare” and Yearly “Wellness” Visit. To learn more about these types of services, you can go to the link listed below.
http://www.medicare.gov/coverage/preventive-visit-and-yearly-wellness-exams.html
One of the more common questions I get from my Medicare Plan clients is regarding their ability to find a doctor who accepts Medicare. For those that elect Original Medicare and may have a Medicare Supplement, the answer is good news. Even though there are many news reports that make it seem like doctors are not accepting Medicare, I found data that shows that 91% of doctors accept new Medicare patients on a national average. I find that it is even higher for patients who continue to see their current doctor. The data showed that only about 1% of doctors have “opted out” of Medicare. I searched the internet and the best data I could find was from an article about a year and a half ago that used data collected in 2012. I will try to keep my clients updated as new data is made available. If you want to read more about the study, click on the link below.
The federal government recently released data showing the top drugs and drug costs for Medicare Part D drug plan members. Not surprisingly, brand name drugs lead the list. The result is a big portion of the total drug costs go to a few name brand drugs that have generic equivalents. What does this mean to you? Ask your doctor if there are generic alternatives that you could use. It could save you a lot of money.
For more details, go to the article linked below.