2015 Medicare Changes
The New Year is bringing new changes to Medicare, and Senior Financial Group wants to help you stay informed for 2015! Call our office at (865)777-0153 if you have any questions about how these changes may affect you.
Part A:
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- If you pay a premium for Part A to help cover hospital care, which most people with Medicare do not, that premium is dropping in 2015 to $407 per month (as opposed to $426), and the annual deductible is rising to $1,260 (as opposed to$1,216 in 2014)
Part B:
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- Helps pay for doctor bills, outpatient care, durable medical equipment, etc.
- Requires a monthly premium and an annual deductible.
- Part B costs will remain the same: $104.90 a month for the premium and $147 for the deductible.
Affordable Care Act:
- Due to the ACA, people with Medicare no longer have co-pays for a long list of Medicare-covered preventive health services (including flu vaccinations, Hepatitis B vaccinations, and screenings for breast, colorectal, prostate cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease). Also includes counseling for depression and alcohol abuse and smoking addictions.
- You get a one-time “Welcome to Medicare” visit with your doctor during your first 12 months of Part B enrollment, as well as a covered annual “wellness” visit intended to keep up with a personalized plan to prevent disease/disability based on your current risk factors.
- ACA also is gradually closing the “donut hole”/coverage gap in Medicare Part D. Once you enter the gap in 2015, you pay 45 percent of the plan’s cost for covered brand-name drugs and 65 percent of the plan’s cost for covered generic drugs until you reach the end of the gap. (Not everyone will enter the coverage gap because their drug costs won’t be high enough.)
To learn more, check out http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/local/14259171-113/medicare-health-2015-gap.