The idea that the new administration is planning to privatized Medicare should make us all break out in sweats! I have been on the phone with a senior (age 85) for two hours. We have been speaking to an AON representative in order to enroll in new medical coverage because Merck has eliminated their retiree coverage. What she has had to go through in order to enroll with my help, her daughters help, and the help of the AON representative is reprehensible!
She has had to:
1. Provide a list of all medications for her and her husband who is in assisted living. These medications have to include name, dosage, how often she refills the prescriptions, etc.
2. Provide a list of doctors for her and her husband who is in assisted living.
3. Enter in an online application – by me or the rep since the senior doesn’t know how to do this.
4. Use all input information to see what plans fit her needs. This requires analysis of the plans, looking at premiums, out of pocket costs, understanding preferred pharmacies, and more!
5. Select the supplemental and pharmacy plans.
6. Call AON and tell them what she wants once she has selected her plans.
7. Fill out applications for the plans selected for both her and her husband online OR by phone with the representative.
8. Call AON to verbally select and confirm her choices once she completes the applications.
9. On the confirmation call, the representative reads A VERY LONG legal disclaimer, very fast and then asks my client to state that she understands and agrees.
10. Then, the client is given a confirmation number.
My client needs to go through this all for herself and her husband! So imagine listening to these legal disclaimers for each plan selected during the calls! For this client, she listened to 4 legal disclaimers and had to agree to each one to move forward.
Now that she has enrolled, she needs to wait for calls from the plans chosen and confirm AGAIN! Then, she needs to wait for her cards to arrive in the mail. On top of this, there will be no standard coverage for seniors as there is now with Medicare! Coverage could differ greatly depending on the plan they have!
Think about the seniors in your life! Think about what this is going to mean for them and you!