How to Choose an Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan
five QUESTIONS to narrow your search and find your top plan
Process of Elimination
It’s hard to compare Medicare Advantage plans side by side, and if you have more than a few plans to choose form in your area, it becomes pretty much impossible. That’s why I recommend beginning your plan search with a process of elimination.
Use these five questions to narrow down your options to just a few top choices:
Does this plan cover my prescriptions?
Does the premium on this plan fit my budget?
Does this plan have at least a 3.5 star rating?
Are my doctors in this plan’s network?
Are the best hospitals in my area in this plan’s network?
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Questions 1 - 3: use the Medicare Plan finder tool
The Medicare Plan Finder is a simple web-tool run by Medicare that allows you to filter plans based on prescription drug coverage, monthly premium, star rating, and other metrics. Plug in some basic info about yourseld, and use the automatic filters to screen out plans that don’t meet your criteria for the first three questions.
Medicare Plan Finder Tool
https://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/questions/home.aspx
Alright let’s do the old cooking show trick and say that that’s already all done. You should now have a shorter list of plans that match your needs, and are ready to move on to step 4.
Questions 4 and 5: Check the Networks
Once you have that list of plans, you are going to have to do a little legwork to answer questions 4 and 5 . Make a list of doctors and hospitals that are important to you, and find the provider directory for each plan on the plan website. The directory might be listed as the ‘doctor lookup tool’, ‘provider lookup’, or something similar. Plug in your doctors names, and make sure they are in network at the correct location.
This step can be challenging, because plan websites are not always laid out clearly. Another option is to call the plan, but I don’t recommend this because you’ll be put on the phone with a telesales agent who will try to sign you up for a plan from their company then and there, over the phone.
Compare Results
After steps one through five, most people will have shortened their list to just a few plans. Now you can look through the plan benefits, and see which once covers what’s important to you, at the best price.
Want me to do the work for you?
Just fill out the form below and I’ll get back to you with your custom short-list of plans.