Welcome Back to our Medicare, Health Insurance & Retirement Newsletter! | |
Happy Labor Day, Everyone!
It's hard to believe it's already September and thus fall is right around the corner, but I hope that everyone is soaking in the last bit of Summer and enjoying the sun.
As always, please call me directly if there’s ever anything I can do for you or yours. Thank you for letting me help you with your health care needs! Feel free to forward this to anyone who it may help.
If you do not wish to receive these updates, feel free to Unsubscribe at the bottom.
Cheers,
Brianna Henward
207-691-1412
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Important Upcoming Dates
Medicare Dates:
October 1st: 2025 Medicare Plan Information Released
Look for your ANOC (annual notice of change) in the mail
October 15th: Medicare Open Enrollment Begins
This is when you can make any changes to your plans for January 1st
December 7th: Last Day of Open Enrollment
If your current plan leaves your zip code or you turned 65, then you have until the last of December to make your change.
Health Insurance Marketplace Dates:
October 15th: 2025 Marketplace Plan Information Released
November 1st: Marketplace Open Enrollment Begins
For Maine, it's CoverME.gov.
For New Hampshire, it's HealthCare.gov
December 15th: Last Day to make a change for January 1st
January 15th: Last Day of Open Enrollment
New plan starts February 1st
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Medicare Corner: Part D in 2025 Expanded | |
As I talked about in July, Part D of Medicare is being updated and improved for 2025. If you've been on Medicare, you know that the Coverage Gap, or Donut Hole, is a big problem for people with pricey prescriptions and is also a confusing system. For 2025, that is going away.
Below is nice info graphic explaining the new $2000 max out of pocket that all Medicare Drug plans will be required to have. Please recognize that the $2k max includes your deductible. You do not pay both separately.
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Medicare Prescription Payment Plan
Lastly, this change also includes the creation of the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan (MPPP). Every Medicare drug plan, including both stand-alone Part Ds and the drug plans included in Medicare Advantage plans, will be offering the MPPP. If you opt in, the MPPP will spread out the 2k over the course of the year. You would pay nothing at the pharmacy, but instead get billed each month by the Drug Plan.
For example if you had multiple expensive prescriptions, you may prefer to spread those costs out starting in January and enroll in the MPPP. Thus the $2000 cap divided by 12 months in 2025, mean you would have a monthly payment of $166.67 and then have no additional costs of your covered prescriptions.
This is Optional. If you don't have large drugs costs, it is covered by QMB/Medicaid or just prefer to pay upfront, simple do not opt in. If you change your mind, you can always opt in later and spread your remaining amount over the remaining number of months.
I'm always around if you have questions on this going forward.
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Retirement Corner: Hire the Right Help | |
Typically, I speak on more hard facts and policies in these segments but today I wanted to remind you to have financial professionals in your life that have the heart of a teacher and the love of knowledge.
Your retirement planner and financial advisor is the quarter back of your retirement team, leading the charge for your tax advisor, attorney and health insurance broker. They're the person you turn to for the most up to date information and for answers. Make sure you trust them.
I've grown up in the retirement space with both my parents being Medicare Advisors since 2007, with me joining in 2019, and then my husband becoming one. Due to this, I know and recommend a lot of financial advisors. I also do not recommend some. It is not a one-size-fits-all field. My three biggest tips are:
- Look for a Fiduciary Standard. Financial Advisors who are also Fiduciaries are required, by law, to legally act in your best interest. The other side of this coin is the "Suitability Standard" that some Advisors adhere to - a suitability standard states that the moves they make for you need to be suitable, but do not need to be in your best interest, and thus are often high commission products for the advisor. Ask the question when you meet them and make sure they're not Life Insurance Salesmen in disguise.
- Find an advisor that aligns with your core values. Are you a devout Christian? A Christian advisor may be a better fit and may prevent investments in things that don't align with your beliefs. Do you prefer to shop local? Then look for someone in your state or close by - it'll likely lead to better service and a closer relationship with your advisor. Someone of high net worth will likely need someone with expertise in that, such as a Wealth Management firm. Lastly, sometimes people are most comfortable with an advisor of their own gender, and that's okay! It needs to be the best choice for you.
- Trust Your Gut: Too often, I hear of clients being unhappy with their advisor but feel bad changing. If you do not trust your advisor's knowledge, integrity or focus, you owe it to yourself to explore other options. Ask your friends who they use and how their experience has been and you may find that you're missing out.
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Under 65 Health Care Corner:
Pregnancy, How It Charges and Medicaid Coverage
Labor and Delivery is often a large healthcare expense for growing families and I get a lot of questions on how the coverage works given that it's one person becoming two. Typically, it works like this:
Prenatal, Labor, Delivery and care for both Mother and Newborn are all charged under the mother up until the mother's discharged from the hospital. This will often mean hitting her max out of pocket for the year.
If the newborn needs to stay in the hospital longer after the mother is released, the child is added to the insurance and starts paying towards his or her own Deductible and Max Out of Pocket.
All Marketplace plans cover Well-Baby and well-child visits without charge and without deductible.
Lastly, Medicaid (state, income based health coverage) is expanded for pregnant mothers in Maine and New Hampshire so you may be eligible for no-cost coverage. Once eligible, you and your baby will have coverage for 12 months after birth.
For example, if a couple in New Hampshire made less than $4,218 a month, the pregnant mother would qualify for her and her baby. In Maine that number is $4,605 a month and in both state it increases with family size. If there are concerns about financially handling the birth of a child in your life, please reach out.
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Wellness Corner:
Debunking Carb Myths: Essential Guide to Carbs for Healthy Aging
A segment from our friend's at Bartlett Fitness - full article linked at the bottom:
Debunking Myths: Carbs Aren't the Enemy
Carbs are increasingly viewed as the enemy in many diets and taking in any carbs to be responsible for gaining weight. This misunderstanding is largely pushed by people trying to push their solution to the problem as opposed to viewing it as a possible solution. It is significantly easier to just say don’t eat this certain thing or put a label on something as bad to stay away from. In reality, the issue is more straightforward than it seems. This fear of carbs comes in cycles, one year it is the Atkins Diet, then the next year it is another diet, then it circles back to the keto diet which is largely the exact same as the Atkins Diet. All of them with the target of making the larger public scared of carbs or put on their specific plan to sell on their product. It does seem so far that the keto diet has taken over a lot stronger and the messaging is very overwhelming with the vilification of carbs taking over.
The idea that carbs cause weight gain stems from a misunderstanding. It's not that carbs immediately turn into fat; rather, weight gain happens when we consume more calories than we burn. Carbs aren’t readily available to be stored as fat to begin with, if the surplus is large enough then they will become stored as fat but this surplus is much more important than them being carbs. It is the amount of food that you eat going over your expenditure that will cause the weight gain. The original thought was that because carbs are so easy to take in they’re going to cause you to gain weight which then over time has been muddied down to all carbs are making you gain weight. People have gone so far as to say that fruits are bad because of the carbs. The thing that is important here is the sheer amount of food as opposed to them being carbs themselves. There is a grain of truth here that comes from simple carbs and added sugars. The simple carbs and added sugars offer little to no nutritional value and take significantly longer to fill you up making the total amount of calories eaten significantly higher. This is where we come to the nutritional density versus the caloric density of the carbs. This is the piece that is missing when people make carbs the enemy. If you eat fibrous vegetables that are very nutrient-dense and very filling, it is significantly harder to overeat as opposed to when you eat cake to fill you up where you can be taking 20x the amount of calories to just feel full.
Another common myth is that carbs make you feel sluggish. In reality, it depends on the type of carbs you consume. Nutrient-dense, high-fiber carbs like fruits and vegetables provide sustained energy, while simple carbs can lead to quick spikes and crashes. If we are taking fibrous carbs like fruits and vegetables or brown rice even, the fiber that is attached to the carb will slow the digestion and release of energy into your bloodstream giving you a longer increased amount of energy throughout the day. As opposed to going to the cake or candy where it’ll give you a quick spike but then your body will have a compensatory drop making you feel more sluggish. It isn’t the fact that it is the carbs that are making you feel sluggish, it is the drop following the consumption of quick-digesting carbs that does it.
The last one that I want to touch on is breads and pastas. There seems to be a lot of hate centered around breads and pastas in particular right now. This hate is similar previous myths in which it lies in the nutrient density and the caloric density of it. A lot of people have a fear of breads and pastas because white options have increased greatly and become significantly more available. The difference between the white option and the whole grain option is that the white options have had the fiber removed making them more simple carbs causing that spike and then having the dip following it. If we go for the full fiber options, not only are we going to be feeling fuller; it takes more energy to digest, feeds your gut bacteria, and smooths out your energy release. This has manifested in people feeling guilty for enjoying bread and feeling or that they are off course when taking in these foods. Breads and pastas if we are taking in the whole grain options are fantastic filling foods that are also cheap and very healthy for you!
Key Point: Carbs are not your enemy, eating fibrous carbs will help make sure you’re feeling full and avoiding the crash. Carbs do not make you gain weight but may enable you to overeat.
Link to Article
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