Almost 65 and Have Questions About Medicare? We Have Answers.

 

 

If you’re about to turn 65 and qualify for Medicare, this is called your “Medicare Age-In” and it’s an important milestone. You probably already know the whole process can be confusing. Medicare options, deadlines, and terminology can be a lot to figure out, but you have options, and Millennium Medicare Connect has your answers.

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FULL TRANSCRIPTION

Maggie Rodriguez:

Preparing for Medicare can be confusing, from when to enroll to what plan to choose. Here to help make the process easier to understand is Dr. Nektarios Demetriou with Millennium Physician Group. Welcome back, Doctor.

Nektarios Demetriou:

Thank you very much for having me.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Do you have to wait until you’re 65 to enroll in Medicare?

Nektarios Demetriou:

No, you don’t actually. There’s actually a period of time, three months before you hit 65, your birth month, and then three months afterwards, so in total you have approximately seven months to enroll in Medicare.

Maggie Rodriguez:

So what if you don’t enroll in that seven month window?

Nektarios Demetriou:

That’s a problem.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Oh.

Nektarios Demetriou:

So if you don’t enroll during that seven months, what you’ll be faced with is Medicare will actually impose a penalty on you. So you’ll have to pay a penalty and then higher premiums for the rest of your life.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Oh my goodness, so really it’s crucial that you do it in that timeframe.

Nektarios Demetriou:

It’s very, very crucial. Now there are exemptions, for instance, if you’re 65, still working, you have another insurance plan, then you might be exempt from paying that penalty, but otherwise that window is extremely important.

Maggie Rodriguez:

What are the advantages of being enrolled in Medicare?

Nektarios Demetriou:

Actually, tremendous advantages, especially from the standpoint that we espouse preventative care, it’s exactly what Medicare plans actually do. And enrolling in Medicare, they enable you to experience preventative medicine, and that ties in very nicely with what we do. So the Annual Wellness Visit and the annual physical examination that we can do is covered under Medicare.

Maggie Rodriguez:

When you’ve been with us in the past, you’ve mentioned Medicare Advantage plans. What is that?

Nektarios Demetriou:

So Medicare Advantage plans are commercial companies that have been approved by Medicare to administer Medicare services, and at the cost of little to no cost to the consumer. And the services encompassed will be anywhere from vision, dental, prescription, maybe even sometimes even gym memberships, and in other circumstances, mobility, transportation to and from your medical visits.

Maggie Rodriguez:

So it’s a way for people to maximize what they are entitled to under Medicare.

Nektarios Demetriou:

Hugely.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Which many people may not even realize, right?

Nektarios Demetriou:

It’s true, yes. And what we’ve discovered is that the individuals that are either underinsured or not knowing what the preventative services are, typically by not receiving those services will have worse outcomes later on.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Sure, I know you preach that a lot.

Nektarios Demetriou:

Absolutely.

Maggie Rodriguez:

And so I’m sure you also at Millennium have a program to help people sort through all this.

Nektarios Demetriou:

We do. We have a great program actually. We’ve partnered up with a company called HealthShare 360, and we have individuals, we call them Millennium Navigators where you can call in and they can actually help you navigate through the different Medicare plans that exist so you can pick the best services for you. And we actually have a website where they can go to for this and it’s at YourMedicareConnect.com.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Very good. Doctor, always good to have you here on Daytime.

Nektarios Demetriou:

Thank you very much.

Maggie Rodriguez:

Thank you. And I would like to repeat that website, if you’d like more information to find a physician, schedule an appointment, go to MillenniumPhysician.com, or for help with those Medicare options, once again, the website is YourMedicareConnect.com. Daytime will be right back.