Late October is not only the time for prime-leaf watching, or family negotiations about who will host Thanksgiving, but it’s also Open Enrollment time for those on Medicare. The Medicare, Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans for 2020, and their scope of coverage and offerings, are now available for you to research. While you may be happy with your current coverage, experts advise that it’s wise to review your coverage and your current and anticipated needs, especially when it comes to prescription drugs. While no one can precisely anticipate what may happen to their health, it’s important to realize that plans change their coverage every year, so what may be covered one year may be dropped for the next. For a basic primer on how to approach this yearly review- and how to use the newly re-designed Medicare Plan Finder Tool– take a look at Fred Riccardi’s (President of the Medicare Rights Center) recent post on Next Avenue.

Before you plow ahead with your research, however, reviewing some basics may help. The traditional Medicare, which includes Part A (hospital insurance), Part B (medical insurance)  and Part D (prescription coverage) are all explained in an easy-to-understand format in the Medicare publication Medicare & You (which you can read online or download for a paper copy). This is considered “traditional Medicare” and it requires you to incur some out-of-pocket expenses which you may separately get covered via Medigap plans (which are private, additional plans to cover you in areas where Medicare will not). For a primer on how to pick a Medigap plan, get out from all that paperwork and click here.

Once you know what you can and can’t expect from traditional Medicare and Medigap policies, depending on your needs, you might opt to consider a Medicare Advantage plan, which may give you a broader array of coverage than traditional Medicare but limit your provider options. But not all of those options are available to everyone who signs up- and your eligibility for those options won’t be determined until after you enroll. So it’s easy to make a mistake or wish you could change (and for those in Medicare Advantage, you can make a one-time change from January 1- March 31st). While Kiplinger notes that you generally save money with a Medicare Advantage plan, they also advise you to check out the options for 2020, even if you like your current plan, as coverage and needs are continuously changing.

Finally, if you’re not totally confused at this point, the best advice may be to grab some tea, sit back and listen to the always informative Dr. Leslie Kernisan discuss what you need to know about Medicare and whether you need to switch your plan this year.