AEP is under way!  Do you know your 2020 Medicare plan Star Ratings?

During the Annual Enrollment Period from October 15th to December 7th Medicare beneficiaries can enroll in a Medicare Advantage and/or Part D plan of their choice. Pinnacle Financial Services provides a no cost tool for agents, Connect4Medicare, to find the right Medicare plans for their clients. This includes each plans 2020 Star Rating.

All plan information and star ratings come directly from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

CMS released its report card for Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans Oct. 10.

Medicare ranks Medicare Advantage and Part D plans on a quality scale of one to five stars, with five representing excellent performance and one reflecting poor performance. CMS also pays bonuses to plans with high ratings.

In 2020, most beneficiaries will be able to select a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan with four or more stars, CMS said. To assign stars, Medicare analyzes how health plans performed on 45 measures for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans; 33 measures for only Medicare Advantage plans; and 14 measures for standalone Part D prescription drug plans.

Did you know?

After the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) ends on Dec. 7, 2019, consumers have a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to enroll in a 5-Star plan from Dec. 8, 2019, through Nov. 30, 2020, using the 5-Star SEP.

The Medicare Plan Finder is a tool on Medicare.gov that allows you to search for Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medicare Prescription Drug (Part D) plans that might be available where you live.

These plans are sold by private insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Aetna. The Medicare Plan Finder has been a helpful way of compiling some of your options into one place so that you can more easily narrow down your selection.

Many agents use the Medicare Plan Finder tool on Medicare.gov to compare plans for clients to find the best options for the health insurance and prescription drug plans.

So you may be asking, what is CMS changing with the Medicare Plan Finder tool. The new Plan Finder process will now require a client to have an account on Medicare.gov to save their information.

There are several challenges with this process:

• Consumers typically start to examine plan options prior to being on Medicare. They will now only be able to save their searches with an account set up.  The search also no longer is including total maximum out of pocket.
• Many seniors are either not able or willing to set up an account for security reasons or lack of literacy with computers.  Need the assitance of an insurance professional.
• Now, for an agent to assist a consumer the consumer will need to give the agent their ID and password, which is less secure than the current process.
• Changes effective as of Open Enrollment 2019.

Proprietary Solutions from Pinnacle Financial Services are available to all agents at no cost.

Connect4Medicare instantly quotes, compares, and enrolls your Medicare Advantage, Part D, and Medicare Supplements clients all in one place.

Pinnacle gives Connect4Medicare to all of our agents. You will now need this type of software more than ever!