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It seems to sneak up on us every year! When you’re busy getting out the fall decorations and watching football, don't forget it's also a very important time of year for those of you that are enrolled in Medicare - The Annual Election Period! (Note, we said “those of you that are ENROLLED into Medicare!” If you are not yet enrolled in Part A or Part B of Medicare… you get to skip everything here! …
Transition to Medicare Issues
Covid-19, Coronvirus & the Medicare Transition
Covid, Covid-19, Coronavirus, Social-Distancing, Quarantine, Pandemic….. Who would have known that as we turned the page in January to the land of 2020 that these words could possibly (1) be known to us and (2) part of our “new” daily world. Since March, we’ve added several new words to our everyday vocabulary. Stress, anxiety, furlough, early retirement, bored, depression, Cobra coverage, …
Got Quotes?
If you are approaching the age of 65, you are probably all too familiar with postcards in your mailboxes telling you that if you call this 800 number, you're going to get enrolled into the best Medicare plan for you on the planet! Everything will be free, perks galore will arrive on your doorstep - Just call the 800 number to hear more about it. Or, you'll get a phone call from an agent telling …
Cobra, Covid & Retirement – Warning
Soooo, yesterday I was lucky enough to hang with a small group of Detroit area insurance brokers and some human resources folks. We were having a Zoom roundtable discussion hosted by Crain's Detroit Business for an August piece. Our topic? Best practices of late with Covid and a "new way of working". As the only "Medicare person", the message I wanted to get across to this group was simple and …
Cobra coverage! Help us out here, world…!
Ok, so "world" is a bit dramatic, but.... In the U.S. --- Absolutely. I'm going to head right to the "helping" part first and then you'll see why. If you are in any of these roles: Human Resources - any role within and at any company anywhere; A financial advisor helping your client through job transitions or with retirement; A person that is over age 65 and considering signing up …
Transitioning to Medicare means WHAT, really?
We talk a lot about "transitioning" to the Medicare health insurance system. We once in a while will have someone asks "what does that really mean and what do you really do?" Here's a perfect example for you. I'll tell you about John and Linda, who I spoke with yesterday. Linda is working for a large employer in Michigan and has her health insurance through that employer. She's a few years …
Process
There's so much information out there about Medicare. Problem is that there is information overload. Another problem that we often hear is the exclamation of "Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start". Yes Medicare.gov can be a great source of information BUT you have to know what to enter into the search bar, right? We at Giardini Medicare adore information. Look no further than our …
When Should You Start Talking Medicare?
At Giardini Medicare we are often asked “When is the best time to start talking and learning about Medicare?” Surprisingly, even that question doesn’t have a straight answer, and it appears that nothing related to Medicare seems to have a “straight” answer. In my experience, a person age 64 and one-half years is just about ideal for the first conversation on Medicare. Remember celebrating …
Tools & Teaching! The 2020 Medicare Theme —-
Teach a man to fish? Remember the old adage... Well, that's our 2020 theme at Giardini Medicare (www.gmedicareteam.com) There are so many resources and things to share with Medicare beneficiaries and those that are looking to transition to "the system"... that's where we come in. Listen in. Update - - June 18, 2020 Who would have thought that we would have posted something about "Tools …
Where to Next?
I was talking to a person yesterday and we were talking about the sheer number of Medicare commercials on TV this year. He said "Joe Namath is on right now!". We'd hope it would die off after December 7 (the official end of the Annual Election Period of Medicare). Nope. On to the OEP. (Open Enrollment Period). What in the world is the OEP? Wellllll, we get a few weeks break and, then, on …