{"id":7998,"date":"2016-08-15T08:33:20","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T12:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/?p=7998"},"modified":"2016-08-02T08:33:28","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T12:33:28","slug":"nc-medicare-supplements-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/2016\/08\/nc-medicare-supplements-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"NC Medicare Supplements &#8211; What You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-7480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/bigstock-Doctor-hand-touching-MEDICARE-109848086-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Doctor hand touching MEDICARE sign on virtual screen. medical co\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/bigstock-Doctor-hand-touching-MEDICARE-109848086-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/bigstock-Doctor-hand-touching-MEDICARE-109848086-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/bigstock-Doctor-hand-touching-MEDICARE-109848086.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \><\/p>\n<p>Transitioning into Medicare can be an overwhelming prospect.\u00a0 With Original Medicare Parts A and B, Part D Prescription coverage, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/apply\/?product=Medicare%20Supplement\" target=\"_blank\">NC\u00a0Medicare Supplements,<\/a> and various other Medicare options, it can be tough to figure out which plan is best for you. \u00a0While understanding Medicare and what it covers may seem daunting, at<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\" target=\"_blank\"> NC Health Plans <\/a>we want to make enrollment as easy as possible. \u00a0We make it our job to understand Medicare and are here to assist you through the process from beginning to end. \u00a0Here are a few things to keep in mind as you begin researching your Medicare options.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not Everyone is Eligible for Medicare:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You must be age 65 or older OR you must be eligible due to a disability or End-Stage Renal Disease.<\/li>\n<li>You or your spouse must have been employed for at least 10 years.<\/li>\n<li>You must be a United States citizen or a permanent resident.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you do not meet these requirements, you can contact the Medicare office (1-800- MEDICARE) to find out if you are eligible to apply under other special circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>There are specific Enrollment periods for Medicare:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You cannot enroll in Medicare whenever you choose.\u00a0 The federal government has established specific enrollment periods and if you do not enroll during these times, you could pay a penalty in addition to your premium.\u00a0 <em>Understanding these enrollment periods is very important.<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Initial Enrollment Period<\/strong>:\u00a0 This is the 7-month period when you can first enroll in Medicare.\u00a0 It consists of the 3 months before the month you become Medicare eligible, the month you are eligible, and the 3 months after the month you become eligible. <em>This period is more important than you may realize<\/em> because if you fail to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/medicare_supplements\/\" target=\"_blank\">enroll in a Medicare Supplement<\/a> during this time, you could be denied coverage for health reasons or may have to wait until the Annual Enrollment Period when Medicare Advantage plans become available.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Annual Enrollment Period<\/strong>:\u00a0 You can enroll in Medicare coverage or change to a different plan.\u00a0 This period is from October 15th-December 7th.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Annual Disenrollment Period<\/strong>:\u00a0 This is the period where Medicare Advantage members can switch to original Medicare and may also enroll in a Part D plan.\u00a0 This period is from January 1-February 14 of every year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Special Enrollment Period<\/strong>:\u00a0 As with under 65 individual plans, there are many special circumstances that allow you to enroll in Medicare outside of the other enrollment periods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Not all Medicare plans are the same:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Enrolling in Medicare does not come without choices and not every Medicare plan is the same.\u00a0 Do some research to determine which Medicare plan offers you the coverage and benefits you need.\u00a0 Once you are eligible for Original Medicare, you may want to look closely at<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/apply\/?product=Medicare%20Supplement\" target=\"_blank\"> obtaining a Medicare Supplement<\/a>, which can help fill in the gaps not covered by Medicare.\u00a0 Although Original\u00a0Medicare is offered by the federal government, in most cases a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\" target=\"_blank\">Medicare Supplement Plan <\/a>is needed to\u00a0offset health costs.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on North Carolina insurance coverage, please visit our website at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.nchealthplans.com <\/a>or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our experienced and professional agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transitioning into Medicare can be an overwhelming prospect.\u00a0 With Original Medicare Parts A and B, Part D Prescription coverage, NC\u00a0Medicare Supplements, and various other Medicare options, it can be tough to figure out which plan is best for you. \u00a0While understanding Medicare and what it covers may seem daunting, at NC Health Plans we want [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,54],"tags":[926,917,17,930],"class_list":["post-7998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bcbsnc-insurance","category-medicare-supplement-coverage","tag-bcbsnc-medicare-supplements","tag-blue-medicare-advantage","tag-medicare-advantage","tag-nc-medicare-supplements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7998"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8025,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7998\/revisions\/8025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}