Category: Medicare
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Texas retired teachers who skipped or dropped TRS-Care can join its Medicare Advantage plan from Oct. 1 through March 31, 2028, as can surviving spouses
Retired Texas teachers who never joined TRS-Care, or who dropped it, can sign up for the system’s Medicare Advantage plan between Oct. 1, 2026 and March 31, 2028. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas, or TRS, opened the limited-time window for retirees who did not enroll when they first could, and it also covers surviving…
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Tennessee retired state workers and teachers will pay $154.49 to $204.49 a month for the state Medicare supplement in 2027, under a new administrator
Retired Tennessee state employees and teachers on the state’s Medicare supplement will pay between $154.49 and $204.49 a month in 2027, according to the state’s 2027 premium notice. That is $19.85 more than this year in every service tier. The plan, called The Tennessee Plan, also gets a new administrator on Jan. 1, 2027, when…
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Wisconsin state retirees have until Oct. 30 to pick 2027 coverage, with deductibles rising to $400 and a new $200 copay on weight-loss drugs
Wisconsin state retirees have until Oct. 30 to choose their 2027 health coverage. Open enrollment runs Oct. 5 to 30, and a paper application has to be postmarked by Oct. 30, according to the Employee Trust Funds department’s 2027 decision guide for retirees. The guide also lists higher deductibles for non-Medicare plans and a new…
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Kettering Health leaves Anthem’s Medicare Advantage plans after Dec. 31, and patients have the Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 enrollment window to switch
Kettering Health says it will not renew its contract with Anthem’s Medicare Advantage plans, so patients in those plans lose in-network access to Kettering after Dec. 31, 2026. Medicare’s annual enrollment window, Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, is the time to switch to a plan that still includes Kettering doctors and hospitals. The health system…
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Aetna’s chronic-condition Medicare plans can disenroll members whose condition a provider does not verify, as Aetna adds those plans in six more states for 2027
Aetna plans to sell Medicare Advantage drug plans in 41 states plus Washington, D.C. for 2027, reaching 57 million Medicare-eligible people, and to bring its chronic-condition special needs plans to six more states, for 25 in all. The same announcement carries a condition for people who join one of those chronic-condition plans: if Aetna does…
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Medicare’s $90 deposits due today come from a fund Congress has tapped about 20 times, including $20.7 billion in 2010
The money behind Thursday’s $90 Medicare deposits comes from a fund Congress created in 2008 and has dipped into around 20 times since. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says most of the roughly 20.8 million people getting the one-time rebate will see a direct deposit on or around October 8, which is today.…
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Medicare Advantage shoppers will have 28 drug plans to choose from on average for 2027, down from 32, and Texans lose nine options, KFF says
The average person on Medicare can choose from 28 Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage for 2027, down from 32 in 2026. Texas takes the biggest cut of any state, with the average Texas beneficiary losing nine of those plans, according to a KFF analysis published Oct. 1. KFF researchers Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, Meredith…
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Vanderbilt Health leaves Aetna’s Medicare Advantage network on Jan. 1, 2027 for individual and group plans, and tells members to review options by Dec. 7
Starting Jan. 1, 2027, Vanderbilt Health will no longer be in the Aetna Medicare Advantage network. Vanderbilt posted the change on its Medicare Advantage information page, and it says the change affects “all Aetna Medicare Advantage members, including both individual and group plans.” The Aetna plans are not ending. What ends is the contract that…
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A mandatory Medicare drug-price model takes effect Nov. 30 and covers about a quarter of Original Medicare Part B beneficiaries, picked by random ZIP code areas
Nobody in Medicare signs up for the new drug-price model, and nobody can opt out of it by ZIP code. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing Model, called GLOBE, and the final rule states: “These regulations are effective on November 30, 2026.” GLOBE applies to “approximately…
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People on Supplemental Security Income get Medicare’s Extra Help with drug costs automatically, Medicare says, as do full-benefit Medicaid enrollees
Medicare says people who get Supplemental Security Income, known as SSI, do not have to apply for Extra Help with their prescription costs. On its drug cost help page, Medicare puts it this way: “You’ll get Extra Help automatically if you get” full-benefit Medicaid coverage, help from a state Medicare Savings Program with Part B…