More than 64,000 Medicare Advantage members across Oregon, Washington and California are about to lose their insurer entirely. Providence Health Plan confirmed in mid-August that a proposed sale of its Medicare Advantage business to another national insurer has fallen apart, meaning the nonprofit is now closing every line of coverage it sells rather than the…

A quiet move by one of the biggest Medicare insurers is worth a retiree’s attention. Aetna will pay brokers no commission for signing up new members in 123 of its Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. It sounds like an industry detail, but it is often a signal that a plan is being wound down, and…

One of the most important pieces of mail a Medicare enrollee gets all year lands around now, and it is easy to toss unread. By September 30, every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan must send each member an Annual Notice of Change spelling out what their coverage and costs will look like next year.…

Medicare has a trap that can cost people for the rest of their lives, and it catches those who assume signing up can wait. Miss the window to enroll in Part B without having other qualifying coverage, and Medicare adds a late penalty to the monthly premium, permanently. Understanding the timing is the difference between…

Humana is not the only big insurer trimming Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. UnitedHealthcare, the largest player in the market, is preparing to pull out of dozens of counties, a move that would strip coverage from roughly 20,000 members. The company calls the list preliminary, but for anyone in an affected county the smart response…

If you have a Humana Medicare Advantage plan, watch your mailbox this month. Humana is not renewing a batch of plans for 2027 that together cover roughly 600,000 members, and the notices telling people their coverage is ending go out in September. For an affected household, the letter is not junk mail to toss; it…

Most people assume that once they are on Medicare, there is a ceiling on what a bad year of health can cost them. There is not. Original Medicare has no annual limit on out-of-pocket spending, which means a single serious illness can generate bills with no upper bound. That gap is the reason so many…

There is a doctor’s appointment that Medicare covers at no charge, once every year, and a large share of enrollees never book it. It is not a physical, and that is exactly why it gets overlooked. The yearly “Wellness” visit is a planning session for staying healthy, and skipping it means passing up a free…

Millions of older Americans on limited incomes pay Medicare bills they were never legally required to pay. A federal program built for exactly that situation quietly wipes out those charges, yet many people who qualify have never heard its name. It is called the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, and for a household counting every dollar…

In New Mexico, tens of thousands of older residents are about to lose the Medicare Advantage plan they have relied on. Presbyterian Healthcare Services, one of the state’s largest health systems, is ending most of its Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, a decision that affects roughly 30,000 members and comes paired with about 150 layoffs.…