The Medicare Paperwork Avalanche

Those of us fortunate enough to be in Medicare have for the last several months been assaulted with reams and pounds of paperwork all of which is intended to explain our choices for the open enrollment period that happens each year. This is the time when the health care companies can change their plans, moving drugs here and there on the price ladder, adding deductibles, increasing premiums, and so forth.

They get to do this only once a year and they have to stick with the changes for the next 12 months. So we get the same window to review what changes there are and if we need to move to a different plan.

Frankly, you would have to be an idiot savant who specializes in bureaucratic double-speak in order to plow through all the mailings and come up with any clear idea of what the heck it is all about. I mean it's almost impossible. It is so overwhelming that I cannot escape the suspicion that it is almost intentional. Yes, I know, dark isn't it? But don't you also suspect they want us to just give up and stay in the plan you're already in? You know, the one that doubled the cost of your most expensive (and necessary) brand med and hiked the premium at the same time the revealing of which is buried on page 1,985 of the material you just tossed into the garbage?

But there is hope. HICAP, the independent volunteer agency that counsels seniors (it stands for Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program), has experts trained to understand all the gobblegook in most towns here and what's more, you can get this valuable advice free.

Sally and I did that today, with a remarkable advisor named Marcia Smith in Mt. Shasta. I learned that my drug plan was okay as is, I'm going to cap out at the $2,800 "donut" hole come October of next year but if I can get my doctor to switch my Lipitor to a generic I might avoid the limit. I hope I can ___ if you hit the donut you pay full price for your drugs and Lipitor is around $400 a month.

But Sally hit the jackpot; Marcia found her a better plan with Humana that will save us almost $700 a year and she will never even get close to the donut.

Worth a call, people. Deadline for open enrollment is Dec. 31 so there are only a few days left. Marcia's phone is 926-148 and tell her we sent you.