Happy Valentine’s Day & Happy New Year ! !
Once again, I have missed my self-imposed deadline in getting this newsletter out to all of our wonderful clients. (It’s a good thing I don’t run a newspaper business😊) We have continued to be quite busy even after the Annual Enrollment Period – – which is by far our busiest time of the year. “How busy?”, you may ask. Well, I believe I shared with you before that Faye was one of the higher producing agents in the entire Bridlewood organization of over 700 agents nationwide. Her final ranking at the end of 2022 was number SEVEN!! That is an amazing accomplishment out of more than 700 agents. Can you imagine being in the top 1% of anything? I was in the top 10% but I can tell you my phone was not glued to my ear 12 hours a day like hers was for 10 weeks. I have never seen anyone work so hard. She deserves all the accolades she is getting!
Did you receive your new membership card?
Every year the carriers (the insurance companies) send out new membership cards to all their clients. This year has been particularly confusing for many of our clients. Our largest carrier, United Healthcare, changed their entire membership card format. They now call their card a “Ucard”. If your carrier is UHC and believe that you still have not received your card, please look for the Ucard from United Healthcare. Many of our clients have called about this and when we mention the Ucard several have said “Oh, nevermind. I have the Ucard but did not realize this was the new membership card.” United’s new Ucard can be used as your membership I.D. card with medical providers and can also be used to redeem your Over the Counter (OTC) benefits and your cash rewards. Note: The card must be “activated” by either calling UHC or going online to your member portal in order to use it for the OTC products or cash rewards benefits.
Do you have Diabetes, Heart Failure or a Cardiovascular Disorder? AND
Is your primary care provider with either PHP Prime or New West ?
If you answer yes to both questions, please be advised that these two medical provider groups now accept a new, specialized United Healthcare plan known as a “Chronic Special Needs Plan”. This plan offers some benefits that are tailored to people with those specific conditions. If you qualify (by answering yes to BOTH questions above) please call either Faye or I to discuss the plan details and the possibility of changing your plan (or changing your primary care provider) to take advantage of this special plan. Note: To be eligible for this plan you must have been diagnosed with at least one of the following conditions: chronic heart failure, diabetes mellitus, cardiac arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, or chronic venous thromboembolic disorder.
There is still time to change your plan: The Open Enrollment Period is not over until Friday, March 31. This means that you are entitled to change your Medicare Advantage plan to any other Medicare Advantage plan. It can be with the same company you are with now or you can change to a completely new company. And keep in mind that there is no medical underwriting. If this is something you would like to discuss, please feel free to give us a call. REMEMBER: Faye and I have gone the extra mile to get the extra training and certification’s to become Insurance Brokers. That means we can enroll you with just about any insurance company that you choose. One or both of us are currently certified to provide plans from the most popular carriers in Colorado: United Healthcare, Humana, Devoted Health Plans, Denver Health, and Aetna. And keep in mind that Faye is also licensed in 24 additional states besides Colorado. If you are planning to move, Faye can get you squared away with a new plan before you go!
The “Continuous Coverage Requirement” for Medicaid is ending: Note: This article is from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.
In January 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared a public health emergency (PHE) in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Congress passed legislation that ensured anyone enrolled in Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) was guaranteed to keep their health coverage during the PHE. This is known as the “continuous coverage requirement” and also applies to kids and pregnant people covered by Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+). Congress has recently passed a bill that ends the continuous coverage requirement in spring 2023. This will allow states to begin normal renewal processes. Colorado will take 12 months (14 months including noticing) to renew members based on their annual renewal date.
What does this mean? Simply put, anyone who was granted Medicaid prior to January 2020 has not been required to re-apply for Medicaid since then. Beginning in either April or May of this year, everyone with Medicaid in Colorado must re-apply over the next 12 months and may be granted or denied Medicaid based upon the “normal qualifying process” in the state of Colorado. If you or anyone you know currently has Medicaid, please make them aware of this change in policy. If you are at risk of losing Medicaid (and thereby losing your Dual Special Needs Medicare Advantage Plan), simply stay in touch with us and, if needed, we can change your plan to the most appropriate plan available to you at that time.
Dental coverage in Medicare plans – Some of the things that “Original Medicare” does not cover are: Routine Dental, Routine Hearing, and Routine Vision. If you have chosen to be covered with Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement plan, you simply will not have these benefits. However, these benefits are becoming increasingly popular in Medicare Advantage plans. Dental benefits are front and center as potential “decision making differentiators” between plan offerings. If you feel that additional Dental benefits (or hearing or vision) would be something you would be interested in, please give us a call. We will gladly explain the benefits in your current plan and let you know of other plan(s) that may be of interest to you.
On the Lighter Side:
Q: What is a New Year’s resolution? A: Something that goes in one year and out the other.
“My grandparents had resolutions like donating more time and money to charities. I’ve decided to make my own coffee once a week.”
My resolution for 2023 is to read more, so I’m turning on the subtitles on my TV.
One day God came to Adam for a brief discussion. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.” God said. Adam looked thoughtfully at his maker and replied, “Please give me the good news first.” Smiling, God explained, “I’ve created two new organs for you. One is called a brain. This organ will allow you to be very intelligent, create new things, and carry on productive conversations with Eve. The other organ will allow you to reproduce your intelligent life form and begin populating the planet. Eve will be very pleased that you are now equipped with this organ as she will be able to conceive children.” Adam, very excited, exclaimed, “These are great and wonderful gifts you have given me. What could possibly be bad news after such great tidings?” God then looked upon Adam, and said with great sorrow, “The bad news is I only gave you enough blood to operate one of these organs at a time.”
“I just read that someone in New York gets stabbed every 52 seconds. Poor guy.”
“I’ll never forget my Grandfather’s last words to me just before he died. “Are you still holding the ladder?””
You’re not completely useless. You can always be used as a bad example.
The pics below: our little “princess”, Amelie at 9 months. A “Happy Birthday” for Faye’s mom, Cordelia “Cordy” at 88 years old holding Amelie. Faye with Maddie (Brown,3 yrs), and Gemma (White,10 yrs). Sadly, we lost little Riley about 2 months ago.
Future newsletters will be sent by email: Due to the significant increases in the cost of paper, printing, and postage, we will be sending the bulk of our future newsletters by email. For those of you who do not use email, we will continue to send them to you by US Postal Service.
