July Georgia Medicare News

Published: Tue, 07/23/19

Georgia Medicare News

Hello everyone. I trust you are well and enjoying this hot, humid Georgia summer. The mosquito’s finally arrived. To be honest I did not miss them over the cooler months.

Both of our children have visited during the summer. Robert flew in from California and stayed a week in early June. Christine was here from DC for a couple of weeks and just left. These are rare visits for this time of year. Both wanted to make sure their mother was recuperating and I was taking care of her.

Rachel graduated from PT a few weeks ago and was awarded a T-shirt for her effort. She is gradually getting back into yoga for flexibility and strength. We converted a spare bedroom into her “treehouse sanctuary” where she can do her exercises.

Trying a slightly different format in this newsletter. Still informative but hopefully a bit more entertaining.

Referrals Always Appreciated!

Most of my emails close with “Referrals always appreciated”, and they are. Medicare is my business but the real payoff comes when someone passes my name along to their friends and relatives.

Many of you have shared my name over the last few months. The new clients have helped in what is normally a slow time. I really do enjoy helping people understand how Medicare works. I recently produced a new video specifically for folks who are turning 65. You can view the video below.

Going on Medicare - Turning 65 - Get GA Medicare Expert Help

I am also linking to a blogpost on the same topic. If you would share this newsletter with people who may be going on Medicare for the first time, or considering a change, it would be appreciated.

You can also share the blogpost link, or the YouTube link.

I also have a video on my channel that mentions things about Medicare Advantage plans that are never discussed. I will include that link in a future newsletter.

Carriers in the News

I normally don’t put out much information regarding insurance carriers. I figure it is too much “inside baseball” to share and no one really cares. But this is big news.

Last December Wellcare purchased Aetna’s Medicare Part D block of business. This was a requirement for DC approval of the CVS - Aetna merger.

Aetna Part D policyholders were notified a few weeks ago of the transfer of business to Wellcare.

Next up is a possible Centene - Wellcare merger.

What does all this mean to you? Is bigger better?

That all remains to be seen.

Market consolidation means more efficiencies of scale. It also means less competition.

The initial impact will be seen during the 2020 annual enrollment period (AEP) when presumably Aetna will disappear as a drug plan option to be replaced by the Wellcare name.

AEP 2020

Open enrollment for the 2020 calendar year starts October 15 and ends December 7th. This newsletter will be your reminder to update your drug information no later than the end of September. This will allow me enough time to start running 2020 drug plan reports before the “fall crunch” when everything grinds to a halt.