The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced that people with Medicare and family members can begin to review their 2010 coverage options through Medicare's improved online tools. Beneficiaries will find several new enhancements on the Medicare Health Options Compare and Prescription Drug Plan Finder located at www.medicare.gov.
Improvements to the plan ratings, search features and plan coverage descriptions will make it easier for beneficiaries to compare their drug and health plan coverage for 2010. Beneficiaries will be able to make changes to their Medicare health and drug coverage during the open enrollment period, which begins on Nov. 15, and ends Dec. 31.
Prescription drug and health plans change each year as do each beneficiary's individual coverage needs, so we are encouraging all people with Medicare to take advantage of the 2010 enhanced online tools and review their coverage options. The 2010 tools will make it easier for beneficiaries and all of our partners to get the information they need about plan options for the coming year. Beneficiaries who wish to enroll for the first time or change their coverage for 2010 should do so by early December to ensure a smooth transition in the new plan year.
Medicare has offered consumer information on prescription drug coverage since 2005. Last year, CMS' 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) toll-free customer service representatives handled 3.9 million calls during the annual open enrollment period. During this same period, the Plan Finder Web tool received more than 31 million page views and logged over 680,000 online enrollments, a 32 percent increase over the previous year.
The enhanced 2010 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder and Medicare Options Compare tools continue to allow beneficiaries to view the premiums, benefits and cost-sharing requirements for the drug and health plans available in their area. Beneficiaries will find several important improvements in this year's tools, including:
Improved Plan Ratings Comparisons -- Allows people to compare all available Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to the Fee-for-Service (FFS) plan in their local area on a number of quality measures. People with Medicare, their families and caregivers can also compare the 2010 plan measures with previous year's reporting.
Plan Name/ID Search - Beneficiaries can search by name and/or ID to quickly locate a plan for which they are interested.
Display of Cost Ranges and Plan Types -- This fall, the Plan Finder will allow beneficiaries to search plans by cost and plan type, e.g., basic plans or plans with extra benefits. This search feature gives beneficiaries a better understanding of how similarly priced plans compare.
For people currently enrolled in Medicare prescription drug or health plans under sanctions (a federal review process and not able to enroll new members) only you or a trusted caregiver, family member or counselor can view the sanction plan's drug pricing and other information, such as copays and tier levels, to assist in comparing plan selections for the 2010 benefit year.
As an additional protection for other beneficiaries, the Plan Finder and Medicare Options Care tools will not allow people that are not currently enrolled in these sanctioned plans to see any additional enrollment details; only plan name identifiers will be listed and all other information fields will display "Information not available" and will carry distinctions that these sanctioned Medicare plans are "not accepting enrollments at this time."
All Plan Finder and Medicare Options Compare users will be able to see plan benefits, drug pricing and other important information on more than 4,000 plan options that are available for open enrollment.
People without Web access can get the same information provided by the online plan comparison tools by calling 1-800 MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or by contacting their local State Health Insurance Assistance Program office (http://www.medicare.gov/Contacts/staticpages/ships.aspx) or other health advocacy agencies for free personalized counseling. Medicare's customer service is available 24-hours a day and 7 days a week. English and Spanish-language customer service representatives are available. Translation services are available in additional languages and a TDD service is offered for the hearing impaired.
A 2010 Medicare & You handbook, also available on www.Medicare.gov, will be mailed to the homes of all eligible beneficiaries this month. This publication provides all plan option information that is available using the Web tools.