For those approaching Medicare or already covered by it, now is a critical time of year to review health benefits.
Philip Moeller — author of a popular Medicare book, “Get What’s Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs,” and a blogger on Medicare for the “PBS NewsHour” website — knows well about the program’s fine print that has ensnared many in what he dubs the “no one told me” syndrome.
Last year, Moeller almost made a costly mistake himself. He didn’t get a chance to check his Medicare Part D drug coverage plan until one day before Medicare open season ended. He discovered that a key medication he needed had been dropped from his drug plan’s list of covered drugs.
“It would have cost me $20,000 a year to buy the drug on my own,” said Moeller, who scrambled to find another plan to cover this drug and signed up just in time.
