A GOOD AGE: Medicare's 'plan finder' may be misleading

QUINCY - Only five days are left for people with Medicare federal health insurance to make important changes to their benefits for 2020. The annual open enrollment period ends Saturday. Senior advocates are warning that some drug plan prices on the Medicare Plan Finder site may be wrong.

"Some of the search results for drug plan costs on the Medicare site are just not to be believed and have been just plain wrong," said Norman Tetreault, a health benefits counselor at Weymouth Elder Services in the state's Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders (SHINE) program on Monday. "We are advising seniors to call the plans directly and double check the prices when they are comparing the costs."

Tetreault has been a volunteer SHINE counselor for the past nine years and said this year has been especially difficult and time-consuming because of problems with the website.

AARP - American Association of Retired Persons - also has reported that as millions of Medicare beneficiaries review their current coverage and make decisions for 2020, some information on the redesigned Medicare website is incorrect. Among the problems identified by AARP are inconsistent drug prices for the same plan and different versions of the lists of drugs covered by that plan. Errors have been found for both Medicare Advantage plans and Part D prescription drug plans.

"If a consumer has accidentally enrolled in a Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan that is not the best choice for them, there is still time to change," Melinda Morle, the regional SHINE coordinator at HESSCO (Health and Social Services Consortium Inc.) Elder Services in Sharon, said.

One possible problem is if the Medicare site gives monthly premium costs for a plan that are not correct, seniors won't know they got a bad quote until they begin using the plan after Jan. 1 and are surprised by higher costs.

Morle also urged people to call the insurance plan they chose to confirm the drug plan costs they found on the Medicare site. Morle can be reached at 781-784-4944.

Morle said beneficiaries can cancel a plan they chose during open enrollment and choose another one through Saturday.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services claim the issues that have come to the agency's attention so far "are not inaccuracies but rather user error or confusion." However, inaccuracies are being reported by other consumer advocates, insurance companies and brokers, as well as beneficiaries. ProPublica and eHealth have reported on troubling technology challenges associated with Medicare.gov's Plan Finder tool, which has reportedly provided inaccurate cost estimates for prescription drugs.

Tetreault suggest people call Medicare at 800-633-4227 and ask the agents to do a Part D card search - Medicare prescription drug benefit - on the plans they are considering.

Other tips from eHealth for a second opinion on finding the right Medicare plan for you:

Make sure your preferred doctors, hospitals and pharmacies are in-network for any new plan you choose.Make sure your prescription drugs are covered at a price you can afford. Different plans may cover different drugs and co-pays and deductibles may vary.Understand what your total out-of-pocket costs will be. Look beyond the monthly premium price tag of any Medicare insurance plan you consider. Low premiums are great but plans can differ considerably in the out-of-pocket expenses you'll face when you receive medical care or pick up drugs at the pharmacy.Look beyond Medicare.gov for online tools that might help. People shopping for Medicare plans at eHealth.com can sort by a doctor's name and enter their prescription drug regimen to see which plans will cover them at the lowest out-of-pocket cost.

MARY PRATT TURNS 101 - This past Saturday was the 101st birthday of baseball legend Mary Pratt, who spent five summers pitching in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1943 to 1947. That story was told in the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own." Afterward, she returned to Quincy and taught physical education and influenced hundreds of girls and young women in the Quincy school system.

A year ago, Mary celebrated her 100th birthday with energy and song to great fanfare at a party at Grove Manor Estates in Braintree, where she had moved to the memory care wing from 1000 Southern Artery in Quincy. She has since moved to another care facility. All good wishes go out to her.

HOME WARRANTY WARNING - Albert "Buzz" Hollander, of Hingham, warns other seniors about misleading marketing of home warranties. There have been news reports of seniors receiving letters warning that their home warranty might be expired or expiring and saying they only have a matter of weeks to respond and activate a service contract. These can be misleading or wrong because the seniors targeted may not even have a home warranty. They often have homeowners insurance instead.

South Shore senior centers often invite speakers to talk about scams. Outreach staff at the councils on aging, as well as local police, are good resources to report concerns and ask for advice. In Quincy, Tom Clasby Jr., director of the Council on Aging, and his staff keep a list of recent scams going around. I've benefited from Hingham Elder Service's outreach coordinator Kathy Glenzel, who also keeps her eye out for new scams.

Reach Sue Scheible at [email protected], call 617-786-7044 and follow her on Twitter.

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