On October 13, 2021

Navigating Medicare’s annual enrollment

By Kevin Theissen

How long has it been since you’ve reviewed your Medicare policy? With open enrollment fast approaching, there are a few questions you may want to ask yourself before you renew, add, drop or switch coverage.

Medicare’s annual open enrollment period begins Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7. During this time, current Medicare beneficiaries have the option to adjust their coverage for the coming year. Any changes to your plan will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

Have you switched doctors, or is your doctor no longer accepting your current plan? Or maybe your prescription drug needs have changed, and your Medicare plan doesn’t cover everything you need. Maybe you’re paying too much for your coverage and need to make adjustments. This is an opportunity to reassess your current coverage and identify potential areas for improvement.

Before open enrollment begins, you’ll receive a report outlining your current coverage. Review your elections carefully, especially if you haven’t updated coverage in the last few years. Medicare offers a plan finder tool to help compare other offerings if you’re considering making a switch.

Your health insurance coverage in retirement should work to protect your financial wellbeing.

Reviewing your Medicare coverage is an important part of your financial and insurance strategy. If you have any questions or need help navigating this process, you may want to contact a qualified and experienced financial advisor.

Kevin Theissen is the owner of HWC Financial in Ludlow.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

 What’s in a name?

June 25, 2025
There’s nothing like a talk show to spark an idea for a column. Hosts Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, recently discussed how people’s first names often serve as clues to the decade in which they were born. Some names that are rarely chosen today were popular in previous decades.  The given name that…

No patch left unskied

June 25, 2025
I’m calling it.   I drove around the long way, hoping to catch one last glimpse of the patch before we actually began hiking up into The Canyon. Partly because I wanted to see what I was getting into and partly because I wanted to make sure she was still there. I honestly wasn’t sure…

Pack up your troubles

June 25, 2025
The longest day of the year has officially come and gone, which means we are now on the slow, downhill slide toward winter.  Given that the days are currently long and the temperatures are nearing their peak, my family has opted for the traditional summer beach vacation. This is nothing new since we’ve rented a…

Life in a shell: eastern box turtle

June 25, 2025
As a budding naturalist growing up in the concrete-heavy environs of Boston, I would regularly thumb through my family’s collection of nature books and daydream about the creatures within. One species I was particularly drawn to was the eastern box turtle. These charismatic terrestrial turtles have high-domed shells festooned with colorful yellow or orange markings…