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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING WELLCARE'S MEDICARE PART D PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLANS
Some very BIG changes are coming to Medicare for the 2025 Plan year, mainly changes to Medicare Part D. We thought it was important to send this article to all our clients, subscribers, prospective clients, and visitors.
WIth the congressional approval of the Biden Administrations Inflation Reduction Act some big changes are coming to Medicare. Most of these changes are fantastic and long overdue for many Medicare Beneficiaries. However, these rapid changes have a Cause & Effect factor that needs to be explained.
FIRST, LET'S LOOK AT THE CHANGES FOR 2025
The "Catastrophic Phase," aka the "Donut Hole" of Medicare Prescription Drug plans, will be eliminated starting January 1, 2025.
Due to the uncertainty of how much money these changes will negatively affect Insurance Companies, many have decided not to participate in Part D Plans in 2025. A few of the more prominent names that will not offer Stand-Alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2025 are some BCBS Franchisees, Mutual Of Omaha, and Banner Health.
There will be far less plans for Medicare Beneficiaries to choose from in 2025.
BCBS of Arizona and Mutual of Omaha are not offering any Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans in 2025. Humana and Aetna are only going to offer 1 Plan each, where they have always offerred 3 plans in the past.
The Medicare Part D Deductible amount is rising to $590.00.
It appears that several companies are not going to offer reduced Deductible plans for the 2025 Plan Year.
WellCare and Cigna will both have one low premium plan available. However, teh average cost of all Medicare Part D plans nationwide will be around $37 per month, with the majority of plans being over $44.
For those Medicare Beneficiaries who take Brand Name Medications and have typically enrolled in plans with higher premiums, those premiums have been reduced compared to the past few years.
WellCare (CENTENE Corporation) has decided to deal with this Brave New World by no longer paying Commissions to Agents and Brokers not just for any "New" Medicare Part D Plans for 2025 but also on renewals of all current WellCare Stand-Alone Medicare Part D Drug Plans, including their very popular WellCare Value Script PDP plan.
OUR ASSESSMENT OF THESE DECISIONS
We applaud Congress and CMS for taking positive steps to save Medicare Beneficiaries MIllions of Dollars by finally putting a "Cap" on prescription drug Plan costs.
We absolutely and unequivocally disagree with WellCare's shortsighted and quick-trigger approach to a new situation that has not been officially implemented. As such, we have determined it is in our company's best interest, not to offer WellCare Prescription Drug Plans for at least the 2025 Medicare plan year and not to provide them as an option for any of our clients in 2025. Based on logical, common-sense business practices, this will hurt WellCare immensely. We believe WellCare has chosen to take a severely myopic approach to the new rule changes, and we refuse to be complicit with any of their actions.
We think there is a minimum amount of time it takes agents and brokers to market and enroll clients and new Medicare beneficiaries into any Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan.
Most of you already know that we take great pride in the detail and research we put into our plans. If any company wants to discount and diminish the role and importance of licensed, independent agents and brokers, we will not sell, market, or enroll anyone in their plans either.
MOVING FORWARD, BEGINNING WITH THE MEDICARE AEP (ANNUAL ENROLLMENT PERIOD), WHICH RUNS FROM OCTOBER 15th THROUGH DECEMBER 7th
We will not include WellCare Prescription Drug Plans in that. Still, we have Medicare Part D Drug Comparisons. Every client and our current and future clients are welcome to contact WellCare directly and enroll in one of their Medicare Part D Drug Plans if that is their preference. Still, we can no longer assist them if they partner with WellCare and Centene Corporation for their Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plans.
WRAPPING THINGS UP
With all of these changes, we believe it is vital that every Medicare Beneficiary get a review of their Prescription Drug Plan prior to the 2025 Plan Year. There are too many changes to risk not comparing your plan with the other plans available.
One of the things about AEP is that it starts off the new Plan Year. However, we cannot unveil or Market the new plans to anyone prior to October 15, 2024. We cannot officially talk about any plan specifics until then. For this reason, we could not mention any other Drug Plans that will be available in the 2025 Plan Year. We wish we could, but legally, we are not allowed to do that. We genuinely appreciate your understanding.