Medicare Eligibility Tool Available Online to Make Sign Up Process Easier for Seniors

Medicare enrollment can be confusing.  In fact, most people who are eligible to enroll in Medicare find it more confusing than they bargained for.

Part of the problem is that there are a lot of parts to Medicare and each one covers something a little different.  An individual that wants to purchase Medicare needs to compare all the parts and determine what fits your needs.

Another part of the problem is that there are a lot of stories about what covers you, how to get coverage, how much it can cost, and a lot more.  This is all confusing, if not overwhelming.

If you are a senior or another individual in a situation where you are trying to apply for Medicare or researching to purchase Medicare within the next year or so, there is an important place that you can go to find the correct information that you need.If you go to medicare.gov or cms.gov there are eligibility tools online.  These tools take you through the entire application process as well as explaining each part of Medicare.  This allows you to be able to determine which parts you need for the coverage for you.  It also shows you a grid that will compare some things side by side to determine what is covered by each part and how much it costs.

In addition, there is information regarding Medicare Advantage, which combines a number of the parts of Medicare into one policy.  The Medicare Advantage policy can be great for some people but unnecessary or too expensive for others.

Quite often, depending upon your health and upon your needs, getting basic Medicare and some of it’s parts is enough for you.  On the other hand, some individuals will do better to purchase a Medicare Advantage policy.  These policies are designed by the government and their parts are the same no matter what company you buy them from, however, it is important to compare prices with all companies in your area, since private insurance companies sell the plans and can charge whatever they want, so your premium might be very reasonable when it comes to one company but could be double or triple through another insurance company.

Between now and the end of 2009 it is open enrollment time.  This is the time to really do your research and make your choices as soon as possible, so that you can lock in the best prices and the right coverage for you for the next year.

So, go online to the websites above and get started making sense of Medicare and finding the coverage that is right for you.

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Medicare Providers Will Soon Enroll Online

As Medicare tries to become more effective, efficient and streamlined, eliminating paperwork and unnecessary time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services has planned an online system to help providers enroll to be providers.  This system will be available to most states in early 2009, and will also be available in California, New York and Missouri by October 2009.

Not all enrollment materials will be available on the web-based system, however there will be enough to get the process started and move it along more quickly than the old system.  In the past it took 90 days – and sometimes much longer – for a provider to complete the enrollment process.  With the new online process, it is estimated that it will take 30 to 45 days instead.

One drawback that providers are talking about is the fact that since the system will not recognize online signatures, the online paperwork must be followed by actual paper forms with original signatures sent to employees at CMS who process the paperwork and combine the files.  Providers are skeptical about this, as they feel it will continue to take more time, however, CMS says that they can be working on everything in the computer so that the process goes quickly and the original signatures on paper will simply be verified, not re-processed.

Another drawback according to providers is that each provider who wants to enroll as a Medicare provider must enroll in a separate and different system first.  The second system is called the Individuals Authorized to Access CMS Computer Services.  Providers see this as an extra and cumbersome step and wonder why there cannot be one system that can deal with all of the hoops they must jump through in one complete system.

In addition, providers are skeptical because there have been promises to speed up the enrollment system for quite some time, and this particular system was supposed to be up and running by March, 2008, according to CMS, making the debut over six months late.

Regardless of how the providers feel about some of the issues inherent in the debut of the new system, one thing is true: there is the potential to enroll providers more quickly and the potential to add further services for providers including billing, budgeting, records and more in the future.

For now, we can all wait and see how the system works and if it saves time and expense for CMS, Medicare, providers, as well as Medicare recipients.

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