Medicare Open Enrollment October 15 - December 7, 2013

The Medicare open enrollment period began October 15th and closes December 7th. This will be your chance to make changes to your health and prescription drug coverage for 2014.  Anyone wishing to change plans will have to do so during this period, as after December 7th, 2013 no plan changes will be allowed.

Advantages to Use a Certified Experienced Agent

Agents that sell Medicare Health Insurance products must have a national certification to even talk to you about Medicare Insurance; and they must go through training with each carrier they represent. It is always best to seek out an independent agent that represents many companies because independent agents offer more coverage choices for their clients.

Agents are paid directly by the insurance company therefore there is no additional cost to you. Also, the agent will be there for you when you have claim issues or questions regarding the insurance plan you have chosen.

Things to Remember During Open Enrollment 

• Review your current plan to make sure it still fits your needs
• Check out other options and plan design pricing
• Are you planning any foreign travel? There are coverage limitations if you plan to travel outside the US.
• To get Medicare drug coverage, you can join a stand-alone Part D plan at this time.
• Under healthcare reform, exchanges have been established. These are not designed for Medicare participants. 

The Value of Replacement Cost Coverage

Most homeowners and businesses buy insurance to cover the repair/replacement of loss of damaged property. Generally speaking, insurance companies do a good job of managing claims and helping the owners get their property back to a pre-loss condition. One important part of the insurance process is to understand the difference between Replacement Cost (RC) and Actual Cash Value (ACV) coverage.

Let's start with definitions of each:

Replacement Cost

Actual Cash Value 

The Value of Replacement Cost Coverage

When you suffer a loss of building or equipment you want to have the funds to replace it, as close to the actual item cost as possible. Replacement cost does that. This is especially true for companies that have expensive production equipment. We will always recommend replacement cost coverage.