ORLANDO, Fla. – Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spoke with News 6 about Medicare open enrollment and the best ways for seniors to maximize coverage.
Dr. Oz told News 6’s Justin Warmoth that beneficiaries should review and compare Medicare health and drug plans before the Dec. 7 deadline.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
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Warmoth: As you know, Florida has a high senior population. Open enrollment is here. What do Floridians need to know about this year?
Dr. Oz: Justin, open enrollment is always an important time of the year. This is your program. It’s a social safety net system. It’s the crown jewel of our nation’s ability to take care of its seniors. Open enrollment is the time when you need to go to Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE if you don’t like websites and just figure out if your plan is the right plan for you. There’s lots of new plans out there. Your plan might’ve changed. You might be on new medication. You could’ve changed doctors. You might need new doctors. All these reasons are out there, and you could save hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars if you go to the site and just figure out what’s best for you. Remember, there’s no sales people, there’s no pressure, we’re not trying to get you to do anything, we’re just informing you so when that onslaught of Medicare Advantage ads hit your screens, you’ll know a little bit more about where you are, so you’ll be able to make a wise choice.
Warmoth: There are so many different options out there. It becomes overwhelming for someone. What advice do you have? How do they sift through that and pick the right plan for them?
Dr. Oz: What I tell people is go to Medicare.gov and go there with your spouse, your child or grandchild, and create your own account. That’s a pro tip. If you create your own account, you’re allowing us to help you because we know what medications you’re on. We pay for them. We know your doctor. We pay his or her bill. You can take that information and customize the kind of coverage you need. If you have a new healthcare issue and you want supplemental benefits that might target your ability to get exercise or get different foods as part of your plan, we can help you with all that. That way you can find a plan in your area that works. Now, Orlando has got a lot of plans, and you have a lot of choices. Not all of them are equally good for you. Why would you pay hundreds of dollars extra for a medication that was fully covered on a different plan if you just knew about it? These supplemental benefits, they change year to year. Your plan may have changed since last year, so why throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars by not taking advantage of this wisdom?
Warmoth: Are there any other mistakes that we see time and time again whenever there’s open enrollment and how can we avoid making those mistakes?
Dr. Oz: The biggest errors I see are people don’t sign into the system. They just go to the website and look around a bit, but without signing in we can’t customize the advice you’re getting. The other rookie error is that you don’t do it by Dec. 7. That’s a concern. If you don’t make your decision by Dec. 7, it restricts your options quite a bit. You could be throwing away a fair amount of money, but also you throw away flexibility. If you eat the right things and exercise and try to get sleep, those are all critically important. That’s the foundation of your health. But so is having the peace of mind that you have a health insurance program that works for you. And you already have this. It’s yours. You own it. I’m just asking you — all of us are here at Medicare and Medicaid — to go out there and take advantage of all the things we’ve built for you, so you can make the wisest decisions.
Warmoth: Unfortunately, we see scammers trying to take advantage of this as well and prey on seniors during this time. How do we avoid those fraudulent offers that are out there?
Dr. Oz: If anyone calls you, they’re lying. We don’t ever call you without you calling us first. So, you should be reaching out to the people trying to sell you programs. In our case, we’re just trying to give you information. Again, we won’t call you. Call us. That’s one of the ways you’ll know it’s a fraud. But also, you should be knowledgeable enough about the opportunities out there that if what the person is saying to you as they’re trying to sell you something doesn’t sound right, you could do better. We think there are a lot of great brokers out there trying to help you, but they’re not all equally good. Some are unethical. Some just don’t know the business very well. We’re experts. If you really want to de-risk this process for yourself, go to the government’s site Medicare.gov and take advantage of all the wisdom. We’ve got a bunch of really smart people, a team of experts who have upgraded the program and improved the experience.
Warmoth: With the government shutdown still ongoing and obviously health care being a central component of that, so many people have wondered if open enrollment is still something they can do. Obviously, the answer is yes, but can you put further detail on that — that everything with open enrollment is good to go?
Dr. Oz: Justin, there are a few programs that Democrats and Republicans both hug and like and support. Medicare is an example of that. There’s no debate here politically about the validity and importance of these programs. They’re yours. We know they’re yours and we want to protect it as a program because it is our crown jewel in the social safety net system. There’s no impact from the shutdown on Medicare. The program is healthy. It’s funding everything, paying doctors and hospitals. You, as a beneficiary of the program, need to do your part and go to Medicare.gov and sign up appropriately, so you know where the opportunities are. I just turned 65 years of age, so I’m a Medicare beneficiary. I can proudly say that now, so I’m in the system as well, and I know how much we’ve improved it. We take great pride in what we’ve been able to provide for the American people. We just want you to taste it. You’ll like the cooking.
Warmoth: Vaccines are also part of this as well. That’s all good to go, right?
Dr. Oz: You have all the coverage of vaccines and other benefits that are part of the federal program. We want people to stay healthy. Part of the MAHA movement is to ensure you have preventative services available to you. Having healthcare is one of those preventative services. Plus, you have peace of mind that God forbid something were to happen that was bad you’ve got healthcare coverage. There are people out there who are paid to take care of you appropriately, so you’ll get top-tier care because you have health insurance.