Important Update: How We Can Help With Your Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

If you have a stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plan, we want to share an important update about how John J. Boyd & Associates will be assisting you moving forward.

The Medicare landscape continues to change, and recent changes within the insurance industry have affected how agents and agencies are compensated for stand-alone prescription drug plans. As a result, some insurance carriers are no longer compensating agents for these plans, while others have removed or limited an agent’s ability to enroll clients.

Many agencies have responded by stopping their assistance with stand-alone prescription drug plans altogether.

That is not what we want to do.

At John J. Boyd & Associates, we value our relationship with our clients and want to continue helping you review your Medicare prescription drug plan options. However, because of these industry changes, we need to make some adjustments to the way we provide that assistance.

Why Is the Process Changing?

There are two important reasons for this change.

Changes in Agent Compensation

Insurance carriers are changing the way agents are compensated for stand-alone prescription drug plans. In some cases, agents are no longer receiving compensation for helping clients with these plans.

Professional Liability Coverage

There is also an important professional-liability consideration.

Our errors and omissions (E&O) insurance is designed to help protect our agency and our clients when we provide insurance services. When we are no longer compensated for certain prescription drug plans, our E&O coverage may not extend to that work.

Rather than put our clients or our agency in a difficult position, we believe it is important to establish a process that allows us to continue providing helpful guidance while also protecting everyone involved.

We’re Still Here to Help

We want to be very clear about one thing:

We are not ending our relationship with you, and we are not abandoning you when it comes to your prescription drug coverage.

We still want to help you review your options and make an informed decision.

Instead of scheduling individual phone calls or appointments to review stand-alone prescription drug plans, we will be providing our recommendations through email.

This process will allow us to efficiently assist the large number of Medicare clients we serve, particularly during Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period.

How to Request Our Recommendation

If you would like John J. Boyd & Associates to compare stand-alone prescription drug plan options for you, you’ll need to complete the RetireFlo survey.

When completing the survey, please take your time and make sure your information is accurate and complete.

Be sure to include:

• Every prescription medication you currently take

• The dosage of each medication

• The quantity you receive

• How often you take each medication

• Your preferred pharmacy

This information is extremely important. Prescription drug plan costs and coverage can vary significantly depending on the medications you take and the pharmacy you use.

Once we receive your completed survey, we will review the available prescription drug plans and email you our recommendation.

You Can Also Compare Plans Yourself

Another option is to use Medicare.gov to compare prescription drug plans on your own.

Medicare’s online plan finder allows you to enter your medications and preferred pharmacy and compare available plans based on factors such as estimated premiums and prescription costs.

For many people, this can be a helpful way to see how different plans compare.

What If You Decide to Change Plans?

If you decide that another prescription drug plan is a better fit for you, you may need to complete the enrollment yourself.

Depending on the insurance carrier, enrollment may need to be completed through Medicare.gov or directly with the insurance company, particularly if that carrier no longer permits agents to submit enrollments for the plan.

We will continue to provide guidance through our updated process, but enrollment itself may be your responsibility.

A Few Important Things to Remember

Choosing a prescription drug plan isn’t simply about finding the plan with the lowest monthly premium.

The plan that looks least expensive based on premiums alone may not be the least expensive option once your medications, deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and preferred pharmacy are taken into account.

That’s why providing an accurate medication list and preferred pharmacy when completing your RetireFlo survey is so important.

We’re Still Your Medicare Resource

Changes in the insurance industry sometimes require us to change the way we do business, but they don’t change how much we value our clients.

Our goal is still to help you understand your Medicare options and make an informed decision about your coverage.

For stand-alone prescription drug plans, our new process simply means that assistance and recommendations will be handled through RetireFlo and email rather than individual phone appointments.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate these changes together.

Most importantly, thank you for continuing to trust John J. Boyd & Associates with your Medicare needs. We truly appreciate the opportunity to serve you and look forward to continuing to be a resource for you.

Have questions about your Medicare coverage? We’re here to help.