MESSAGE TO MY CLIENTS

THANK YOU - WE MADE IT!

With the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15th to December 7th) now over, I want to thank each and every one of you for your business. I appreciate my clients who called me back this year to help them with their health insurance plan changes. Also, thank you to those clients who stayed with their current insurance plans that liked their current coverage. Either way, I stay your dedicated “Agent Of Record.”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND CONTINUING TO WORK WITH ME. Much Appreciated!  😊🎄

There is another enrollment period called the Open Enrollment Period: January 1st to March 31st. This is a more limited change period where if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan and need to make a plan change, you can change to another Medicare Advantage plan (called Part C plans).

Please let me know, first. I can help you make any changes.

MEDICARE SECTION

PART D (prescription insurance) COPAYS TO COSTLY? Ask For An Exception!

There are many parts to a Medicare prescription drug (Part D) plan. There are your copays, the drug tiers, the annual deductible, the restrictions put on the type of drug you are taking (step therapy, quantity limits, and prior authorizations).

So what exactly are the drug tiers and what do they mean?:

Tier 1: Preferred Generic: Least expensive drug options, often generic drugs.

Tier 2: Generic: Higher price generic and lower-price brand-name drugs.

Tier 3: Preferred Brand: Mainly higher price brand-name drugs.

Tier 4: Non-Preferred: Highest cost prescription drugs.

Tier 5: Specialty drugs: new medications in the marketplace and clinical trial drugs

Each Medicare insurance company or plan may change the medications on those tiers from year to year.

If your medication falls on a higher tier, like a Tier 3, 4, or 5 AND can’t afford to pay the copay for that tier you can ask for an exception by using the Part D appeal process.

The following is TAKEN FROM A MEDICARE RIGHTS CENTER article:

A tiering exception is a way to request lower cost-sharing. To request a tiering exception, you or your doctor must show that the drugs for treatment of your condition that are on lower tiers of your plan’s formulary are ineffective or dangerous for you. Here is some guidance on requesting a tiering exception:

• If you are charged a high copay at the pharmacy, talk to your pharmacist and your plan to find out why. If your copay is high because your prescription is on a higher tier than other drugs to treat your condition on the formulary, you can ask for a tiering exception.
• Note that you can’t request a tiering exception if the drug you need is in a specialty tier. The specialty tier is limited to drugs above a certain dollar amount and plans may not require more than 33% coinsurance for drugs on this tier.
• Ask your plan how to send your tiering exception request. It’s usually helpful to include a letter of support from your prescribing health care provider. This letter should explain why similar drugs on the plan’s formulary at lower tiers are ineffective or harmful for you.
• If your plan approves your tiering exception request, your drug will be covered at cost-sharing that applies to the lower tier. Normally, an approved exception will be in effect until the end of the current calendar year. If your plan denies your request, it should send you a letter titled Notice of Denial of Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage. You can appeal this decision.

HEALTH SECTION

THYROID ISSUES partly caused by LOW IODINE LEVELS: Bromide Inhibits Iodine

The following is TAKEN FROM A NEWSMAX article: Dr. David Brownstein, M.D., writes:

When I talk to people about toxins, most assume that I’m referring to mysterious substances that are involved in manufacturing.

But the home is also a source of many toxins that can negatively impact a person’s liver. Bromide is a compound made from an ion of bromine along with other elements. Bromine is in the same chemical family as iodine. Bromide is a very toxic substance.

In the periodic table of elements, both bromine and iodine are found in Group 7, a number of chemically similar elements called halogens. When halogens combine with other elements, they form compounds called halides.

The problem is that one halogen can competitively inhibit another. That means if a person is exposed to excess bromine, the body can accumulate that element at the expense of iodine.

Fluorine and chlorine are also halogens. Of these four, two are essential — chlorine (as chloride compounds) and iodine (iodides) — meaning that we can’t live without them. Fluorine and bromine (as fluorides and bromides) are nonessential.

There’s no known therapeutic function for bromine for the human body. In fact, the medical community has long understood that it is a goitrogen, which means that accumulation in the thyroid gland can cause a swelling, or goiter.

Researchers have also found elevated bromide levels in patients with thyroid cancer.

Dr. David Brownstein, M.D., editor of the Natural Way to Health newsletter, is a board-certified family physician and one of the nation’s foremost practitioners of holistic medicine. In addition to his practice, Dr. Brownstein has lectured internationally to physicians and is the author of six very popular books.