Marci's Medicare Answers

September 2007 Dear Marci, I'm about to turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. I am healthy so I don't think I'll need Medicare Part B, which covers doctors' services. I want to delay paying the monthly Part B premium. Can I wait to sign up for it? Lauren Dear Lauren, Unless you have insurance from your or your spouse's current job, you should sign up for Medicare Part B. If you wait, you will be charged a monthly premium penalty of 10 percent for each 12-month period you delayed enrollment in Part B. Generally, this penalty will last as long as you have Medicare. Marci Dear Marci, September is prostate cancer awareness month and this year I want to be screened. Will Medicare cover this? Chris> Dear Chris, Medicare covers prostate cancer screenings for men age 50 and over. Every 12 months, Original Medicare will pay 80 percent of the cost of a digital rectal exam, after you pay your annual Part B deductible. Medicare will also cover the complete cost of a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, even if you have not met your Part B deductible. Remember, the sooner you catch and treat prostate cancer, the second most common form of cancer in American men, the greater your chance of a complete recovery. If you get your health coverage from a private Medicare health plan (like an HMO), you should call your plan to find out what you'll pay for these services. Marci Dear Marci, Last March, an insurance agent enrolled me in a private Medicare HMO. He said it would cover all of my doctors but I just found out that my primary care doctor is not in the plan's network. What can I do? Al Dear Al, You may qualify for a new "Exceptional Circumstances Special Enrollment Period" (SEP), which will allow you to change health plans before the next enrollment period begins on November 15. You qualify for this SEP if you were misled or received incorrect information from a health insurance employee, agent or broker. Call 800-MEDICARE and describe, in as much detail as possible, how you were misled to a Medicare agent. If you qualify for the SEP, you can select either Original Medicare or a new Medicare private health plan. If you ran up medical debts while enrolled in the private Medicare HMO, you can switch coverage retroactively. This means that you can enroll in a new plan as of the date you enrolled in your current plan. There are also a number of other SEPs, which you can read about on the Medicare Rights Center's website at http://www.medicarerights.org/help.html. Marci Marci's Medicare Answers is a service of the Medicare Rights Center (www.medicarerights.org), the nation's largest independent source of information and assistance for people with Medicare. To subscribe to "Dear Marci," MRC's free educational e-newsletter, simply e-mail dearmarci@medicarerights.org. a