What Is The Scope Of Appointment Form?

What Is The Scope Of Appointment Form?

Health care is personal, financial, and crucial. It can be difficult to hand your information over to strangers so they can start charging you fees, so you’re probably cautious about signing forms and documents. However, the Scope of Appointment form, or SOA, is an important one for you to sign.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, requires that Medicare and Medicaid sales agents fill out the SOA at or before every appointment. The form documents exactly what the parties plan on discussing. The information is confidential but required for the agent to proceed.

Why?

SOA forms are just one way that CMS tries to protect you, the consumer. It prevents agents from trying to sell you more than you need or start discussing products illegally. By law, Medicare and Medicaid sales agents are only allowed to discuss the information they agreed to on the SOA form. The form is not required for Original Medicare enrollment. However, it is required for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, Part D (Prescription Drug) plans, Hospital Indemnity, and Dental/Vision/Hearing plans.

Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

SOA forms are one of the countless rules that Medicare and Medicaid sales agents are required to follow. An agent who breaks a CMS rule is considered guilty of fraud, waste, or abuse.

If an agent attempts to sell you a product that you did not agree to discuss, you can file a fraud, waste, and abuse complaint with The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

At MedicarePlanFinder, we’ll set you up with a Medicare Health Benefits agent who knows to always file an SOA and stick to it when meeting with you. Do you have any questions at all about your Medicare plan? Are considering changing or adding a plan? Call us to set up a meeting with one of our licensed and experienced agents at no cost to you. Call us at 1-844-431-1832.

Closing Your Medicare Coverage Gaps

Did you recently purchase a new health care plan, or are you reevaluating your existing plan? You may have noticed by now that your Medicare plan does not cover all of your health care needs.

If you only have basic Medicare, your plan only covers hospital treatments and doctor visits. If you have Medicare Supplements, your plan covers hospital treatments, doctor visits, and copayments and deductibles. If you have Medicare Advantage, your plan probably includes additional items like prescription drug coverage, dental and vision benefits, and physical fitness incentives.

Your prescription drug coverage can also leave you in the Donut Hole!

Thankfully, we can help you close your coverage gaps. This is how:

Ancillary Products

Even if you have Medicare Advantage, your Medicare plan is missing items like final expense coverage, life insurance, and more! If you don’t have Medicare Advantage, your Medicare plan definitely does not have items like dental, vision, and hearing insurance. These are all items that you can buy separately to give yourself additional coverage!

Dental, vision, and hearing policies are a great place to start, but you’ll really want to consider your other health care needs. Are you at a high risk for a stroke or heart attack? Do you have a family history of cancer development? If so, you may want to consider adding on a cancer, heart attack, or stroke policy.

Individual hospital indemnity policies are a great way to protect yourself for the event that you need to spend a long period of time in the hospital, and final expense policies are a great way to ensure that your family does not have to shell out thousands of dollars to pay for your burial expenses and any outstanding bills at the time of your death.

Extra Help

Thousands of seniors who qualify for Extra Help don’t even know it! We want to help you figure out if you’re missing out on great Medicare savings. If you qualify for Extra Help, otherwise known as LIS (Low-Income Subsidies), you can get help paying for prescription drug premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments.

Additionally, you can have an SEP, or Special Enrollment Period. This means that you’ll be able to change or add a plan outside of the Annual Enrollment Period (once per quarter during the first three quarters of the year).

LIS can also help you pay for late enrollment fees and cover you when you fall into the Donut Hole (the gap we mentioned earlier). Any Medicare beneficiary who has LIS does not have to worry about the Donut Hole coverage gap!

Find more information on LIS here. 

Meet An Agent 

Thankfully, we can help you with all of this! Our Medicare Health Benefits agents can come directly to your home, so you don’t even have to go anywhere. We’ll send them your way so they can help you pick the best plan from the best carrier for your individual needs. Our agents can also help you apply for LIS!

To get started, set up an appointment by giving us a call at 1-844-431-1832.

How Medicare and Retiree Coverage Work Together

How Medicare and Retiree Coverage Work Together

Does your employer offer retiree health care coverage? Even if you have a retiree plan, you still need to enroll in Medicare. Medicare and retiree coverage are not the same thing.

Your Medicare coverage will always come first. Your retiree coverage will work as extra coverage to backup your Medicare plan – kind of like a Medicare Supplement plan. While retiree coverage is not a Medicare Supplement plan, it is very similar. It can cover things like copayments and deductibles, or even extra hospital stay days. All retiree plans are different, though, so look over your plan and call your agent to find out what it covers.

Do You Have Coverage?

Not every employer offers retiree coverage. Since it isn’t required, your employer (or former employer) can cancel or change your retiree plan at any time. It’s safest for you to have Medicare as well. Plus, if you don’t enroll in Medicare when you first become eligible, you will face a penalty fee. Some retiree plans automatically stop when you turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare.

If your employer does not offer retiree coverage, retiring or losing your job gives you a SEP. A Special Enrollment Period means that you don’t have to wait for AEP, the Annual Enrollment Period, to buy coverage. You will have 60 days from your last day of work to enroll in a marketplace health plan. After those 60 days are over, you’ll have to wait until AEP (October 15 – December 7) to buy a marketplace plan, at which point you will be charged a penalty fee for having a lapse in coverage.

How To Enroll In Medicare

To get started with Medicare, speak with an agent! One of our licensed and highly qualified agents can help you sort out your options and pick the best plan for your needs. Our agents offer bias-free assistance because they are licensed with multiple carriers. We truly want you to have health care and coverage that works for you.

To set up a free appointment, call 1-844-431-1832.