Counsel Through: The 2007 Part D AEP
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
3:00 PM ET

The day has finally arrived! Part D Annual Enrollment for 2007 is upon us. Please join us to debrief, reflect and predict the next 6 weeks. Based on discussions during our November 1st HAP/SHIP conference call, we will also review the decisional factors around choosing Part D plans and what options there are for people who may want to change later. We will discuss the new Part D transitional fill policies when changing plans, or when beneficiries' plans change. Given what we’ve all found in the landscape of plans, we will continue to review counseling tips and tools for beneficiaries considering Private Fee-For-Service and Medicare Savings Accounts. We then will open up for discussion about record-keeping strategies that have worked for your counselors in the past and how SHIPs are addressing the need to keep track of beneficiary information for future needs. In preparation for this call, please consider and be ready to share how you successfully implemented keeping track of your hard work in the past year, especially in light of budgetary, time, and storage space constraints. Please join us during one of the most important days of the year as we come together to prepare and learn from each other.

HAP Resources

• MSA Fact Sheet - This fact sheet generally describes the elements involved when selected a Medicare Advantage Medicare (Medical) Savings Account. It is not plan-specific, and will be updated periodically as we uncover more details about how MSAs work under Medicare Advantage.
• Explanation of Selected MA SEPs - This fact sheet describes two MA SEPs that allow certain beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage to change enrollment to Original Medicare outside of the Annual Enrollment Period.
• Pictorial Chart - This chart outlines important rules and limitations for the OEP.

CMS Resources

• Transitional-Fill Policies for Part D Plans in 2007
• Private-Fee-For-Service Medicare Advantage - Question & Answer
• Your Guide to Private Fee-for-Service Plans - This booklet explains the basics of Private Fee-for-Service plans. It was written before significant changes to Medicare Advantage were made; therefore the sections on enrolling in and disenrolling from a PFFS plan are no onger accurate. However, the background information about the plans remains correct.

Local SHIP Resources - HAP received the following forms used for tracking purposes from a variety of local SHIPs.

San Diego:

• Medicare Part D Intake Form
• Medicare Part D Screen
• Medicare Part D Log

South Carolina:

• Medicare Part D Screen

Tennessee:

• Mailing Information Form
• Complaint Tracking Form