Medicare: Open Enrollment and You
Medicare riddle: What do Annual Open Enrollment and Halloween have in common? Each year they seem to start earlier and earlier. Halloween candy appears on store shelves in September along with health plan solicitations in mailboxes, on TV and radio.
When individuals “age into” Medicare, the plan selection process can be a daunting and challenging experience. When I initially meet prospective clients in their homes, I often see piles of solicitations strewn across tables where they have unsuccessfully tried to compare the multiple options available in their county. The window of opportunity for selecting coverage begins three months prior to one’s 65th birth month, although we recommend that you investigate options up to six months prior to your birth month.
Each year, Annual Open Enrollment mirrors the “aging in” period, and over eight weeks offers consumers time to learn about plan design changes that have been approved by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). The period runs October 15 through December 7; carriers can present their 2022 plans on October 1, but they cannot process applications until October 15.
Open Enrollment provides multiple opportunities to consider these options:
- Switch from an Advantage plan to another.
- Individuals with Medigap plans
- can consider another prescription drug plan (Part D) or
- terminate an Advantage plan and return to original Medicare (not recommended) and select a stand-alone Part D.
- If a beneficiary is happy with their existing coverage no decision is necessary as coverage will automatically roll over to their carrier’s 2022 plan design.
With each passing year, the competition for new members becomes more aggressive, prompting plans with enhanced benefits that can include home health care, hearing aids, eye wear, and transportation, just to name a few. When considering plan benefits, it is essential not to overlook plan provider networks and drug formulary, or a list of generic and brand name prescription drugs covered by your health plan. Participation in each can change each year and confirming the status of your doctors and drugs in the 2022 plan is important.
To aid in understanding changes, CMS requires each carrier to provide the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) document. This alerts clients of their benefit changes from year to year, i.e., copay, deductibles, etc. The ANOC is an important document to review; in my experience, clients can often overlook this document in their regular mail delivery.
Other than allowable Special Enrollment Periods (SEP), there are few exceptions to change coverage during a calendar year. It’s important to be aware of the available options to avoid costly errors. For example, when confirming drugs in the formulary, you may find one carrier categorizes a drug as a Tier 2, when the same drug is categorized a Tier 3 by another carrier. A carrier can also change the Tier designation of a drug from one year to the next. The difference may cost the patient significantly over the next year if not noticed when confirming plans.
My goal in writing this article is to provide insight to those looking at Medicare, as decisions can be complicated and once made, can’t be changed for the calendar year unless you qualify for an SEP designation. Take time to consider options; a licensed health agent, certified annually to represent plans with Medicare contracts, can be a vital part of a risk adverse strategy. The role of an agent is to represent their client with no monetary incentive to favor one carrier over another, as their compensation is the same for each plan and regulated by CMS.
Since 2009, licensed health and life insurance agent (and Tucker resident) Bob Smith has represented major health insurance carriers for the ACA Marketplace, Medicare, Medicaid, Ancillary Plans and life insurance. For a free no-obligation quote and review of your health coverage programs call Bob at 404.593.9663 or email Bob@BobCareForYou.com. For additional insight, visit BobCaresForYou.com. From Obamacare to Bidencare to Bobcares℠ – Helping Families Protect Their Health, Wealth and Assets.
Read MoreGABB Million Dollar Club Applications Due Nov. 5
The GABB is now accepting applications for the 2021 Million Dollar Club, recognizing members who have sold businesses that added together are worth at least $1 million in the previous year. The deadline for submitting applications is Nov. 5, 2021.
Awardees will be honored at the annual GABB Holiday Gala on Dec. 9 at Villa Christina. GABB board members Jeff Merry and Jon Roman comprise the Million Dollar Club committee and will review the applications.
GABB members are eligible for the:
- Million Dollar Club if they have eligible sales from Nov. 1, 2020 to Oct. 31, 2021 of $1,000,000 to $1,999,999.
- Multi-Million Dollar Club if they have eligible sales generated totaling $2,000,000 or more during the same period.
- Life Membership in the Million Dollar Club when they’ve been elected to the Million Dollar Club for three consecutive years or any 5 years.
- Phoenix Award if they have been elected to the Million Dollar Club for any 10 years.
- Silver Phoenix if they have been elected to the Million Dollar Club for any 25 years.
To be eligible for the award, an applicant must be a current member in good standing of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers. Each business sold doesn’t have to be worth more than a million, but the total sales price of all businesses sold during the qualifying period must total a million or more. Only transactions closed after the effective date of membership in GABB will count towards Million Dollar Club volume. All Million Dollar Club members must have attended at least three GABB events during the eligible period, such as meetings, conferences, or social events, either in person or online.
The online application, along with detailed rules about the club, can be found at the GABB website.
Million Dollar Club rules:
Please contact diane.loupe@gabb.org or 770-744-3639 if you have any additional questions about this matter, or if you are unable to complete this application online.
Read MoreSecuring Online Transactions: GABB Sept. 28
When you’re transmitting a large sum of money electronically, how can you be sure your money gets to the right place?
Ricky Robertson, Atlantic Capital Bank’s Operational Risk Manager, discussed ways that businesses you can protect themselves and their clients from wire transfer fraud at the Sept. 28 meeting of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.
A closing should mean that the seller gets paid. Usually, the buyer wires in their down payment, the attorney develops and sends out a closing statement the day before the closing, and everyone agrees with his/her numbers. Unfortunately, a buyer will sometimes send over wiring instructions via email and those instructions get phished and the instructions end up in the wrong place! The buyer or the seller may lose their money; in some cases, millions of dollars.
View the discussion at this link.
Among the horror stories that emerged from the Sept. 28 discussion was that of a payment of more than a million dollars that a bank client asked be electronically transmitted to a vendor. The bank called to confirm that the client wanted to make the payment, but it turned out that the payment was not sent to a vendor but to a third party online thief. Fortunately, Robertson said, the bank was able to recover the money because of a mistake made by the thief.
Lesson learned: if something doesn’t sound right, don’t hesitate to call and double- and triple-check the facts. Too often humans want to be accommodating and agreeable, and thieves exploit that tendency, Robertson said.
Some scam artists gain access to a person’s email account, creating invisible folders, and get to know a target’s email habits. They may learn that a large payment is pending. Then they use their knowledge by sending fake emails with directions for transmitting funds.
Brian Harper, Senior Vice President and SBA Division Manager of Atlantic Capital Bank also talked about his bank’s upcoming merger with SouthState Bank.
Ricky Robertson began his career in law enforcement and spent six years as a detective concentrating mostly on investigating white collar crime. During his time in law enforcement, Ricky completed computer forensic investigations and served as the commander of the crisis negotiation team. Over the past 14 years, Ricky has worked in banking in the Information & Corporate Security fields. As Atlantic Capital Bank’s Operational Risk Manager, Ricky’s main job responsibilities include Corporate Security, Information Security, and Operational Risk. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and earned the Certified Protection Professional certification from ASIS International.
Mr. Harper has more than 25 years of business banking and lending experience and ample experience handling multi-million dollar transactions. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Dunwoody, Junior Achievement, Georgia Lenders Quality Circle, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, the Georgia Association of Business Brokers, Our Lady of Assumption Church, is a coach for Murphey Candler Baseball and a board member of the Georgetown Recreation Center.
Claudia Wilson, Vice President, SBA Relationship Manager at SouthState Bank, is sponsoring the meeting.
The GABB is the state’s preeminent organization of professionals involved in the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises, and operates the state’s only real estate school devoted to business brokering. For more information about the GABB, contact GABB president Judy Mims at judy@childcare.properties or at 404-918-3666; or email diane.loupe@gabb.org or text 770-744-3639.
Read MoreForecaster Says Virus Variant Will Delay but Not Diminish Economic Growth Prospects
Forecaster Says Virus Variant Will Delay but Not Diminish Economic Growth Prospects
ATLANTA-The impact of COVID-19’s delta variant will delay but not diminish growth prospects, and a current surge in inflation will recede in 2022, according to Rajeev Dhawan of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
“The pause in growth is due to a decrease in consumption of contact-heavy service-sector products, such as hospitality, travel and elective healthcare because of the current surge in coronavirus illnesses and hospitalizations,” Dhawan said. “Once public health measures arrest the surge, consumer sentiment will improve, the service sector will reignite and growth will resume.”
The forecaster posited that three temporary factors are fueling inflation: the reopening of the hospitality and retail trade sectors, idiosyncratic supply chain disruptions and “super-sized stock market gains” leading to “spectacular home price growth.”
Dhawan said, “Hotel room rates have spiked, with a 10 percent increase in each quarter of 2021, as occupancy rose sharply after a long period of inactivity. And this was mostly leisure travel (meeting friends and family and taking summer vacations), which shows up in data as a rise in the consumer price index (CPI). But this is temporary. Another round of double-digit price increases would only happen if people began taking vacations not only in the summer, but also in the fall, and then again in winter – an absurdity, as it violates social calendar norms.”
Anomalous supply chain events (accidents at chip production plants in Taiwan) roiled U.S. car sales when chip shortages reduced new vehicle inventory and led to upward pressure on used-car prices.
“This was a one-time price increase that is already leveling off,” Dhawan said.
Dhawan acknowledged the seeming paradox of falling interest rates for 10-year treasury bonds given the high fiscal deficit and rising inflation.
“Why has the 10-year bond yield fallen for the last three months after peaking at 1.6 percent in March? And does this drop signal diminished growth prospects in 2022?” Dhawan asked. “Let me start by answering the second question. Growth prospects are undiminished but will be delayed.” – more –
Dhawan attributed the drop in 10-year yields to an influx of funds triggered by the arrival of delta variant cases of COVID-19 and an uptick in geopolitical worries.
“Companies pause capital expenditures (investments) during times of uncertainty and park their money in the safest assets in the world – U.S. treasury bonds,” he said.
The forecaster asserted the flight to safety would be temporary, pointing to the widely held perception of statements by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as credible.
Dhawan’s final inflation factor is the heated residential real estate market, spurred by “dramatic” stock market performance since the lows of March 2020, which has fueled “spectacular” home price gains over the last 12 months.
“The pandemic triggered a demand shock – a change in housing taste and location preference – that has not abated during subsequent waves of the virus,” he said. “People are moving from crowded in-town areas to single-family homes farther out or farther away.”
The hot market for residential real estate will ultimately normalize, Dhawan said.
“Once everyone has moved, the demand shock will abate. Affordability depends on price and interest rates. Although the Fed will not raise rates until well into 2023 (as tapering of bond purchases won’t begin until mid-2022),” he said. “Sustained high domestic fiscal deficits and eventual global recovery will push up long-bond yields, causing mortgage rates to reach 4.0 percent by late 2022.”
Dhawan said 2021 has averaged 617,000 new jobs per month from January to July, with almost 50 percent growth in the hospitality and retail trade sectors. The corporate sector, home to premium jobs, is not producing consistent job growth.
“Corporate job growth is at 52,000 new positions per month,” Dhawan said. “That’s only 8 percent of total job growth for a sector whose share of jobs is 14 percent. Further boosts for this sector will hinge on the global economy, which still hasn’t picked up speed because of vaccine scarcity.”
Highlights from Rajeev Dhawan’s National Economic Forecast
- Gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be 5.0 percent in the third quarter of 2021, moderate to less than 3.0 percent in the subsequent two quarters before rebounding to 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022 and will be 4.2 percent in the third quarter of 2022.
- Overall GDP growth will be 5.7 percent in 2021, 3.9 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2023. • Housing starts will average 1.560 million in 2021, 1.433 million in 2022 and 1.363 million in 2023. Vehicle sales will average 16.3 million in 2021, 16.9 million in 2022 and 18.1 million in 2023. • CPI inflation will be 4.3 percent in 2021, moderate to 3.1 percent in 2022 and further moderate to 2.4 percent in 2023. The 10-year bond rate will average 1.4 percent in 2021, 2.1 percent in 2022 and 2.5 percent in 2023.
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Read MoreGeorgia’s Recovery Outpaces U.S. But Not Immune to Global Supply Chain Disruptions
Georgia’s Recovery Outpaces U.S. But Not Immune to Global Supply Chain Disruptions
ATLANTA – Georgia’s recovery from the 2020 pandemic shutdown remains ahead of the nation’s, but further disruptions of the global supply chain could be felt from the port of Savannah to the boardrooms of Atlanta, according to Rajeev Dhawan of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
“Although the Peach State outpaces the U.S. in economic recovery metrics, including running a lower job deficit (2 percent in Georgia vs. 4 percent nationally),” Dhawan said, “we contend with the same challenges, including inflation and uncertainty about the trajectory of the COVID-19 delta variant.”
Dhawan describes a hypothetical order of an electronics product in high demand among U.S. consumers. The product is assembled in China of components sourced from throughout the Asia-Pacific region (including perhaps Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam). The assembled products ship from a Chinese seaport, perhaps Shenzhen, to an American port – perhaps Savannah, the nation’s third-busiest seaport. After customs, orders ship to retailers for fulfillment.
“Under normal circumstances, the logistics process is seamless. But any interruption along the way – such as a delta variant outbreak at the assembly factory or the outbound seaport–adds to an already overwhelming backlog,” Dhawan said. “And this supply scarcity contributes to inflation and lower activity at Georgia’s signature port.”
Between continuing pandemic concerns, global supply chain snarls and geopolitical worries, Dhawan anticipates Georgia’s corporate sector will “keep pushing the pause button on hiring or making capital expenditures until uncertainty begins to subside in 2022.”
By contrast, Dhawan said, Atlanta-area residential and commercial real estate developers are pivoting to changes in market demand. “Pre-pandemic, developers were building spectacular high-rise office buildings in town and equally spectacular high-density residential towers nearby,” he said. “Today we see a shift to small, low-density office complexes in suburban locations with nearby apartment clusters. Now is not the time to gamble on building a trophy tower.”
Dhawan said one need look no further than the proliferation of 18×24-inch yellow placards lashed to roadside signs to know that active film productions have returned in force to the #1 movie-making city in America. “Georgia’s film industry is doing very well,” he said, “with plans for a symbiotic complex of studio sound stages, housing and commerce at the former General Motors plant in Doraville.”
Highlights from Rajeev Dhawan’s Economic Forecast for Atlanta and Georgia
- Georgia will add 157,500 jobs (33,200 premium jobs) in 2021, gain a respectable 109,500 jobs (30,700 premium) in 2022 and increase by 85,700 (25,500 premium) in 2023.
- Nominal personal income will grow 8.0 percent in 2021, pull back to only 0.3 percent growth in 2022 and rise 4.0 percent in 2023.
- Atlanta will add 114,100 jobs (25,300 premium positions) in 2021, grow by 70,900 jobs (22,100 premium) in 2022 and add 66,100 jobs (19,900 premium) in 2023.
- Atlanta housing permitting activity will increase by 31.1 percent in 2021, decline by 4.7 percent in 2022 and drop by 1.6 percent in 2023.