Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income, taxes, Social Security, health care, and more. This show is an extension of the book, how to retire on time, which you can grab today on Amazon or by going to www.how to retire on time.com. My name is Mike Decker. I'm the author of the book, how to retire on time, but I'm also a licensed financial adviser, insurance agent, and tax professional, which means when it comes to financial topics, we can pretty much talk about it all. So that said, please remember, this is just a show.

Alright? Everything you hear should be considered informational as in not financial advice. If you want personalized financial advice, then request your wealth analysis from my team by going to www.yourwealthanalysis.com. With me in the studio today is my esteemed colleague, mister David Frandsen. David, thanks for joining me.

Hey. Thanks for having me.

Now David's gonna be reading your questions, and I'm gonna do my best to answer them. Please send in your questions right now or anytime during the week. Just save this number, 913-363-1234. That's 913-363-1234. Or you can email questions to hey mike at how to retire on time.com.

Let's begin.

Hey, Mike. I have already signed up for a new Medicare plan but might want to change it. Can you do that? And if so, how do you do that?

Well, David

Yeah.

I I I know this is technically to show where I answer the questions, but you're you're the director of health care benefits.

I am.

So do you wanna take this one on?

Yeah. Absolutely. So, yes, you can, actually change it. You can. And there are gonna be a lot of different situations.

So consult a specialist?

Consult a specialist.

Not chat g p t?

Yeah. That's I mean, you know, that that's great for a lot of things.

To start research. Yeah.

Yeah. To get on your way there, but it's not the gospel.

Yeah. So keep going.

Yeah. So the bottom line is whatever plan you have signed up for by December 7th this year, that's what you're gonna have starting on January 1st. However, there are certain other situations where you might have a little bit longer. So, for example, here in Kansas City, where we are, and this could apply to other places around the country, but there are some plans who are exiting the market. So here in KC, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, they're exiting, so you get a little bit of extra time because your plan is basically evaporating.

You get until December 31st, so you have a little bit extra time.

But don't procrastinate.

Probably shouldn't.

December's for the holidays. Get this done before Thanksgiving.

That would be ideal, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And then there's also another, case or scenario where if you have your plan going into next year and you you're in January of of 2025 and you don't like it, you have until March 31st. But to be certain, you should probably call us and find out those details, and we can and we can see how we can switch you.

Or if you're already working with an agent, you should probably just call them. We don't wanna be accused of being poachers here.

No. Yeah. Work with someone that you trust and respect. Work with someone that's able to give you the full picture and not a siloed focused picture or strategy or, you know, whatever the selection is that ignores the other parts that may be affected by the plan. Let me really look at the details here, but these things do matter.

Mulligans are allowed, but not all the time. You can switch plans. You know, you sign up maybe October 20th, you sign up for something and say, oh, that wasn't the right plan. And maybe November 15th, you switch it to something else. I mean, it's really whatever plan you last select is what will happen.

That's right. Yeah. And you might find out, oh, my my primary care provider wasn't actually covered on the initial one that I signed up for. What do I do now? Well, it's not too late.

You know, we we've got sort of the ticking clock that goes till December 7th. There's time.

I was trying to throw this out there. If you're going, you know, gosh, I want to double check the health care plan that I'm I'm looking for or looking into during this open enrollment season or, you know, I have an agent, but I I maybe I want a different one or I want to take this from a more comprehensive standpoint. Listen up. This is how we do it. So when someone asks us for health care help, what we first do is we say, okay.

Well, what's your situation? What does it look like? What is the kind of your overall plan look like? And then we have context to help you pick the right plan. We don't just say what plan do you want.

Great. And then any potential issues are just your fault. We wanna understand kind of the full picture first and then use the full picture to make recommendations with context. So if you want to have a more informed decision or a more comprehensive decision from a team that can offer investment tax and securities advice, basically, the full Monty here. What I want you to do during this open enrollment season, save this number right now.

Phone lines are gonna be open. 913-363-1234. Again, that number is 913-363-1234. When you call in, just say, hey. Look.

I'm looking for the health care analysis. And then they'll they'll gather some really basic information. David will call you back then on Monday. Just ask us some basic questions. We'll get you scheduled.

Doesn't cost you a dime, but really could help you just optimize and save save a few bucks here or there on your healthcare plan potentially. But also help you pick a plan that works better with your overall strategies. In finance, it's all connected. In retirement, it's all connected. Your income, your tax strategies, your health care strategies, it's all connected.

So why not include the health care strategy as a part of all the other strategies? Call right now. 913-363-1234. We'll help you this open enrollment season. Pick the right plan and maybe offer you some other helpful tips to help you get more out of your hard earned money.

Call right now. 913-363-1234. We can help you if you're 65 years or older, if you're in open enrollment season, or if you're younger and you're looking to figure out how to navigate the Affordable Care Act for health care without, you know, paying an arm and a leg for policies. You're trying to be tax efficient with your health care strategies. All of that, we can help you.

David and myself, we do this all day long. 913-363-1234. Call right now. Get the friendly person on the phone. They'll gather some basic information, and then we'll go from there.

Again, that number one more time. 913-363-1234. That's all the time we've got for the show today. If you enjoyed the show, consider subscribing to it wherever you get your podcast. Just search for how to retire on time.

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