Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses the importance of comparison shopping any product, but especially Medicare Advantage, with eHealth’s Whitney Stidom.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Joining me now, Whitney Stidom is with eHealth. Whitney, so great to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And we’re talking about Medicare Advantage this morning. A lot of people come to the eHealth site to help finalize their selections. Before we get into what you found in some latest research, could you give us maybe some deadlines that may impact the enrollment for Medicare Advantage?
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, so the fall annual enrollment period has passed, right, so that’s every year from October 15th through December 7th. But a lot of people are unaware there’s also a Medicare Advantage open enrollment. The deadline for that is March 31st.
So that runs every year, January 1st through March 31st.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So folks have 23 days from the time the show airs to log in and make their selections. And Whitney, as a follow-up with that, may I just ask for just a brief summary of how Medicare Advantage may differ or supplement or complement traditional Medicare? Because again, someone like me who is not yet enrolled, I may need an explanation.
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, sure. So Medicare Advantage plans operate their HMO-PPO plans. And so they operate typically like an employer plan or a plan that your employer would.
So they have hospital and doctor networks, whereas if you are on original Medicare, you can see any doctor that accepts Medicare. Medicare Advantage will have networks. There’s also maybe different co-pays.
A lot of them are available at no additional cost and come with some additional benefits like dental, vision, hearing, transportation benefits, over-the-counter allowances. And so Medicare Advantage can be a great option for a lot of folks.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And it sounds like it really pays based on the ehealth.com survey results, it pays or doesn’t pay to shop around.
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, yeah, the people that enrolled with us in 2025 potentially saved an average of about $1,600 per year. So if you break that down a monthly basis, about $140 per month savings potentially, just by comparing different options and enrolling in the plan that fit their needs and lowered their cost.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Is it analogous to when I shop for car insurance or some other good, there’s a lot of comparison websites out there that I can line up some of the protocols, like for example, when you went on the Affordable Care Act site, you can line up what the coverages are. Sorry, go ahead.
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Exactly, yeah. So if you go to ehealth.com, you can compare plans side-by-side and view things like, okay, well, how does the deductible compare per plan? How do the co-pays for my individual, specific medications and doctors compare?
So side-by-side, we make it really, really easy.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, well, if you make it easy and simple, I think more people probably, no one likes to, we’re talking about patients, no one really likes to go through and go through all the buttons, but I’m assuming there’s a radio buttons and things to click on for people. Within Medicare Advantage, so if someone signs up, they go through ehealth.com, they do all the comparisons. Are all the preventative, typically all the preventative screenings, I’m thinking about colorectal cancer or the colonoscopy, are those things traditionally covered by Medicare Advantage plans or would they be complimentary as part of the coverage?
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, so preventative services are typically covered by Medicare and therefore also covered by Medicare Advantage plans. So Medicare Advantage is required to cover everything that original Medicare covers, but they also have the opportunity to cover more than Medicare does. So like I mentioned with dental and vision, that’s not something that’s covered in original Medicare, but Medicare Advantage plans can offer that.
So things like colonoscopies and things like that are typically available in a Medicare Advantage plan at no cost, but you can see that side by side, if there are cost differences, you’d be able to see that on the website.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And are there misconceptions maybe that we can help clear up around Medicare Advantage? I feel like sometimes it doesn’t get the, I’m not an advocate for or against, but I just wanna make sure people have the right information. Are there things that maybe we can clear up around Medicare Advantage that maybe people maybe need some clarity around?
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think sometimes there is a misconception that having a doctor network and being constrained to a network is constraining and can feel like, oh, I can’t choose who I want to see. I can’t choose the doctor.
And I would say that a lot of the Medicare Advantage plans have pretty wide networks, and it’s really important to enter. If you go to ehealth.com, you can enter your doctor and see which plans cover your existing doctor. So you may not even have to change your doctor or feel restricted.
For those that really want the freedom to see any provider, Medicare Supplement is another great option, which is different than Medicare Advantage. And those plans typically do have a monthly premium. They don’t have a lot of the extras like Medicare Advantage have.
But yeah, I would say that that’s one of the misconceptions that oftentimes we have to clear up.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, but I mean, I would look at, again, I haven’t enrolled in traditional Medicare, but I mean, there are a finite number of physicians and people that accept traditional Medicare as well. So you’ve got a network there kind of as well. Let me close out by asking you about, there was a lot of talk earlier this month and in the month of February about the prescription drug prices.
Does that have an impact at all to what we’re talking about this morning, Medicare Advantage?
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
Yeah, so the prescription costs, Medicare Advantage plans, they’re not all the same, right? They’re gonna cover different medications. They’re gonna cover different doctors.
And so with the prescription costs, everything that is going through Medicare to reduce the cost of prescriptions also will apply to Medicare Advantage. And oftentimes there’s $0 copays on medications through Medicare Advantage. The other option is a standalone Part D plan.
And so, yeah, they typically follow the same rules for prescriptions.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, well, it certainly pays the shop around. People can certainly check out eatinghealth.com. Whitney, Steve, great to see you.
Thanks for joining us. And look, we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon.
Whitney Stidom, eHealth
All right, thanks so much.