Don’t look now, but someone you know and love will be turning 65 sooner than later. When that happens, be prepared for a torrent of questions that you will most likely be unable to answer.
Sixty-five is when Americans become eligible for Social Security benefits as well as Medicare. And there are almost 18 Medicare plans out there, which cover everything from hospitalization to prescription drugs, dental care and new glasses to replace the ones that keep getting lost at the top of someone’s head.
Jane Reese-Wilkins of Reese-Wilkins and Associates, is a Medicare benefits specialist, and while that might sound dry as toast to you this morning, the time will come when someone you care about will read everything they can get their hands on, if it has anything to with Medicare.
As she explained to Pasadena Now recently, “They call me when they’re turning 65, and a lot of them are very, very confused, because they’re being inundated with all this information.
“So I’m able to give them their options,” she said. “I make the process a lot simpler for them by giving them easy to follow instructions and then just kind of explain everything to them in simple terms, and then they’re not so intimidated by the whole process.”
Reese-Wilkins is the first to admit that particle physics might be easier for you to understand than Medicare plans. So she simplifies things.
“What I tell people is that every plan is not for you,” she said. “There are some plans that are for people that have diabetes, there are some plans for people that have heart disease. There’s some plans that have dialysis, etc. So when I look for a plan for someone and help them research it, and they’re healthy, then I’m looking for a plan that has very low premiums, and lots of benefits.
“I have to pick between all these plans where I kind of break it down, because people don’t have the same situation,” she continued. “And so I do a fact-finding process and I find out what’s important to them, and then I go from there.”
She would also discourage you from simply calling in and signing up for coverage directly with the health plans. Because of the complexity of plan coverage, you might not get the care that you need.
“I have people that will call me and say, ‘Oh, I called and I signed up with a particular company, but they didn’t even check my doctors and I need to go to the doctor, and I can’t go see my doctor because they didn’t assign the right doctor to the plan.’
“So you end up having to fix that or they call in and they didn’t check their medications, then I have people calling me going, ‘Oh my God, I can’t get my medication. I can’t get my insulin.’”
“So,” Jane told us confidently, “The nice part about having a person like me working with you, is that you can call me and hold me accountable for all of that. I’m going to make sure that I’m very thorough because that is the last thing I want to do. I wouldn’t have a business if I did that.”
She may say that’s the nicest thing about working with her, but that’s the second-nicest thing. The nicest thing? Her services are free to her clients. She is licensed to advise and sell plans from every major Medicare insurer in California. They pay her. You don’t.
And she also does seminars and webinars for groups and companies. You can already feel that pressure in your neck easing up, can’t you?
Contact her for any questions about Medicare plans or to book her for a speaking engagement to educate your audience about this complicated topic.
Jane Reese-Wilkins is available at (626) 372 9097. info@jrwinsurance.net
