New carriers enter Nye County with Medicare Advantage plans

The season for enrolling in Medicare is just around the corner and a few more options are on the table for the 2020 Medicare Advantage plans in Nye County.

Four new Medicare Advantage plans will be available for 2020. Medicare open enrollment begins Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7.

The new carriers bringing Medicare Advantage plans to the Nye County market in 2020 are Allwell (Centene Corp.), SelectHealth, Lasso Healthcare and Aetna, said Brent Leavitt of Battle Born Financial and Health Insurance Brokerage in Pahrump.

Other major carriers such as UnitedHealthcare, Hometown Health, which entered the Nye and Clark County markets in 2019 with its Senior Care Plus Medicare Advantage plan and Humana, will still be in the Nye County market with its Medicare Advantage plan offerings.

In total, seven different carriers are now in the Nye County market offering Medicare Advantage plans.

As of Oct. 1, insurers began marketing their Medicare Advantage plans.

Three of those four new plans will be utilizing P3, according to Leavitt.

“Aetna is going to offer some unique stuff,” Leavitt said. “They’re probably the more unique of all of them.”

Aetna’s plans will have some PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans and other options, according to Leavitt.

Lasso is also bringing something unique to the Nye County market.

“Lasso is kind of a unique one that we never had before,” Leavitt said. “Lasso’s called a Medicare savings account. We call them MSAs.”

Leavitt said this is the first time Nevada has had a plan of this nature.

“It’s a Medicare Advantage plan that they can go see any doctor that takes Medicare,” he said. “As long as the doctor accepts the Medicare rates, they can go anywhere on MSA. The thing is, it’s a high deductible plan, so you’ll have like a $7,000 to $8,000 deductible for your medical expenses …”

The plan will deposit $3,000 at the beginning of the year into a savings account, which can be used to pay for medical expenses.

“You can use it for whatever you want to, but you pay taxes on it as income if you do, if you don’t use it for medical expenses,” Leavitt said. “If you use it for medical expenses, it never gets taxed.”

With that plan (Medicare savings account), you also have to purchase a standalone drug plan, according to Leavitt.

This is the first year Lasso has been in Nevada. Lasso announced it was launching in 17 states in 2019.

Other options for plans are available for 2020.

Some carriers, “they’re getting away from the zeros (zero deductibles), and they’re having plans that give you more, other benefits like dental and vision and hearing and stuff like that,” he said. “They’re enhanced, but they’re going to give you some higher copays for doctors and stuff.”

Leavitt said, “There’s an opportunity for people to, if they like their doctors and their plan, but they don’t use it as much, they might like, they might scale back some of their medical benefits to get better, other benefits.”

People of all ages can learn more about Pahrump’s health insurance options at an upcoming health insurance fair. From 8-11 a.m. on Oct. 19, Battle Born and Goodheart Medical Group will be hosting a health insurance fair at 3370 S. Highway 160, in Goodheart Medical’s parking lot. Also on site will be Dr. Marianne Hazelitt.

For more information on Battle Born Financial, head to www.battlebornfinancialadvisor.com or call 775-419-6025. Battle Born’s Pahrump office is at 41 N. Highway 160.

Contact reporter Jeffrey Meehan at jmeehan@pvtimes.com, on Twitter @MeehanLv