Lyndon Thomas Insurance
THINKING ABOUT DOWNSIZING?
3 Questions to Consider
2. What will be the financial benefits of downsizing? Before purchasing a new home, you want to see if there are benefits to moving and downsizing. Depending on what the market looks like, the worth of your home and land, and where you choose to move next, you can take the money you earn from your current home and use it for something else. For example, it can be used as a down payment for your new home, get stashed in a savings or retirement account, or go toward your dream vacation. 3. What will you do with all of your stuff? Depending on where you decide to move — a condo, apartment, or a smaller house — you will likely need to part ways with some things. You want to consider how much space you’ll have in your new home and what items will follow you on your next journey. Getting rid of some of your belongings can be difficult, so ensure that you’re prepared to leave some things behind. Consider donating some of your items to shelters and centers. Although your items may not be used by you, they can go to someone in need. The most important question you can ask yourself is if you’re truly ready to downsize. The questions here will help you determine if downsizing is the right choice for you during this time. But don’t feel rushed to decide if you need to make life changes now. Take your time with this decision — you have more free time now than ever.
Whether you’ve become an empty nester or are about to retire, you may decide to downsize your home. But before doing this, there are many factors you must consider. Here are three questions you should ask
yourself before downsizing. 1. How do you want to live?
To find out where you want to live, you must first ask yourself what you want to do. A great place to start is by determining what you want to do with your free time. Do you want to spend time in nature, go on frequent getaways, or be involved in your community? Once you know how you want to spend your time, you can begin looking for places that best suit your needs.
STAND ALONE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROGRAM CORNER
A client call we receive from time to time here at LTI is, “My plan doesn’t cover Shingrix.” This call will likely come from a member with a stand-alone prescription drug program, whose average monthly prescription fill is generics only, experiencing a few dollars a month in out-of-pocket costs. Then their doctor prescribes the Shingrix shingles shot, and bam — $450 at the cash register. What happened? While most part D prescription drug programs include Shingrix on their formulary, the deductible wasn’t met, so they had to pay most — or all — of the cost. Let’s take a quick review of part D prescription drug plans. All Medicare part D PDPs have four cost accumulation stages beginning in January. Last year’s costs drop off, and you start over. Stage 1 is the deductible , $480 in 2022 and $505 in 2023. Stage 2 is initial coverage . Here you are paying an assigned copay for each fill. If, due to monthly accumulation, the total drug cost (the amount paid by the plan for your prescriptions) reaches $4,660 in 2023, you have reached the initial coverage limit. Going forward, you are in stage 3, the coverage gap , where your cost is 25% of the cost for both generics and brand drugs. Stage 4, catastrophic coverage is reached with $7,400 in actual out-of-pocket costs.
A common feature of the more popular stand-alone PDPs is that the deductible does not apply to tiers 1 and 2. Since, as a brand drug, Shingrix is assigned to tier 3 or 4 and is subject to the deductible. It sure feels to the purchaser that Shingrix is “not covered” when it is covered, but the deductible has not been met at the time.
One of the appealing features of most Medicare Advantage plans is that they don’t make the member pay the prescription drug deductible.
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