Medicare open enrollment creates pressure and anxiety

The Plain Dealer reports on high-pressure sales pitches and anxiety among seniors resulting form Medicare's annual open-enrollment period for health and prescription-drug plans, which runs from Thursday through Dec. 31.(Source: "Open enrollment for Medicare drug benefit brings anxiety, pressure," Nov. 11, 2007.) With prices higher for many plans this year, federal and state regulators are warning about "predatory practices" and urging seniors to carefully navigate the changing market. Federal regulators recently fined 11 companies for marketing violations--including UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint, three of the nation's most popular Medicare providers--and have instigated stricter monitoring systems to watch for abuses. In Ohio, "hundreds of seniors have complained about agents removing them from Medicare plans without their knowledge, enrolling them in unaffordable plans and providing misleading information. The state's Department of Insurance is investigating about 60 documented cases" and some advocates are calling for Medicare to "limit the number of private companies offering plans, saying the plethora of options is too confusing and the system is ripe for manipulation."