{"id":45119,"date":"2025-09-16T11:34:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/?p=45119"},"modified":"2025-09-16T11:34:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:34:26","slug":"get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Get ready for Medicare Open Enrollment with Jumpstart Toolkit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Medicare Open Enrollment is just around the corner. Get ready for a flurry of commercials and mail \u2014 all promoting the \u201cbest plan for you!\u201d If you\u2019re already feeling overwhelmed, you\u2019re not alone. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner\u2019s Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program gears up every year at this time to help people consider their options and sort through their choices. We provide free, unbiased counseling to people with Medicare.<\/p>\n<p>We know that some people are eager to get started and others are too overwhelmed to take the first step. But you only have a short window of time, so this year we\u2019ve created a new tool to help you get started and take action if you want or need to make a change.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s called the\u00a0Medicare Open Enrollment Jumpstart Toolkit, and it includes seven easy steps you can take today. To create this guide, we started with what we\u2019ve learned from helping people every year:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Many are unsure of the type of plan they currently have.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>They can\u2019t find the important piece of mail they were sent that details what\u2019s changing for next year.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>They\u2019re unsure of what\u2019s changing or what\u2019s really important to them about their current coverage, like premiums, providers, or prescription choices.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>They have not created an online Medicare account.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>They don\u2019t know how to use Medicare\u2019s Plan Finder tool or why they should.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We spend a lot of time helping people with these \u201cget ready\u201d steps before we can help them make the critical step of picking a new plan. The Medicare Jumpstart Toolkit is designed to help you walk through the first steps you need to take before you can compare plans and get enrolled. It includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A big envelope<\/strong>\u00a0to save all your important mail \u2014 so you have the details of how your plan is changing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A menu of the different types of health plan cards\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 similar to a diner menu \u2014 so you can see the different cards and match yours! This is important because your options will depend on the type of plan you have.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A worksheet to help you map out how your plan is changing<\/strong>\u00a0and what matters to you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A simple overview of your options <\/strong>depending on the type of plan you have today, because knowing what type of Medicare plan you have today will help you understand your options.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Details on\u00a0<strong>how to create an online Medicare account<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>benefits of using Medicare\u2019s Plan Finder<\/strong>\u00a0tool.<\/li>\n<li>And finally, <strong>steps to get ready to talk with a SHIBA volunteer<\/strong>\u00a0and get enrolled in your new plan!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insurance.wa.gov\">www.insurance.wa.gov<\/a> to order a free Medicare Jumpstart Toolkit today or to find a SHIBA event near you. You can also pick up a copy at most local libraries and senior centers. Grab a copy for a friend, or neighbor, too!<\/p>\n<p>For information about commonly asked Medicare questions, you can also visit AARP\u2019s Getting Help site at www.aarp.org\/medicare\/getting-help\/<\/p>\n<p>If we get <em>everyone<\/em> ready, we can help even more people get the coverage they need.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Commissioner Patty Kuderer<\/em><\/strong><em>, Washington\u2019s ninth insurance commissioner, is committed to protecting consumers, promoting transparency and fairness in the insurance market, and advocating for expanded access to affordable healthcare.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Medicare Open Enrollment is just around the corner. Get ready for a flurry of commercials and mail \u2014 all promoting the \u201cbest plan for you!\u201d If you\u2019re already feeling overwhelmed,<span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\" title=\"Read More\">More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":45120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-blog","category-homepage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v25.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Get ready for Medicare Open Enrollment with Jumpstart Toolkit &#8212; 3rd Act Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get ready for Medicare Open Enrollment with Jumpstart Toolkit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Medicare Open Enrollment is just around the corner. Get ready for a flurry of commercials and mail \u2014 all promoting the \u201cbest plan for you!\u201d If you\u2019re already feeling overwhelmed,More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"3rd Act Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T18:34:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/medicare-folder-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Nemetz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@3rdActMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@3rdActMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Nemetz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Nemetz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7316ebd6896ca324a954a5fc9b149d04\"},\"headline\":\"Get ready for Medicare Open Enrollment with Jumpstart Toolkit\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T18:34:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\"},\"wordCount\":564,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/medicare-folder-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"Homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/get-ready-for-medicare-open-enrollment-with-jumpstart-toolkit\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Get ready for Medicare Open Enrollment with Jumpstart Toolkit &#8212; 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