Medicare Open Enrollment is just around the corner. Get ready for a flurry of commercials and mail — all promoting the “best plan for you!” If you’re already feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s 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.

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’ve created a new tool to help you get started and take action if you want or need to make a change.

It’s called the Medicare Open Enrollment Jumpstart Toolkit, and it includes seven easy steps you can take today. To create this guide, we started with what we’ve learned from helping people every year:

• Many are unsure of the type of plan they currently have.
• They can’t find the important piece of mail they were sent that details what’s changing for next year.
• They’re unsure of what’s changing or what’s really important to them about their current coverage, like premiums, providers, or prescription choices.
• They have not created an online Medicare account.
• They don’t know how to use Medicare’s Plan Finder tool or why they should.

We spend a lot of time helping people with these “get ready” 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:

• A big envelope to save all your important mail — so you have the details of how your plan is changing.
• A menu of the different types of health plan cards — similar to a diner menu — 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.
• A worksheet to help you map out how your plan is changing and what matters to you.
• A simple overview of your options 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.

• Details on how to create an online Medicare account.
• The benefits of using Medicare’s Plan Finder tool.
• And finally, steps to get ready to talk with a SHIBA volunteer and get enrolled in your new plan!

Visit http://www.insurance.wa.gov 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!

For information about commonly asked Medicare questions, you can also visit AARP’s Getting Help site at http://www.aarp.org/medicare/getting-help/

If we get everyone ready, we can help even more people get the coverage they need.

Commissioner Patty Kuderer, Washington’s ninth insurance commissioner, is committed to protecting consumers, promoting transparency and fairness in the insurance market, and advocating for expanded access to affordable healthcare.