Newsroom
Blog & resources — page 3
Plain-English Medicare guidance and real South Dakota plan data — written for the people we serve, not for search engines.
Does Medicare Pay for Rides to the Doctor? The Real Transportation Options in Sioux Falls and Siouxland for 2026
Original Medicare pays for an ambulance, not a ride to a routine appointment — Part B only covers ambulance transport when any other vehicle could endanger your health, per Medicare.gov. Medicare Advantage can fill part of the gap, but it's optional: only 22% of individual plans and 73% of Special Needs Plans offer a transportation benefit for 2026, both down from 2025, per KFF's June 2026 analysis of CMS plan data. South Dakota Medicaid's Non-Emergency Medical Travel (NEMT) program isn't a dispatched ride either — it's mainly mileage reimbursement, paying a recipient, escort, or volunteer driver $0.70 per mile as of the rate effective December 1, 2025, per the SD Department of Social Services' own Transportation Services Fee Schedule (effective July 1, 2026), with overnight lodging ($150/day) and meals ($40/day) added once a trip crosses 150 miles. Federal rule (42 CFR 431.53) requires every state Medicaid program to ensure beneficiary transportation, but Medicare alone doesn't open that door — you need Medicaid too. Here's the full guide: what Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage actually cover, how South Dakota's NEMT program really works, a worked mileage-reimbursement example, what to do if you only have Medicare, and how to check your own plan before this year's Annual Enrollment Period.
Read →
Medicare and Your HSA: The 6-Month Rule That Can Turn Delayed Enrollment Into a Tax Bill, Sioux Falls 2026
Still funding a Health Savings Account past 65? Per IRS Publication 969, your HSA contribution limit drops to zero the first month you're enrolled in Medicare — and if you apply more than 6 months after turning 65, CMS backdates your Part A coverage up to 6 months, never earlier than the month you turned 65, per CMS's own enrollment guidance. Contributions made during that backdated window become excess contributions, carrying a 6% excise tax every year they're left uncorrected, reported on IRS Form 5329. You avoid the tax entirely by withdrawing the excess plus any earnings before your tax-filing deadline, including extensions. The 2026 HSA limit is $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family, rising to $4,500 / $9,000 for 2027, with a $1,000 catch-up at 55 and older, per the IRS's own inflation-adjustment notices. Here's the full guide: how people get caught without filling out a single form, a worked dollar example using this year's real numbers, how to fix an excess contribution penalty-free, the spousal HSA question, and the real Sioux Falls Medicare Advantage plan landscape.
Read →
Medicare Won't Talk to You About Your Parent's Account? The Two-Form Fix, Sioux Falls 2026
A power of attorney doesn't let Medicare discuss a parent's claims or billing with you — Medicare runs on its own federal authorization rule, separate from state POA law. The Authorization to Disclose Personal Health Information (CMS-10106, revised 03/2026) lets Medicare talk to someone you name about claims, records and billing, while the Appointment of Representative (CMS-1696, OMB No. 0938-0950) names one person to act inside a specific claim, appeal, grievance or request and stays valid one year from the date both people sign it, per CMS's own forms. A first-level appeal is due 120 days after the beneficiary receives the initial determination notice, per CMS's own redetermination request form. If a parent can no longer sign, South Dakota's Guardianship and Conservatorship Act (SDCL 29A-5) is the fallback, with a $25 circuit court filing fee under SDCL 16-2-29 — plus real costs beyond that fee. AARP's newest research counts 59 million U.S. family caregivers in 2024, delivering an estimated $1 trillion in unpaid care. Here's the full guide: the two forms compared side by side, why a power of attorney alone doesn't work, step-by-step instructions for each form, the South Dakota court route, a worked appeal-deadline example, and the real Sioux Falls Medicare Advantage plan landscape.
Read →
Wellmark Blue Medicare Advantage Leaving South Dakota 2027: What to Do
CMS's 2027 plan list, published September 2026, has no Wellmark Medicare Advantage plans in South Dakota, and none in Iowa either. In 2026, Wellmark Advantage Health Plan (contract H5900) sold three Blue Medicare Advantage PPOs, Enhanced, Valor and Classic, in 43 South Dakota counties, per the CMS CY2026 landscape. Wellmark's MedicareBlue Rx stand-alone drug plan does continue in 2027. Medicare.gov says the Plan Non-Renewal Notice arrives in October, and that letter is the official word on your plan. If your plan isn't renewing, you can switch during Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7, or a Special Enrollment Period from December 8 through the last day of February. Do nothing and Medicare.gov says you'll be enrolled in Original Medicare, with no drug coverage. Switching to Original Medicare also opens a Medigap guaranteed issue right from 60 days before to 63 days after your plan ends, per CMS Publication 02110. Every one of the 43 counties still has at least 5 plans for 2027. Here's the full guide: the three 2026 Wellmark plans, the letter to watch for, your dates, your Medigap right, every 2027 plan in Minnehaha County, and a 43-county 2026 vs 2027 table.
Read →
Aetna Medicare Advantage Leaving 24 South Dakota Counties in 2027
Aetna offered Medicare Advantage plans in 34 South Dakota counties in 2026 and offers them in 10 for 2027: Brookings, Clay, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, Moody, Turner, Union and Yankton, per a county-by-county comparison of the CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files. The 24 counties it leaves, from Aurora and Beadle to Spink and Walworth, each still have at least 5 non-special-needs Medicare Advantage or Cost plans listed for 2027, and 18 of them also lose Wellmark, which has no South Dakota plans for 2027. In Sioux Falls, Aetna's 2026 plans carry "Classic" in their 2027 names and a new H5521 contract adds three more. Your Annual Notice of Change says which plan you move to, because CMS hasn't published its crosswalk yet. Here's every exit county with its full 2027 plan list, Aetna's 2027 plan table, Open Enrollment (October 15 to December 7, 2026), the December 8 to end-of-February non-renewal Special Enrollment Period, Medigap guaranteed-issue rights, and what doing nothing costs.
Read →
Does Medicare Cover Acupuncture? The Chronic Low Back Pain Rule Sioux Falls Should Know in 2026
Medicare Part B covers acupuncture for exactly one condition: chronic low back pain lasting 12 weeks or longer, with no systemic cause and not tied to surgery or pregnancy, per Medicare.gov. Coverage starts at up to 12 visits in 90 days, with 8 more if you're improving, for a hard cap of 20 visits in any 12-month period, per CMS's own national coverage decision (CAG-00452N). You pay 20% coinsurance after the 2026 Part B deductible of $283, per CMS's November 2025 fact sheet, and Original Medicare alone has no yearly limit on that coinsurance, per Medicare.gov. Only certain providers can bill Medicare for it: physicians, or a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or clinical nurse specialist who also holds an accredited acupuncture degree and state license — a standalone licensed acupuncturist generally can't bill Medicare directly under this benefit. Reimbursed acupuncture use among insured low back pain patients was still just 1.6% as of 2019, up from 0.9% in 2010, per a 2024 JAMA Network Open study — most eligible people never use it. And 45.6% of U.S. adults 65 and older reported back pain in the past 3 months, per a 2021 CDC data brief. Here's the full guide: the four-part eligibility test, why the rule is this narrow, the surprise bill people actually get, the provider-qualification trap, Medicare Advantage versus Original Medicare plus Medigap, and the real Sioux Falls Medicare Advantage plan landscape.
Read →
The Real Out-of-Pocket Maximum on Every Sioux Falls Medicare Advantage Plan for 2026
Sanford Health Plan's $0-premium Align ChoicePlus carries a combined 2026 maximum out-of-pocket of $4,900, per the carrier's own Summary of Benefits — while Sanford's own $66-a-month Align ChoiceElite carries a lower $3,500 cap, the same source shows. Wellmark's Blue Medicare Advantage Enhanced PPO, the priciest of the three at $80 a month, also carries the highest 2026 combined out-of-pocket ceiling at $5,000, per Wellmark's own 2026 Annual Notice of Change. All three run well under the national 2026 average combined out-of-pocket limit of $9,825, per KFF's May 28, 2026 analysis of CMS plan data, and far under the federal mandatory ceiling of $13,900. None of it shows up on a premium comparison alone, and a plan's maximum out-of-pocket never covers Part D drug spending, which runs on its own separate 2026 cap of $2,100, per Medicare.gov. Two of Minnehaha County's five standard PPOs, both from Aetna, couldn't be independently verified this session and are flagged rather than guessed. Here's the full guide: what a MOOP actually is and isn't, why two plans from the same carrier can land at very different numbers, a full plan-by-plan 2026 table, three worked scenarios from a healthy year to a major-care year, how Medicare Cost plans work differently, and a step-by-step method to pull any plan's real number yourself before this year's Annual Enrollment Period.
Read →
Your Drug Isn't Covered for 2027? The Medicare Part D Exception Process, Sioux Falls Guide
Medicare Part D plans must deliver the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) for enrollee receipt no later than September 30 each year, per CMS's own Medicare Communications and Marketing Guidelines — meaning the 2027 formulary changes are landing in mailboxes right now, two weeks ahead of the October 15 Annual Enrollment Period. If a drug moved to a pricier tier or dropped off the list, the fix is a formal tiering or formulary exception, filed by your prescriber, with a plan required to decide within 72 hours standard or 24 hours if expedited, per CMS's Part D exceptions rules. The stakes are rising too: the standard Part D deductible ceiling climbs from $615 in 2026 to $700 in 2027, and the annual out-of-pocket cap climbs from $2,100 to $2,400, per Medicare.gov — while the 2027 national base beneficiary premium is set at $41.33, per CMS's July 28, 2026 fact sheet. A denied request isn't final either: redetermination and an outside Part D Independent Review Entity both sit above the plan's first answer, and a CY2026 Administrative Law Judge hearing requires at least $200 in dispute, per CMS. Here's the full guide: what a formulary and a tier actually are, the two kinds of exceptions and which one you need, the five-level appeal ladder, two worked dollar examples, how Extra Help interacts with this process, why Minnehaha County's chronic-condition rates make this a real local issue, and the complete Sioux Falls Medicare Advantage Part D deductible picture.
Read →
Does Medicare Cover a Continuous Glucose Monitor? The 2026 Rules Sioux Falls Should Know
Medicare has covered a continuous glucose monitor for people who don't take insulin since April 16, 2023, when CMS added a documented-hypoglycemia eligibility pathway and dropped the old requirement of three or more daily insulin injections, per the CMS Medicare Coverage Database's LCD L33822. The current five-part test, in force since October 1, 2024, still trips up otherwise-eligible people on paperwork rather than medical need: Dexcom's own Medicare guidance says its G6 and G7 supplies aren't covered when ordered for smartphone-only use with no receiver, and Abbott's FreeStyle Libre guidance requires the reader and sensors to be prescribed together. Qualify and order correctly, and the standard 2026 Part B rules apply — a $283 annual deductible, then 20% coinsurance with no yearly ceiling under Original Medicare alone, per Medicare.gov. Medicare Advantage plans cap in-network exposure at the plan's own out-of-pocket maximum, no higher than $9,250 for 2026 and averaging $5,421, per KFF's May 2026 analysis, though some route CGM supplies through the pharmacy benefit instead of durable medical equipment. Roughly 10.0% of Minnehaha County adults carry a diagnosed diabetes diagnosis, per CDC PLACES 2023 data. Here's the full guide: what changed and why, the exact five-part eligibility test, the receiver and reader trap, the real 2026 dollar math under Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage, the Sioux Falls plan landscape, and what to do if a claim gets denied.
Read →
Hospital Indemnity Insurance and Medicare: What the TV Ads Don't Tell You in Sioux Falls, 2026
Hospital indemnity insurance isn't Medicare Supplement — federal regulation classifies it as a separate "excepted benefit" that pays a fixed dollar amount per day or admission, regardless of your actual bill, per 29 CFR § 2590.732. The real gap the TV ads are pointing at is genuine: Original Medicare's Part A deductible is $1,736 per benefit period in 2026, and Original Medicare alone has no annual out-of-pocket cap at all, per Medicare.gov. If you're on Medicare Advantage instead, your plan's own out-of-pocket max already limits in-network exposure to at most $9,250 in 2026, averaging closer to $5,421, per KFF's June 2026 analysis. KFF also finds 3.5 million traditional Medicare beneficiaries, 13% of that group, carried no supplemental coverage at all in 2023 — the audience these commercials are really built for. Here's the full guide: what the product actually is, a worked dollar comparison across three coverage setups including a skilled nursing example, how it stacks against Medigap and an Advantage MOOP, who actually benefits, what to check in a policy before you buy, how it's regulated in South Dakota, and real alternatives that close the same gap.
Read →
Medicare & You 2027 PDF: Free Download in English and Spanish
Download the official Medicare & You 2027 handbook free, as a PDF in English or Spanish, right on this page. The handbook, CMS Product No. 10050 dated September 2026, is published and mailed to Medicare households in late September, per Medicare.gov. For plan year 2027 it prints a $2,400 cap on out-of-pocket Part D drug costs and a $700 maximum drug plan deductible, and it sets Open Enrollment for 2027 coverage at October 15 to December 7, 2026. It does not include the 2027 Part B premium: the handbook prints the 2026 amount of $202.90, and as of September 24, 2026 Medicare.gov had not announced the 2027 figure. The handbook's Indian Health Service section says prescriptions through an Indian health facility stay at no cost. In 2026, CMS plan data shows South Dakota counties ranging from 14 Medicare Advantage plans (Brookings, Day, Deuel) down to 1 (Edmunds, McPherson). Here's what the handbook is, what's new in 2027, which numbers it has and doesn't, how it differs from your plan's ANOC, and how to get a free copy in large print, audio, eBook, or Spanish.
Read →Does Medicare Cover Urgent Care the Same as the ER? Sioux Falls, 2026
Medicare covers both urgent care and emergency room visits, but not on the same terms. Two Minnehaha County Medicare Advantage PPOs checked directly for this guide — Sanford's Align ChoicePlus (H8385-003) and Wellmark's Blue Medicare Advantage Enhanced (H5900-004) — both charge a flat $120 copay for an ER visit and $45 for urgent care in 2026, per each carrier's own published Summary of Benefits, though Align waives ER cost-sharing if you're admitted within 3 days versus Enhanced's 1-day window. Federal rule caps what any Medicare Advantage plan can charge per ER visit at roughly $95 to $150, tied to the plan's out-of-pocket maximum tier, per 42 CFR § 422.113. On Original Medicare with no supplement, you owe the 2026 Part B deductible of $283 plus an uncapped 20% coinsurance, per Medicare.gov and CMS's November 2025 fact sheet; a Medigap Plan G covers that coinsurance in full, while Plan N carries its own standardized up-to-$50 ER copay, per CMS Publication 02110. The federal "urgently needed care" guarantee that protects you at a non-emergency clinic is narrower than most people assume: it mainly applies when you're temporarily outside your plan's service area, not simply when you prefer a faster option at home. Here's the full guide: the legal definitions, the real 2026 plan-by-plan copay comparison, the travel gap nobody explains, a worked dollar example, and how to check your own plan before you need it.
Read →