It's Time For Medicare (whether I want it or not)

[ljjhouser]

Only one comment. If you are Dual Eligible (Meaning you are on both Medicaid and Medicare) your state Medicaid MAY pay some or all of your annual Part Be deductible. Best Wishes.

 

[fishheadbob]

I've been contacted by someone from the medical insurance company I've been with for a few years.


I mentioned a $500 per year Flex card in an earlier post ... this plan has a $1,500 per year Flex card. I mentioned a monthly allowance for Over the Counter items of something like $75, I don't recall the exact number now. This plan is something like $425 per quarter, either in store (CVS I think), or from a website and shipped to home. Most Prescriptions are covered too so Part D is taken care of. No monthly premium either.

How the heck are they going to offset Part B in full and give me all that 'cash' in credits and allowances each month?

I've verified everything he's been telling me by reviewing documents on their website.

I'm pretty well lost and not sure I believe him, but if it all pans out, it will be a far better plan over all.


There has to be a catch.

How do they give you cash back / where does the money come from? Here's how they pay you to enroll in some advantage plans. A five star rated advantage plan is given a flat fee by Medicare for every person who is enrolled in that plan. Not a small amount; somewhere around $11,000. Four star rated plans get a lesser amount. I see a plan with a zero monthly fee that will pay $ $50 cash back per month, $600 per year, along with a flex card. That still leaves a lot of money to cover the enrollee and his health costs.
You don't have to be Medicaid eligible to get that as there are no income or asset limits.

 

[ronjhall]

How do they give you cash back / where does the money come from? Here's how they pay you to enroll in some advantage plans. A five star rated advantage plan is given a flat fee by Medicare for every person who is enrolled in that plan. Not a small amount; somewhere around $11,000. Four star rated plans get a lesser amount. I see a plan with a zero monthly fee that will pay $ $50 cash back per month, $600 per year, along with a flex card. That still leaves a lot of money to cover the enrollee and his health costs.
You don't have to be Medicaid eligible to get that as there are no income or asset limits.

Advantage plans are paid for by the Federal Gov. Insurance companies make money by taking over administration of all aspect of Medicare. Almost anything you do medically has to be approved by insurance company. Supplemental plans pay what Medicare does not cover for an Medicare approved procedure. That usually is 20% of the Medicare approved billing.

 

[Doofy]

With Medicare as Primary and Retiree Health Plan as Secondary, I have very little, if any, out-of-pocket cost. I have been afraid to throw the VA into the mix figuring it would just screw everything up. I see my friends with extraordinarily long wait times for service and care waiting for the VA.

 

[ljjhouser]

With Medicare as Primary and Retiree Health Plan as Secondary, I have very little, if any, out-of-pocket cost. I have been afraid to throw the VA into the mix figuring it would just screw everything up. I see my friends with extraordinarily long wait times for service and care waiting for the VA.

VA and Medicare have no Coordination of Benefits with each other. That is because VA medical is not creditable in the eyes of Medicare. However, VA Drug program credible in the eyes of Medicare. Tricare may be an exception to that. I think any VA payment to a public hospital required the approval of a VA regional director. I would always reccomend always using a public hospital when you have MC as primary and other insurance as secondary. You have a good combination of health Insurance. I am glad.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Medicare is great!
Now you're on uncle Sam's teat. At 64 I was paying $1,500/month health insurance, was $100 pre-obama.
Always been on part F, but didn't need drug coverage. My diabetic wife has G and D (meds). Recently had cataracts both eyes (covered) but chose corrective lens implants...$3,000 but no big deal, no more glasses after wearing them 60 years! 20-20 vision, she says everything so bright and colorful.
I figure it this way. We don't smoke/drink. If a pack a day was $6, that's $2,200/year.

 

[Doofy]

Wife quit smoking and I quit chewing 10 years ago. Those habits were getting more expensive by the month, it seemed. We figured we've saved well over $60K (and feel better, to boot).

 

[Boss 302]

I just retired and went on Medicare, in doing so I have much better insurance then I did while I was employed and it's very affordable. Paying a lot less now then I did while I was working.

 

[ultrarunner]

Many I know are waiting for Medicare age to retire...

Health Insurance is right up there after wage earned.

 

[Pixguy]

Poured first cup of coffee. 27° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 35° with cloudy skies. Got about 4" of snow yesterday. Cleaned walkways around 3 o'clock. Went out 2 hour later and it needed cleaning again. Will get at that today. Got tractor ready for winter. Snow blade is on and all joints greased. It will get used later today. Put Christmas tree up today.
Finished making and installing pole rack for Mule. No more pole sticking out side of mule waiting to get caught on something.

Yesterday's sunrise.

Prayers and best wishes for everyone.

Good Morning All.

Thanks Ron but I'm sure you meant to post this in the Good Morning thread.

 

[lman]

Maybe he was trying to cheer up this dreary thread.

 

[dmccarty]

One other thing to consider if your are taking trips overseas is to take out a temporary travel insurance plan for the duration of your trip to cover the possibility of medical needs (accident or sudden severe illness). In many ways this is preferable to any overseas travel your normal plan might cover, BUT getting the payments coordinated and the overseas providers payed can be more trouble than it is worth. It is much easer to take out these temporary policies for a few 10's of dollars per individual and be done with it.

Again, this is "off the wall" and not really relevant to the original questions, but something to keep in the back of your mind if you do overseas travel.
...

Yep.

We have taken out travel and trip insurance going overseas and staying in the US. We figured there was some risk in some of these trips, and for the US trip there was, and the insurance was used. No problem getting the insurance to pay up.

The problem with getting sick overseas is not just paying for the treatment but getting home if needed. Some places you will NEED to get back to the US and that can be very expensive. One needs evacuation insurance in those situations.

Read about an Australian who was on a boat in one of the Pacific Islands. She got bit by a shark and stabilized but there was no way she was going to get good treatment on that island. She had evacuation insurance and a jet ambulance, with a nurse(s) and doctor on board flew a couple of days out to the island to get the patient back to Australia. Having to pay that out of pocket would have cost a fortune.

On one of our trips we were traveling by boat. One night we went ashore for a party and we were tied up to a floating dock. When we left the boat, we just had to step from the dock to land. No problem. Well, six or so hours later, we returned to the boat and the dock was a good 12-15 feet lower. The tide had gone out. It was also raining. There were two ladders from the land to the floating dock. I picked one. The wrong one. I picked the ladder that was made from flat bar for the ladder rung where the bar was vertical so my boot would not be likely to slip. The other ladder rungs where made from round pipe and were slippery. So I made the right choice. Or so I thought...

The ladder work just fine until I got to the bottom of the ladder. The ladder ended about 5 feet above the floating dock. I decided it was safer for me to fall to the dock rather than climbing back up. So I did and did not get hurt. I had the wifey climb down the other ladder that reached the dock. I was REALLY glad we had trip and evacuation insurance. Even more glad that we did not NEED said insurance.

I have read of Irish citizens getting sick in the US and needing to get back home, both because they did not have health care coverage in the US but also because their illness was going to require a long time in the hospital. They had to ask people to fund their air ambulance back to Ireland.

Evacuation AND health care coverage is important along with trip insurance.

Later,
Dan

 

[Jstpssng]

Many I know are waiting for Medicare age to retire...

Health Insurance is right up there after wage earned.

I'm on that list. I still will keep working, but not at a job where I'm expected to work somebody else's hours. I may get back into contract timber cruising, although I can't cover the ground the way that I used to.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

So much to keep up with on this topic.

 

[dmccarty]

Thank you to ljjhouser and K0ua for the information they have provided. K0ua has had a few MC conversations on TBN over the years, and frankly, MC is co complicated I have to read the multiple conversations to try to figure out MC.

I am years away before I can sign up for MC but at least I am STARTING to get a clue thanks to K0ua and ljjhouser.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[JethroB]

Thank you to ljjhouser and K0ua for the information they have provided. K0ua has had a few MC conversations on TBN over the years, and frankly, MC is co complicated I have to read the multiple conversations to try to figure out MC.

I am years away before I can sign up for MC but at least I am STARTING to get a clue thanks to K0ua and ljjhouser.

Thanks,
Dan

Same here. Thanks guys.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Yes, thanks for taking the time to explain things.

 

[zzvyb6]

I went with Humana as a supplement 6 years ago. Plan G. 3 months in to it, prostate cancer surgery total cost $125K. My total out of pocket was ZERO.
Last year Humana called to say that I wasn't using enough of Plan G to warrant the extra monthly price. So, reduced it to $100/ month.

BTW: I just got a form letter from Social Security that our great president has recognized that the Cost of Living is up, so I get a 5.5% raise in S.S. SAME LETTER says that because of inflation, Medicare fee will be increasing. So with the +raise and the -increased fee, my NET monthly benefit will be DOWN about $200. ! That's what politicians call a win-win.

 

[k0ua]

Thanks guys, just trying to help out a bit on a VERY complicated subject, and a moving target one at that.

 

[ponytug]

X2 on the special insurance. We volunteer at events in the back country, and the not so back country, see folks get helicoptered out all the time, when the EMTs make the call that the patients are either too unstable to survive the long ambulance ride, or are too young or too old to risk it. Even a short flight can be $40,000. We needed an air evacuation once, and it was over $110k just for the flight, but essential to get the necessary treatment. (Two nurses, special plane, ambulances at both ends. Even if you can fly commercial, you would need several seats, two nurses, oxygen...It adds up, and many commercial carriers don't want the risk.)

If your insurance doesn't cover it, there is a relatively affordable insurance service Air Ambulance - Coverage Area & Pricing - AirMedCare Network for domestic use, in many areas. (I have never used it, but know people who have.) Senior discounted membership of $60-65/yr per household, but read the fine print.)

All the best,

Peter