Posted on 03/21/2017 8:18:33 PM PDT by TNoldman
I would like to open a discussion on the best choose of Senior Health Insurance. Medicare+Gap Policy vs. Medicare Advantage. I now have Medicare + Gap Policy. For 17 years I have used Gap Plan F. Premiums in the last 17 years have gone from $164/month to $230/month. I know other Gap Plans such as : G and N are available similar to F with some added risk.
My main question is should I and other Seniors consider Medicare Advantage?
I don’t have any views on this yet other than I will get gap insurance of some kind. I would like to follow the thread, thanks for starting it.
My mom uses advantage....a lot cheaper than gap, as you know. It has higher deductibles, but if you are healthy & don’t spend a lot of time with your doctor and such it’s a good deal. She is saving about $170 per month with the advantage plan. Needless to say that’s a lot of money saved.
IT ALSO depends upon which state you are in.
I have only plan F as access. But I don’t pay that much.
Part A, B + D not enough? Pretty bad? I’ll be facing this soon.
Bookmark.
United Healthcare thru AARP is tested and true. Call them first.
Also, Call or log on to Social Security before you turn 65 and sign up for Medicare, even if you have private insurance still thru work.
I have the G gap plan and I chose it because it is a lot less restricting than the Advantage plans though it costs more. Another thing is that the Advantage plans seem to be offering less and less as time goes on, whether that trend will continue under the new administration remains to be seen. My sister-in-law has a Gap plan and she has had a very serious medical situation for years, it has been wonderful for her because she has had to seek treatment all over the country and it is way easier than it would be with an Advantage plan. if you are going to be in one place and have good medical facilities that fall under your Advantage plan it can work for you. Just depends on what you want.
I’ve been in an HMO since turning 65. I’m now 73. No real problems as yet. I do have to get referrals to see specialists however. But this has been no problem. To me it was a no brainer. I get the same coverage as anyone with a Medigap Policy. In addition I have free membership in Gold’s Gym. I think Medigap policies can run well over $200 per month. I also refuse to do anything through AARP who are a shill for Obamacare. They stand to make a billion dollars hawking Medigap policies. See link below:
Plan F here in CA with USAA. You don’t have to be retired military nor a dependent to have Supplemental Insurance with USAA and it is much less expensive than with AARP.
United Healthcare thru AARP is tested and true. Call them first.”
Can’t believe any Freeper is using and/or pushing AARP for anything.
The F Plan pays virtually 100% of all your healthcare expenses including foreign travel. Your deductibles are covered and you have the best coverage available. Any physician in the country would accept your coverage. Medicare Advantage is more restricted, and has Co-Pays that can accumulate to about 6750/calendar year. Medicare Advantage does generally cover medication where as the F Plan does not (nor do any medicare supplement policies).
If you can afford the F Plan, it is GOLD. Medicare Advantage works very well but is not as broad or complete in coverage (other than the obvious advantage of covered medicines).
My state has offered MA plans for about 10 years. I immediately joined one of the plans.
It had zero premium [above the regular Medicare Part B premium] and offered somewhat better coverage than Medicare alone. When the mandatory drug coverage came about, many plans incorporated it.
The copays for doctor visits are typically in the $5 to $20 range. Copays for generic prescriptions are from $2 to $6 and some of those are $0 if a specific online pharmacy is used.
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The problem with MA is the offerings.
Initially, there were about a dozen insurers and each of them had several plans. Over the years, many have dropped out or restricted coverage. The last 3-4 years, there have been only 3 insurers that offer decent plans in my county.
The last 2 years I was on Humana.
IIRC, for 2015, my premium was zero, doctor copay was $15 and generic drug copay was $6 per month per prescription.
For 2015, they began charging a $10/month drug premium and $6 drug copay. They also started charging $6 for blood labs.
For 2016, they increased the monthly drug premium to $16.50. The drug copay remained at $6. They also increased the lab copay to $10.
Those small increases do add up.
This year, I went with the United Healthcare option. It still has $0 premiums, $5 PCP doctor copay and $2 copay for generics.
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You just have to compare available plans for your health condition.
My state still offers about a dozen plans, but many of them (the insurance companies) have reduced the number of eligible PCP doctors.
Anthem plan F is quite good. My wife has it and has run up 7 figures in medical bills for a pre existing conditions. We are out of pocket $0. Sign up at 65 if possible.
Please be aware that a Medicare Advantage product is typically a HMO which means that your freedom to chose healthcare providers is extremely limited. I am on CIGNA HealthSpring and I have basically no coverage outside of my home county. The upside to a MA is the pharmacy coverage and little or no premium over the standard Part B fee. My advice, if you can afford it, is to go with traditional Medicare plus a supplement and drug plan. That gives you freedom of choice, almost 100% coverage,
plus limiting your red tape hassles. Bottom line is you get what you pay for.
2017 Medicare Advantage Plans in Benton County WashingtonThere are 0 Medicare Advantage Plans available in Benton County WA from health insurance providers and 0 Special Needs Plans available. Advantage plans offer additional gap coverage. The plan with the lowest out of pocket expense is $9999 and the highest out of pocket is $0.
Lots of us use it for auto insurance which is verified to be significantly less expensive and, very importantly, is non-cancellable except for premium non-payment. We do not pay for AARP membership but occasionally some company or another will “donate” our membership.
“My main question is should I and other Seniors consider Medicare Advantage?”
Depends on how healthy you are and whether you have complicated medical issues that would baffle the average doctor. If you’re extremely healthy and expect to stay that way, and don’t care whether you have a choice of the best doctors in the U.S. should you need complex surgery and are willing to go with average doctors in such cases, then by all means go with a Medicare Advantage Plan, otherwise run away screaming and go with Plan F which give you total choice.
BTW, since all medigap (supplemental) plans are 100% standardized, ALWAYS go with the cheapest plan in the same category. So, for Plan F, find the absolute cheapest one available to you. It’s foolish to pay a penny more.
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