VANITY - Medicare Advantage Advice

[zigmeisterxiv]

If there is a different place to post this, please direct me.

My Medicare begins Feb. 2, and I'm figuring to sign up for an advantage plan, but my lazy self hasn't done enough research on this.

Those of you in the know, any advice is appreciated.

65, male, caucasian, 5'7", 180-195 lbs., reside in Florida, no wife or ex-wife, no children, travel to Hawaii, drive to NY and California, spry, no medications, no chronic ailments other than mild sciatica, good mobility, no arthritis, drink daily (after 6 PM), SS + pension + other ~ 3000/month, cash reserves about $150k, no current physician as just moved to Fla, what else?? Max value for minimum cost!

Appointment with Humana peeps next Monday. Do they stink, superior, or same as the others? Most sensible plan for me??

My humble thanks for any insights you can provide ...

Mahalo Hui Loa

zig

[savedbygrace]

I’ll be 68 in March. I have Medicare Plan G and Plan D.

I decided to go with G because with it the annual deductible in $183 and when you do the math, the higher premiums for Plan F are more than $183 a year. So, Plan G is less expensive that Plan F.

With Plan D, one prescription I need is less than $40 a month, as opposed to more than $400 a month without any discount programs. And the premium is about $24 a month.

I got G & D through a broker in Dallas. His advice was right on and he never pressured me. If you FR message me, I can give you his contact info.

BTW, to qualify for Plans G & D, you have to sign up for Plan B direct with Medicare, through your local Social Security office. The cost is as low as $108 a month, IIRC.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Humana is great if you are healthy. Once you have serious issues, they are NOT good.”

Ladies in my quilting guild have learned this the hard way. Those of us who have supplemental plans, instead of advantage, have had no problems.

[octex]

I’m 75 and, like you, I’m healthy. No ailments and no Rxs. I only have had Medicare A and B. ...Cost of about $1300 per year = $12,000 so far, which is deducted from my SS checks each month.

Over the years, I’ve used Doc-in-the-box walk-up clinics for a couple of minor problems and I’ve used Albertson’s pharmacy for flu shots.

Medicare has paid approx. $500 toward my bills in over 9 years, so they are making money off of me.

Don’t believe the BS about SS and Medicare being welfare!

[Thibodeaux]

We have been insured with Humana Advantage for several years. There were problems with United Health Care and my doctor. They were slow or no pay and were disallowed by the doctor group.

Humana is very very proactive. That is Humana makes an analysis of your health and then suggests wellness practices that might improve your well being and thus reduce their outlays.

Humana knows the weaknesses (reluctance to act for their own well being)of old folks and encourage positive action to improve wellness. At first, Humana knew I was diabetic and took pains to insure I took the necessary measures to mitigate the diabetic problem as best it cold be.

Humana has a very good website where you have a space “My humana” where there is your specific info and is quite helpful

Humana has an online pharmacy that is very easy to deal with and keeps track of your meds and if you need to refill. Even though I have full control of my faculties, this is very good. My physician group likes to deal with them and they seemingly get along well with each other.

I recently had major surgery. Humana assigned a nurse to monitor my recovery and if needed assist with all the various ancillary parties involved with hospitalization and recovery. She hovered in the background if needed.

You have a specific nurse on call if you want to speak to her. I never do but she checks in once a month to remind me she is there.

My humana policy costs $39 per month. They offer a policy here for $0 pr month but I chose ja little.

As a matter of interest, the law require the insurance to pay 80% for services. For the $39 per month I think there is an overcharge. To compensate, Humana offers a $25 credit per quarter at their pharmacy to be used to purchase over the counter meds and such.

There were charges for the hospitalization that ere also apparent over charges. To compensate, the vendor providing recovery care provided frozen meals for 15 days.

Although there were lots and lots of various entities involved with my surgery and recovery, Humana absorbed all the billing and payment chores and took pains to explain exactly what I had to pay as defined by the policy. Considering the magnitude of a 10 day hospital stay and two week intensive home recovery management, Humana looked after it all extremely well.

If Obama had killed my Medicare Advantage, I would have killed him.

I recommend Humana....... your specific location might be different than mine

I’m 75 looking forward to 90

[MayflowerMadam]

When I was turning 65, I went to a conservative company, AMAC (Association for Mature Citizens). They specialize in “Senior Benefits for Conservative America.”

Through them, I found an agent who walked me through the whole confusing mess of Medicare and plans like advantage and supplemental. He helped me find an excellent plan, helped with filling out forms, etc.

Three years later, my husband signed up through him. We are in TN.
A few months later, my sister signed up through him. She is in FL.
This year, friends at church did the same.

Even now, when we have questions, he’s great — knowledgeable and responsive.

I sent you FReepmail with contact info if you’re interested.

[zigmeisterxiv]

Thanks for the video link, will check it out

z

[zigmeisterxiv]

Re: Part B

Already received notice from SS they are deducting $134/month, so I think Part B is covered.

Much thanks

z

[zigmeisterxiv]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Could you please reveal which company you’re using??

Thanks,

z

[zigmeisterxiv]

Sorry, missed the part where you sent a private reply.

Never mind ...

I must be getting old!

Thanks

z

[Vinnie]

I had a supplement plan w/ BCBS, think it was plan F plus drug coverage.
Got to be over $300/mo+.
Couple yrs ago went with an Athena Advantage PPO plan, $0 outlay over the SS Medicare deduction. Figured the money I saved would pay any 20% I would have to pay out.

Sure enough last summer I got the ‘Premier Pkg’ heart operation, 3 valves and a pacer. My total outlay is in the vicinity of $3-4k. Think I made out!
The HSRP (hospital suggested retail price) was around $850k!!

My agent told me to bring my medication list and see which plan covers them best.

[originalbuckeye]

If you have regular doctors/specialists already, ask them what insurance they take. I was warned off Advantage and Blue Cross, as my doctors/hospital did not take either of those.

[Ben Ficklin]

I have had an HMO advantage plan since 2009 and I have had an HMO advantage plan with Humana since 2012. HMO is the cheapest of the cheap

There are 3 types of advantage plans: HMO-Health Maintenance Organization which is the cheapest but has the least options on doctors. PPO-Preferred Provider Org which gives you more options on doctors but you will have more out of pocket costs. PFFS-Private Fee For Service which is the highest cost but allows you to make direct deals with any doctor or hospital.

Go to the SS website and fill in some blanks there and they will give you a list of all the advantage plans from all the different insurance companies that are available in your area and they will note which companies have bad references.

In Florida you probably will have lots of options. I live rural and there are only 2 companies that offer HMOs here.

Whatever you do, you can change it during a future enrollment period.

[catnipman]

“Great post. Plan G is also a great option.”

indeed. it’s the same as Plan F except for not covering Medicare Part B deductible. Not to mention that Plan F is being eliminated for new enrollees after 2019 ...

[Mears]

I had an attorney take care of that type of thing 10 years ago.

The look-back period for Medicaid in MA is 5 years and it varies from state to state.

.

[GailA]

The necessity for a secondary is to cover the 20% Medicare doesn’t cover on surgeries, hospital stays, test, Cardio test aren’t cheap, nor are cancer test/treatments, Physio Rehab and medicine. Hubby had a BP spike spent 3 days in the ER as the small hospital had no bed available. $50K the 20% would have been $1,000 out of pocket with out a secondary. My ER trips for drug reactions peg in at about $20K each if they don’t keep me for observation. Thumb surgery came in around $60K. Hubby’s partial knee about the same.

The 2% SS COLA raise we got this year nearly all went to Medicare. I got $1.00 more per month, the other $133 went to Medicare Premiums.

We are Medicare/Tricare Life as hubby is 20 yr career Navy Ret. SCPO. While we have freedom of doctors/hospitals, meds are another story, DoD Mandates that daily meds are Base Pharmacy or Express Scripts. Cumbersome process. ER scripts or 1 time ones can go to Private pharmacy that excepts Tricare. Co-Pays went up again this year too. Many meds were dropped off the Formula, and are no longer covered by Tricare Life. Nexium got nixxed, ES won’t cover it. They will now only cover Prilosex, Protonix/Aciphex, can’t take any of the 3. Now have to go OTC out of pocket. ES changes DAW’s to generics and no granutee that you get the same med each time. That is a problem for those with med reactions. Not all generics are equal to Name Brand in strength.

[TomGuy]

re: Ranitidine

I use OTC Ranitidine.

Walgreens has the 75mg, 80 count tablets at about $13.

Walmart has the 75mg, 150 count tablets at about $8. They also have a 150mg.

It does pay to shop around.

[zigmeisterxiv]

Thread’s on Page 4, time to go...

Thanks to everyone for your insights and opinions.

For me I guess the bottom line is my regular Medicare takes effect next Thurs, Feb 1, and from there I have 3 months to investigate and decide best course for me, so I’m not really out of time like I thought.

Aloha and Good Day,

zig

[PistolPaknMama]

I’m amazed at the FReepers on here that use AARP. (shocked face)

[PistolPaknMama]

I pay about $150 a month

Is that just for the gap plan or for everything?

[PistolPaknMama]

Yes, please use AMAC instead of AARP! I have to tackle this medicare beast in the next couple of months. I will go through AMAC since I am already a member.