Posted on 12/10/2024 10:20:41 PM PST by NoLibZone
From my open enrollment next year, what would be some good alternatives to United healthcare.
I'm new to all this Medicare stuff.
It's unbelievably confusing to somebody as simple as me.
Thank you
Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan
> I would go with original Medicare, plus a “supplemental” plan… <
I did a bit of research on that when I approached age 65. From what I can tell, get an “advantage” plan if you are on a tight budget AND are healthy.
The trick is with that second condition. A person can be healthy today and be in real trouble six months from now. Then your friendly advantage carrier will be setting up all sorts of hoops for you to jump through.
It wasn’t worth the risk for me. I went with a supplemental plan. Your mileage may vary, as the old saying goes.
That is what I have with a high deductible which keeps the premium in line (although it has doubled in the past few years).
I believe all the others are HMO type plans, and while they may offer some extras, you take your chances that they will deny something your doctor deems necessary, which original Medicare and the Blues do not do. You also get the advantage of the contracted charges that the Blues have with the hospitals and docs.
Talk to a Medicare agent. There a ton of them on You Tube. Some of the popular ones include Marvin Musick, Christopher Westfall, and Abt Insurance. Their services are free.
Not being sarcastic , it's the reality of Obamacare.
Insurance is completely screwed up and these days your basic insurance is just a premium to cover all the other people who are free riders of the system.
You need to buy a second package to cover yourself. All those illegal aliens don't cover themselves. .
Blue Cross Blue Shield G supplemental + Medicare
After the relatively small deductible, they pay everything routine. Its a little more but so far I’ve had no hassles...thats a huge selling point to me.
Note: BCBS’s seem to be different in different parts of the country. Your results may vary. I have experience with Anthem BCBS and NCBCBS.
100%
i ran BCBS my whole working life and kept it as my MCARE Secondary and they have never let me down.
good coast to coast no referrals for specialists needed
Actually, you can still change in January, February and March of 2025 for 2025. I did earlier this year for this year. Gosh, I hope that made sense.
Find a local Medicare agent. They will come to your house and go over all the plans. This is a no charge service.
Yes, if you have a “qualifying life event.” There are many.
You’re being inundated with ads 24/7 that offer help in selecting a medicare supplement and you need FR help?. It’s also dependent on you’re area code so unless someone is in you’re zip code it’s irrelevant.
I am very pleased with Aetna.
BlueCross/BlueShield Secondary
Same here. We have BlueCross/BlueShield Of Idaho with Regence secondary. We go back and forth a lot between houses in CA and ID so needed a plan that allows us to see doctors and specialists at either location. It’s worked out very well.
Regence uses Americans for their call centers. It is SO wonderful to get an American on the line quickly. They’ve all been very kind, friendly, and patient. If they need to research something, they always get back to us quickly.
I had some genetic testing ordered by one of my specialists denied by them. The specialist was not aware of the long history by another specialist who in another clinic who retired. I wrote an appeal and was asked to speak to their review board. I spoke for two or three minutes; there were no questions. I hung up and got a call fifteen minutes later saying the board had reversed its denial and accepted my claim!
After that problem, I now make sure the procedure is approved by insurance in advance. The doctors and clinics have been very good about getting pre approval. If I don’t have it on the morning of the test or procedure, they will follow up and give me the ability to postpone.
I reluctantly just switched to an Advantage plan as my supplemental and part D got too high for my budget. I’m going with Viva Medicare Advantage which is ONLY available in Alabama. My sister has had it a few years with no issues and her health is much worse than mine so hopefully I’ll be ok. Viva is a part of UAB and as long as you use Baptist facilities, no copay except for hospital. I wish someone would make Medicare easier to deal with.
As a Medicare old timer, here’s what I have to say:
Medicare only pays 80 percent of your medical bills so the biggest issue is what to do about the remaining 20 percent.
1 On the surface, Medicare Advantage plans seem great. They cover more things than any of the other plans, and pay the whole bill, including the 80% part. they have a big downside, though, you must be treated by “In Plan” doctors and hospitals. You need to avoid travelling to or through any places that don’t have such facilities.
2 Most of the other plans are called “Medigap” plans - they cover the 20 percent gap. You have to look through those that are available in your area to se what looks best for you.
3 These don’t cover drugs. Some of the Advantage plans might. You usually need a separate plan to pay for any prescription medications. I say you “need” one because they are quite expensive, and they get significantly more expensive if you don’t start right away when you start Medicare and plan to get them later if you need expensive medications. My wife and I spend about a thousand dollars a year for drug coverage and have never used it. It’s actually cheaper to buy the drugs we use over the counter than pay the copays of the drug plans.
So, those are the biggies, good luck.
Almost all Medicare Advantage plan providers offer the exact same benefits under Medicare.....except for Kaiser, they are cheap MOFO's. For example while my plan offered the same $3K benefit for hearing aids as Medicare, Kaiser offered only $300.00, if you paid for a higher level advantage plan. You should also avoid anyone that offers to put money back in your pocket each month. Bottom line you need to do your research on what is best for you since that may be different than someone else, especially if they are in a different area.
I think it might depend on where you live.
In my area, the best choice is unquestionably Humana followed closely by the more expensive Blue Cross Blue shield.
United health Care was fired years ago by providers because they just didn’t pay on time.
Absolutely!
it’s the DR’s responsibility to pre-auth procedures, but you’re smart to check on your own.
I started on Medicare a few months ago, and choose Mutual of Omaha for Plan G and drugs.
And during renewal in November, I found out that they dropped drug coverage in my county, just my county, in Texas.
So there is not much of a difference, except of each definition of drugs in their formulary.
Get a pro that specializes in Medicare, and see what they come up with.
I’ve always trusted the doc to do the pre-auth and never checked. Learned my lesson.
My insurance person was flabbergasted that insurance changed their mind and approved it. She said she rarely sees that.
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