Posted on 05/18/2010 9:05:41 AM PDT by jongaltsr
I just want to put out a question to those that have Medicare and those that may have canceled their Medicare coverage.
I really am not seeing any benefit from having Medicare coverage and Medicare doesn't really instill any confidence that their service actually is effective or worth the $110/month that I have to pay.
Have any of you out there in Freeper Land have information or opinion as to the value of a Medicare Plan. Have you a source that I (and others) can use to make an informed decision as to keeping Medicare or saving the monthly premium for other expenses.
I can't seem to find anyone who really has any answers and everything in the news says that Medicare is going down the tube and that Doctors are abandoning the program.
Any insights would greatly be of value to myself and others.
Thanks
I really am not seeing any benefit from having Medicare coverage and Medicare doesn't really instill any confidence that their service actually is effective or worth the $110/month that I have to pay.
Have any of you out there in Freeper Land have information or opinion as to the value of a Medicare Plan. Have you a source that I (and others) can use to make an informed decision as to keeping Medicare or saving the monthly premium for other expenses.
I can't seem to find anyone who really has any answers and everything in the news says that Medicare is going down the tube and that Doctors are abandoning the program.
Any insights would greatly be of value to myself and others.
Thanks
With all due respect, if you do not have a very high net worth, you have to be out of your mind to think about dropping your coverage. A private policy with the same coverage would cost you far more. I too have rarely used the insurance since I signed up many years ago, but wouldn’t dare drop it. None of us stays healthy forever. Down the road, there will be drastic changes in the program, but politicians will keep kicking the can down the road as long as they possibly can.
I don’t think you have a choice about one part anyway.
It is good coverage for now. More and more docs are refusing it however and in certain places it is impossible to find a doc who takes it.
Who knows what the future holds but I suspect it won’t be good news.
correct. I never filed an insurance claim, ever until I got cancer at age 66. Since then the bills have been incredible, I think now approaching half million. I have had to pay almost nothing with medicare ratcheting down prices and my gap picking up the rest. And it is glitch free,,I don’t pay til medicare pays and if the docs don’t bill right, they cannot by law bill me till medicare okays it.
A good deal overall if you get sick.
It is well worth the $$ for me. I recently passed out and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Spent one night and had numerous tests to prove that my heart was alright, etc.
the bill was over $11,000.00 I have BCBS as secondary and medicare as primary. I have received a bill from the hospital for $164. I called them about it and they said, it was a mistake and that I owe $0.
So figure for yourself. Without medicare, I would have had to pay 20% of the bill with BCBS.
Oh, also, if you don’t take medicare when at 65, then change your mind? It costs you 7% for each year over 65 when you decide to take out medicare later.
HOpe this helps you make an important decision.
Hope this helps you make your decision.
Of course the doctors opting out of medicare gets larger and larger.
As far as doctors refusing to take it........my mother was on medicare and had a quack doctor that was billing medicare and then billing her for the difference so I switched her to my doctor who does not take medicare.
We pd cash for each visit and then by law, the doctors office would bill medicare for her. She would usually get a check in the mail within a month from Soc Sec for the part that medicare pays.
Cost her a little more (which I normally picked up) but she had excellent care.
She also had no supplemental.
You really can go to any doc you want you just have to pay up front.
An article published in the Houston Chronicle May 17 addresses your concern.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7009807.html
Texas doctors opting out of Medicare at alarming rate
By TODD ACKERMAN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
May 17, 2010, 11:02PM
Ending Medicare participation is just one consequence of the system’s funding problems. In a new Texas Medical Association survey, opting out was one of the least common options doctors have taken or are planning as a result of declining Medicare funding — behind increasing fees, reducing staff wages and benefits, reducing charity care and not accepting new Medicare patients.
In 2008, 42 percent of Texas doctors participating in the survey said they were no longer accepting all new Medicare patients. Among primary-care doctors, the percentage was 62 percent.
The problem dates back to 1997, when Congress passed a balanced budget law that included a Medicare payment formula aimed at reining in spending. The formula, which assumed low growth rates, called for payment cuts if spending exceeded goals, a scenario that occurred year after year as health care costs grew. The scheduled cuts, expected to be modest, turned out to be large.
Congress would overturn the cuts, but their short-term fixes didn’t keep up with inflation. The Texas Medical Association says the cumulative effect since 2001 already amounts to an inflation-adjusted cut of 20.9 percent. In 2001, doctors receiving a $1,000 Medicare payment made roughly $410, after taking out operating expenses. In 2010, they’ll net $290. If the scheduled 21.2 percent cut goes through, they’d net $72, effectively an 83 percent cut since 2001.
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In 2007 I sold Medicare insurance plans for Aetna and my opinion is Medicare is a waste of money. First it is nothing but a PONZI scheme run by the government. Doctors do not have to accept medicare patients. Many docs do not even bother because of the enormous bureaucracy, paperwork, and minimal reimbursement. The standards of care are abysmal just look at the Veterans Admin. This is what medicare patients will face with the advent of Obamacare.
If you have any other insurance alternative that is affordable, use it rather than Medicare. Depending on your health condition you may take your chances without Medicare but you risk having to go to ER and through yourself on the mercy of public support.
“my mother was on medicare and had a quack doctor that was billing medicare and then billing her for the difference”
Based solely on your statement, the quack doctor was obeying the law.
Remember too that all preexisting conditions are covered immediately so when you're sixty odd years old and sick just try to find coverage.
Not true. From Medicare.gov
What You Pay for Part B Services
Costs for Part B services depend on whether you have Original Medicare or are in a Medicare health plan. For some services, there are no costs, but you may have to pay for the doctor’s visit. If the Part B deductible applies, you must pay all costs until you meet the yearly Part B deductible before Medicare begins to pay its share. Then, after your deductible is met, you typically pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount of the service. You can save money if you choose doctors or providers who accept assignment.
He was billing her for the difference between what he charged for an offic visit and the amount medicare pd.
Umm,,I may be wrong but it is against the law to bill you upfront for a visi covered by medicare unless you have signed a contract with the doc who has opted out of medicare and that contract has been approved by the feds. Then the doc can charge his usual fee but you do not pay up front.
Docs can opt out and make individual contracts with patients but very few do it.
And they can bill you and after medicare pays, bill you the remainder. But the first doc she saw may have been breaking the law if he billed her more than medicare allows.
And the second doc is limited as to his fee too.
The feds make it hard for docs to have a contract with a patient outside of medicare.
Yes you are wrong. You can go to a doctor that is not on Medicare assignment. You pay cash and the doctor is required by law to file the Medicare claim for you. There doesn’t need to be any up front agreement anywhere. The doctors don’t care since they get their cash from you. Medicare send you the amount they will pay for the visit minus the 20% co-pay.
Example using round numbers.
Doctor visit $100, you pay doc cash at the office
doctor files the medicare claim for you
medicare pays $50 for the visit
Medicare sends you a check for $50
You are out of pocket $50 for the entire visit
I did it for years with my mother.
http://questions.medicare.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1396/related/1
I forgot....my doctor is the one who first told me this.....that all doctors are required by law to file Medicare claims whether or not they are on assignment.
She used to be an assignment doctor but dropped them many years ago because of the rate of pay and slow pay.
I realize that is a problem but for now, my dr accepts medicare and bcbs.
I figure in the near future Obummer is going to ruin it all anyway.....unless we all work hard to defeat the dems and rinos in Nov.
If we get enough R’s in the senate, they might be able to undo some of this and do a real bill that will help us all instead of hurt us.
Starting with putting a cap on malpractice lawsuits.-that’s what started this insane rise in medical care costs.
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