Agree UPMC for Life is a great Plan. My wife and I have been on MA plans here in Pittsburgh and previously in TN for over 15 years and they work great for us. We both have heart issues and I have had an ablation, pacemaker & Meds, have had cataract surgery, etc, all very affordable. For next year we are switching to Aetna because of a number of savings, especially prescriptions. Aetna owns CVS (or the other way around)and their prices if you use CVS are way lower. We will pay $40 per mo, NO deductibles and some costs are $225 per inpatient surgery or hospital stay, $150 to $200 for outpatient surgery, $0 PCP visit, $25 for specialists.
They do use networks so if thinking about a plan check their websites which will give a list of all Drs and facilities they usr. We found all of ours in this area on both and never had problems in TN either.
I found your post interesting. I don’t have a clue what UPMC for Life is but sure I can look it up. Is it restricted to certain geographical areas?
Our MA policies now are with Aetna and I don’t have any idea about their relationship to CVS. We don’t have one near us anyway. I am looking at our drug costs for 2019 as they are high and I’m considering dropping the PPO MA plans and maybe just going with Original Medicare and buying drug plans.
I have made comparisons with other pharmacies in the area and big surprise - there’s no difference in costs! Have to do some more work on it but I’m running out of steam. Most of our RX do not have generics and I understand Walmart has only generics for their $4.00 price or whatever.
At the rate we went the last half of 2018, we will each be in the “donut hole” by summer of 2019 and I need to avoid that..
I had cataract surgery last year and paid the $225 each time at the surgical center and that was all - just as you stated. I like the idea of “no deductibles” drugs but if we stay with Aetna as is, we will each have a $95 deductible compared to the $75 we each had this year which will have to be satisfied in January when we get our first 2019 refills. It’s the inhalers for COPD that are costly (3 for my husband and 1 for myself) and heart medication for me...Without the heart medication, I wouldn’t have gone in the donut hole this year and he just went in in November.
What a lesson - as if I needed any of it but today is a day of Thanksgiving and I remember those in Northern CA who don’t have what we have....
Let me know what Aetna plan you’re thinking about - I’m leaning toward the same one we had in 2018 - Essential Plan PPO..but doing my shopping before 12/7....
Since we’ve never had any problem with Aetna, I’m hesitant to make a change - wouldn’t even consider it except for the drug costs.