Posted on 11/16/2013 1:58:31 PM PST by Olog-hai
UnitedHealth Group has dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks, leaving many elderly patients unsure whether they need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
The insurer said in October that underfunding of Medicare Advantage plans for the elderly could not be fully offset by the company’s other healthcare business.
The company also reported spending more healthcare premiums on medical claims in the third quarter, due mainly to government cuts to payments for Medicare Advantage services. …
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I know, it's rhetorical.
True. You are correct.
I don't know about the military, but they are definitely a subsidiary of the AARP. I just had my "Medicare Advantage" plan with Regence dropped fpr 2014.
One of the choices in my area was United, but no way in hell would I ever support the damned AARP by giving them money.
Fortunately, Humana is also in my area, and both my primary care physician and my usual pharmacy are "in plan" with them.
Nope. The fedgov only pays the MA plans the same as Medicare. "I" pay the extra (with my current plan, $220/mo, plus various copays). And you are NOT "limited to a certain set of doctors".....you'll just pay more. Now, if you pick an HMO instead of a PPO, you "are" limited to seeing only the docs in the HMO.
You are right about the advantage plans. We have been in standard Medicare and pay a lot for the supplement policy so we can see the doctors we want.
Meanwhile, I get ads in the mail constantly telling me we don’t have to pay any premiums for the Advantage stuff- zero $. Now how can any company afford for us to pay zero for medical care?? Something has been wrong with this HMO stuff from the beginning.
I do not wish to picture Obama waving a wand . . .
No, UnitedHealthCare is its own company. They pay AARP a fee to provide insurance for them. This is how it works with insurance companies and AARP:
An insurance company makes a bid to provide health insurance to AARP members. Before UnitedHealthCare, we had a different insurance company. If another health insurance company makes a better bid for AARP members healthcare, UnitedHealthCare would be dropped and another company would get that contract.
An insurance company makes a bid to provide life insurance for AARP members. New York Life Insurance Co. has that contract. I have a life insurance policy with New York Life Insurance company through AARP.
Met Life provides long term care insurance for AARP members and I have that policy.
The Hartford Auto Insurance company provides auto insurance for AARP members. I don't have that policy but I should as it would be cheaper than the one I have.
So, AARP does not own any insurance company - they take the better bid from whichever company has the better bid for that particular kind of insurance.
Exactly and that is why I did not get an Advantage Plan. Some of their Advantage Plans require a payment as they have more services than another plan. An Advantage Plan that has a PPO instead of HMO, requires some money.
I wanted total control over the doctors I could see so I got regular Medicare and a supplement. I can go to any doctor. It costs me more to get a supplement but it gives me total control over where I go for medical service.
Sorry, but that is a distinction without a difference. Doing business with UHC benefits the AARP, and I'm not about to give any support to an organization with the AARP's liberal /left agenda. Every letter that I get from AARP on ANY subject goes into the burn bin.
And I am surprised that anyone here on FR is as tied into a non-conservative organization as much as you seem to be.
If I want a good café latte, I go into the drive thru of Starbucks since a relative gave me a large amount on a gift card for there. Whoever owns Starbucks also has freedom of speech.
I shop at Kroger grocery store. I don't know the owner of Kroger and he may be a freaking liberal. I go to Walmart and I don't care what that owner believes.
I take my Yorkie to a groomer and I don't know or care what their political opinion is.
My sister-in-law and her husband are to the left of Stalin, worse than any owner of AARP or Starbucks could be and she and husband are welcome at my home. They are the worst liberals anywhere on this planet. If a country emergency happens, I have water and food stored for them, too, to live at my house. They think I am nuts to be a prepper.
You are free to live your life anyway you want and so am I.
Which attitude is precisely why the liberals win. "They" are willing to sacrifice, often quite heavily, to support their political perspectives, rewarding those who support those same perspectives, and punishing those who do not. Liberals play hardball. Conservatives play slow-pitch softball, or perhaps tiddlywinks.
Yes, you are certainly free to do that, but IMO, it is not the wisest thing to do. So I don't support the AARP, nor Starbucks, nor any liberal organization that I can identify. And if my groomer makes her politics known, I'll make a similar decision.
True. This is association marketing of insurance. I had 26 associations for a national collections company prior to getting into insurance in 1980. I had Business (group payroll deduction plans) for one insurance company and another man had Association Marketing. He basically gave them a third party contract that was 10-15 % of the first year’s premium and about 5% of renewal premiums. He made 80% first year and 20% renewal off of his sales minus the 10-15% and 5% he paid to the 3rd party/association. With association marketing it is very easy to sell once an association approves it. I remember my father had The Retired officer’s Association Medicare Supplement when he got cancer. He was not pleased with the supplement. I found a so called Cadillac plan that covered cancer after 90 days and paid some 250-300% of Medicare allowable. That was 1986. He died. I looked for that policy when my wife had cancer. It is no longer available.
Unfortunately, I can no longer agree to disagree.
Therefore, you are required to adopt my beliefs, immediately.
Thank you for your cooperation in this important matter.
Hmm, let's see - You always say, “I am so screwed.” Well, you really are screwed if you think I'm going to adopt your beliefs just because you say so. :o)
Bought any dried bean “soup bags” with seasoning in the bag, recently? Next time I go to grocery, I'm buying more. One bag makes a huge amount of good tasting soup. Put some instant rice in the pot while beans are cooking and, based on how much rice you put in, you could double the amount of soup and provide a total protein for whomever eats it. That's enough to feed a crowd for probably two meals or more. Make tortillas or cornbread to go with the soup and you have a winner everyone would like. I'll send you easy recipes for making flour and corn tortillas, Indian Fry Bread and cornbread.
Advice for soup in general: I don't put water in soup - I use chicken broth if it is chicken based soup, and beef broth if it is beef based or beans based or I use canned veggie broth. If I don't have the canned broth, I use chicken or beef or veggie cubes or granules mixed with water to make it a broth. You can store a lot of cubes and bottled granules. If all you have is water, then use it.
And, I'm sure you have good beliefs but really do you want me to adopt them? That would mean I would have to write, “I am so screwed” just like you do and you have the copyright to that phrase. :o)
bump
“True. This is association marketing of insurance.”
I was happily married for many years to a Vice President of American National Insurance Company in Galveston, Texas. You and I know how insurance works.
I know recipes are totally off topic for this thread so I won’t put easy recipes for flour and corn tortillas and Indian Fry Bread and cornbread on this thread. If anyone wants those, send me a Freepmail. Lazamataz needs all the help he can get as he always says, “I am so screwed”.
“They pay AARP a fee to provide insurance for them.”
Yeah, it’s called a kick-back.
:)
“A rose by any other name is still a rose.” Call it what you will, it is the same with every insurance company who provides insurance for an association of a group of people. The insurance companies bid for that business and the association chooses the insurance company that gives them the best deal. It is the capitalist system.
When Hussein puts everyone in government health insurance, it's dictator/communist insurance, otherwise known as the Affordable Healthcare Act.
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