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My dear fellow FReepers, could you please help me to find the best coverage but most economial Medigap plan? I have fixed income with Social Security Disability and have basic Medicare, but do not qualify for Medicaid due to my spouse's income (have tried multiple times to get on Medicaid). I've been shopping for a myriad of plans, but would like to see about the best one, Blue Cross Blue Shield--which I am about to further investigate. Thank you my beloved FRiends!

I need to pick something by 12/31.ATT is dumping us retired types to a BS type Exchange.The reps are minimum wagers and don't know squat. Been looking at plans and need, if possible some input on Plan F's "Excess charges"? Its a $70 month dif for me for a plan with it or without which is plan "N" Any one up to speed on this stuff your input would be appreciated. Last year went to the DR one time and the ER 1 time(i am not a roofer) Thanks

Remember those Medicare cuts that the Democrats and the White House used to make Obamacare appear budget-neutral on paper? The ones that Republicans somewhat hypocritically railed against during the 2010 election cycle? Well, that didn’t make the cuts any less real. So add 14 million more people that Obama lied to — er, “misspoke” to — with his famous “you can keep it” promise...

Retired chemist Edward Schokowitz was incredulous when he received a letter from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey early last month saying his Medicare Advantage Plan, which had no premium, would be eliminated next year.“They took all the senior citizens and threw us out of the plan. They now want to give us the same plan for $153 [per month],” he told the Daily Caller. “The President said you can’t be kicked out of your plan. He lies.”Schokowitz is one of many Medicare beneficiaries now learning that — like Americans who buy insurance on the individual market —...

he AARP, formerly the The American Association of Retired Persons, sent U.S. senators a letter last week asking them to oppose any increases in Medicare copayments. But the self-described pro-senior group hasn’t acknowledged that it has a financial stake in the debate’s outcome. (Snip) The AARP collects 4.95 percent of every dollar United HealthCare takes in from AARP members’ Medigap plan premiums. Not allowing Medigap plans to cover seniors’ Medicare copayment costs is a disincentive for AARP members to continue purchasing the supplemental coverage. In its letter to Congress, the AARP made no mention of any financial stake it may

Outside of the unions, there was perhaps no group more ardent in its support of Obamacare than the AARP. The advocacy group spent $121 million on advertising in favor of Obamacare, and millions more lobbying for it on Washington DC. But now AARP’s insurance business, Medigap which competes with Medicare Advantage (a program AARP lobbied to have hamstrung by OBamacare), just got a waiver from complying with the law. ... Keep in mind, again, that AARP is set to rake in billions in profits now that Obamacare has effective knocked Medicare Advantage out of the market.

the porkulus bill the “Generational Theft Act of 2009.” Generational theft has been the leitmotif of the Obama administration throughout the entire year. We rang in the new year with it and the White House and Democratic majority want to end the year with it by ramming through a government health care plan that would cost at least $4 trillion and likely top $10 trillion ... YAF/Hot Air TV correspondent Jason Mattera is back to speak generational truth to entitlement-expanding power. He presents AARP vice president Nancy Leamond with an invoice for generational theft and takes on the powerful senior...

WHY is Congress so eager to cut $160 billion-plus from Medicare Advantage? The program does things that President Obama and other liberals normally praise. Is the cut simply the price charged by AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons) for overlooking the rest of the $500 billion in Medicare cuts meant to finance "health-care reform"? Medicare Advantage offers a range of benefits beyond basic Medicare. It combines many elements Obama and other liberals like -- such as subsidized premiums for low-income elderly, "pooling" of insurees to provide bargaining power and managed care that emphasizes prevention, treatment of chronic conditions and...

IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure Discourse: At a town hall last week in Dallas, an elderly "mob" with "manufactured" outrage questioned AARP's support for nationalized health care, asking: "Do you work for us or do we work for you?"There were no swastika-wearing grannies at Tuesday's meeting, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might claim. Nor were they "taking their cues from talk show hosts, Internet rumor-mongers . . . and insurance rackets," as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said. But they were mad as hell at the perception that AARP was selling them out in the...

Free Speech: The Senate votes against transparency as the administration silences a private insurer for exposing the president's health care proposal. Meanwhile, AARP is allowed to tout reform as it awaits payday. We weren't surprised when the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday voted 12 to 11 against allowing two weeks for the Congressional Budget Office to complete its cost analysis of the health care bill pushed by Montana Democrat Max Baucus and to put the bill online in its original wording. Instead, the Senate panel passed another amendment to require the committee to post the full bill online in "conceptual"...

George Orwell call your office.  Again. Was it only two months ago that Cong. John Carter (R-Tx) and a few other conservatives were protesting the Democrats’ censorship of their constituent mailings? Yes, it was.  When  Judge Carter tried to describe Obamacare as “government-run healthcare” the House Franking Commission told him he couldn’t use the term in a constituent mailing that would be mailed for free as are most constituent mailings.  Not only could he not use those words, he couldn’t use the words “Democratic Party.”   Now, the Democratic Party (i.e., the Obama administration) wants to censor the mailings sent...

One of the first political battles over health care this year will be fought on familiar ground. The Obama administration has proposed cutting what the government pays private insurers to cover about one in five Medicare beneficiaries and using the savings to help finance comprehensive health coverage. The plan, some say, could lead to fewer options and higher costs for some seniors. The private Medicare Advantage plans have been a favorite target of Democrats, who point out that the government pays the plans an average of $1,000, or 14 percent, more per beneficiary a year than it would for someone...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Senate leaders proposed Monday that the state help bridge a coverage gap in a new federal prescription drug benefit for people 65 and older. The legislation was filed by the chamber's top leaders from both parties - Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and Minority Leader Ken Jacob, D-Columbia. Kinder and Jacob propose to revamp SenioRx - the state's existing prescription plan for certain older Missourians - to help such citizens meet costs not covered under the federal government's new Medicare prescription plan. "This is a logical and essential next step in helping seniors...

Wealthy Senators to Cover $130B Medicare Drug Gap (2004-01-30) -- Wealthy U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle today agreed to use their personal funds to make up the difference between the promised cost of the new Medicare drug benefit and the latest Bush administration cost estimates -- a gap of about $130 billion over 10 years. "Like any other business, when you make a mistake you have to eat it," said an unnamed aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-TN. "We can't go to the taxpayers and say 'Oops! We said we needed $400 billion of your...

Medicare beneficiaries will not be allowed to buy insurance to cover their share of prescription drug costs under the new Medicare bill to be signed on Monday by President Bush, the legislation says. Millions of Medicare beneficiaries have bought private insurance to fill gaps in Medicare. But a little-noticed provision of the legislation prohibits the sale of any Medigap policy that would help pay drug costs after Jan. 1, 2006, when the new Medicare drug benefit becomes available. This is one of many surprises awaiting beneficiaries, who will find big gaps in the drug benefit and might want private insurance...