ncbill
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Isn't Plan F (& F HD) closed to new enrollees?
It is not quite as easy as figuring out what your medical needs are now, in most cases one must bet on on what your medical needs will be in the future. In the name of blow that dough, this seems to me to be a poor place to be gambling on Medigap plans. Go for the best you can afford. Your Plan F was that plan when you entered.
A couple years back, we switched from F-HD under BCBS to G under AARP-UHC. Yes, we had to go thru medical underwriting. Last year I had my gallbladder removed at a rack rate of over $70k. I also had Back problems and 4 months of PT. Boy am I glad that I was on Plan G. Between Medicare's reduced price per procedure and the AARP-UHC I paid the Medicare deductible of $198 and that was it.
One thing to consider is, unlike a traditional insurance we got thru our employer, under Medicare, the deductibles are per person, not per family. When we got our F-HD plan we planned on each of us meeting our deductibles every other year. assuming deductible of ~2k per person per year, the upcharge from F-HD to F in premiums exceeded that amount so it was budgeted into our plans. When Medicare closed Plan F to new applicants, the writing was on the wall. No fresh blood into the plan means much higher annual increases in the future, so we switched while our health was still fairly good.
Repeat, Plan F is no longer open to new applicants. Plan G is today's "Gold Standard" plan.
Why didn't you go to G HD? Most employer insurance has an individual deductible and a family deductible.
Why didn't you go to G HD? Most employer insurance has an individual deductible and a family deductible.
Medicare was a topic like when to take SS, that I ignored on this board for years. Now DW is going to turn 65 and I really appreciate all of these well reasoned posts, even if the solution differs for each.
No, it’s actually a bit simpler than that. You’ll get billed by a provider only after it’s been through the Medicare review and adjustment, and then your Medigap insurer, and Medicare has determined that you have not yet met your deductible. You don’t have to track or worry about who to pay.The other idea I find appealing is the minimal paperwork and tracking with the small deductible; it's not "hard", but it's annoying to do. I'm bad at something like this, but if one knows what the deductible is, I could keep paying without tracking, and just quit paying when the deductible was achieved. Provider A might get too much and provider B might get shorted, and it would be my problem, though.
No, it’s actually a bit simpler than that. You’ll get billed by a provider only after it’s been through the Medicare review and adjustment, and then your Medigap insurer, and Medicare has determined that you have not yet met your deductible. You don’t have to track or worry about who to pay.
Some of the brokers say that they will help you with problems such as billing problems. BB says they do, though the only problem I have had in using Medicare I went after myself... Dermatologist has a third-party billing company which seems to be run as a distributed collection of loosely-coupled incompetents. I read them over the phone what Medicare had already paid them, same with what AARP/UHC had paid them. After me hounding the billing company every two weeks over the phone, they finally relented and went with my numbers, which were correct.
Another internet broker is Chris Westfall's Senior Savings Network in South Carolina.
Thank you all for the very informative posts and suggestions.
This month is my Medicare three months before month, so let the fun begin.
My first hurdle is signing up for part A and part B with the government.
After that I am pretty well settled on getting a Medigap Plan G and from the comments am leaning toward ARP/UHC. I took a quick look on their site and got a rough estimate that seems more or less in the range I was expecting.
I am not sure, but suspect that it would be best to be signed up for medicare A and B before I try to sign up for the Medigap. Does the Medigap payer need to have my medicaid number etc?
I will have to get on the stick and get a few more price quotes on the Medigap policies.
August came a lot sooner than I expected. It seemed like I had forever to get ready for the sign-up process.
I guess I will have to also get moving on picking a Part D plan as well.
Thanks gain for all the help on this.
Thank you all for the very informative posts and suggestions.
This month is my Medicare three months before month, so let the fun begin.
My first hurdle is signing up for part A and part B with the government.
After that I am pretty well settled on getting a Medigap Plan G and from the comments am leaning toward ARP/UHC. I took a quick look on their site and got a rough estimate that seems more or less in the range I was expecting.
I am not sure, but suspect that it would be best to be signed up for medicare A and B before I try to sign up for the Medigap. Does the Medigap payer need to have my medicaid number etc?
I will have to get on the stick and get a few more price quotes on the Medigap policies.
August came a lot sooner than I expected. It seemed like I had forever to get ready for the sign-up process.
I guess I will have to also get moving on picking a Part D plan as well.
Thanks gain for all the help on this.
No, it’s actually a bit simpler than that. You’ll get billed by a provider only after it’s been through the Medicare review and adjustment, and then your Medigap insurer, and Medicare has determined that you have not yet met your deductible. You don’t have to track or worry about who to pay.
Because it was important to Congress that Medicare recipients “have some skin in the game”.
I guess the thinking was that if you had to pay even just a little up front, it might make you stop and think about whether that doctor visit was really necessary.
Hmmm! That's a nice surprise to me (my lack of study is showing, though, hehe). It makes the HD plans more tolerable...not having that extended headache. I was thinking I'd be selecting between a short headache ($203+/-) or a long headache (2K+/-). But if they do the book keeping and I won't need to fight the billing department in either case, I'd be pleased with either.No, it’s actually a bit simpler than that. You’ll get billed by a provider only after it’s been through the Medicare review and adjustment, and then your Medigap insurer, and Medicare has determined that you have not yet met your deductible. You don’t have to track or worry about who to pay.
So can you skip part D, and sign-up during annual open enrollment? Having read here that GoodRx can give you comparable pricing or even better, and we use zero regular Rx right now, I was thinking of skipping it. That is, if I have the opportunity to join once a year.
Personally I don’t want to deal with higher deductibles. Waiting for bills all year, paying them. Making sure the bill I got from the provider didn’t try to jump ahead of Medicare approval.Hmmm! That's a nice surprise to me (my lack of study is showing, though, hehe). It makes the HD plans more tolerable...not having that extended headache. I was thinking I'd be selecting between a short headache ($203+/-) or a long headache (2K+/-). But if they do the book keeping and I won't need to fight the billing department in either case, I'd be pleased with either.
Hmmm! That's a nice surprise to me (my lack of study is showing, though, hehe). It makes the HD plans more tolerable...not having that extended headache. I was thinking I'd be selecting between a short headache ($203+/-) or a long headache (2K+/-). But if they do the book keeping and I won't need to fight the billing department in either case, I'd be pleased with either.
The idea of getting rid of the small deductible seems like a good idea, for simplicity. It makes no difference to medigap people, and so seems regressive (maybe keeping non-medigap people from seeing the doctor?)
Another noob medigap question that I have is about part D. That's just for home-based RX, right? So if you are in the hospital, it's irrelevant?
So can you skip part D, and sign-up during annual open enrollment? Having read here that GoodRx can give you comparable pricing or even better, and we use zero regular Rx right now, I was thinking of skipping it. That is, if I have the opportunity to join once a year.
No, it’s actually a bit simpler than that. You’ll get billed by a provider only after it’s been through the Medicare review and adjustment, and then your Medigap insurer, and Medicare has determined that you have not yet met your deductible. You don’t have to track or worry about who to pay.
I recommend getting started on research by buying "GET WHAT'S YOURS for MEDICARE" by Philip Moeller. Available on Amazon for $10.89 hardcover. Cheap, and good. He also points out major pitfalls well!Hmmm! That's a nice surprise to me (my lack of study is showing, though, hehe). It makes the HD plans more tolerable...not having that extended headache. I was thinking I'd be selecting between a short headache ($203+/-) or a long headache (2K+/-). But if they do the book keeping and I won't need to fight the billing department in either case, I'd be pleased with either.
The idea of getting rid of the small deductible seems like a good idea, for simplicity. It makes no difference to medigap people, and so seems regressive (maybe keeping non-medigap people from seeing the doctor?)
Another noob medigap question that I have is about part D. That's just for home-based RX, right? So if you are in the hospital, it's irrelevant?
So can you skip part D, and sign-up during annual open enrollment? Having read here that GoodRx can give you comparable pricing or even better, and we use zero regular Rx right now, I was thinking of skipping it. That is, if I have the opportunity to join once a year.
Well that’s where Medicare does a better job IMO. You download the statement from Medicare, and the provider’s bill should agree with that.If you can trust a 3rd party billing from your Dr's office to be accurate, just go ahead and pay what they ask. It is simple and easy, I agree. I personally am not that trusting. I want to make sure that what they bill me for is for services actually performed and is in agreement with Medicare and my Medigap insurer. That is one of the reasons that I changed from F-HD to G. Now I only have to deal with balancing the 3 statements up to the point of meeting the annual deductible.
I would imagine one would have to track their billing all year long, when a Dr's practice accepts Medicare patients but does not accept Medicare Assignment. They can bill up to 15% more than the Medcare approved amount. If you have a supplement plan that does not cover that overcharging you are on the hook all year long. Sorry I forget which plans don't cover that 15%.
But I had heard of people getting billed by providers before Medicare has done their approval and issued a statement. That’s a no no, but some providers try anyway.
I've not experienced it but am sure it happens.
I never pay any medical bill until they have been run through both Medicare and my supplement/medigap insurer. Once the Medicare and supplement EOBs show up online, and their numbers match what I've been billed, then and only then do I pay.