Medicare Advantage Plans FEHB

[Brat]

Federal retiree here, suspended participation in Federal Employee Health Benefit program 2 years ago to sign us for Kaiser Perm. NW Medicare Advantage program.

When I looked through the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the NW offered through FEHB I noticed 3 Senior Advantage programs (on page 85 if you want to look it up) but there is no indication of how one would select any of these if one wanted to enroll. The enrollment codes are on page 98, again no clue.

It is really early in the enrollment period, Kaiser customer service reps are just learning of this so haven't been any help.

Have any of you figured out how FEHB will be handling this?

 

[Lakedog]

I cannot answer your question but I'm curious what advantage there is to suspend FEHB coverage to go with a medicare advantage plan? Although not old enough for medicare yet, my current thinking is to go with a low cost plan (standard option GEHA) when I qualify for medicare as most FEHB plans essentially cover all costs (except Rx drug coverage varies) after medicare, even eliminating any co-pays.

I am currently on the GEHA HDHP (for the HSA and related tax benefits) but at 65 will switch back to the standard plan that I had for years. The standard plan for a single person (my case) is even less costly than the HDHP plan at not much over $100 a month. Am I missing something that I need to consider at medicare time?

 

[Brat]

We were on FEHB Kaiser for years, then the kids grew up and we moved out of the service area. We were on GEHA when qualifying for Medicare A, I signed up for B as well. Then we moved back to Portland and found that the primary care physicians I liked were 'full up' with Medicare patients. It didn't matter that we had GEHA as Medicare set the reimbursement rate. I liked GEHA because when you have medicare they eliminated co-pays and deductibles and you could pick your hospitals and specialists.

In our area the Kaiser Medicare Advantage Plan is significantly cheaper than classic FEHB offerings and was highly recommended by several participants. I was really frustrated with the task of finding primary care and always having to keep track of various preventative care appointment recommendations. Add that to the fact that Kaiser has its own dental clinics in Portland - it was a no-brainier decision.

We have two 5-star Medicare Advantage plans in my area, Providence and Kaiser. Familiarity and dental is what made the decision for us.

Not all Medicare Advantage plans are equal.