Can't I just download the EOBs from the Medigap insurer website? I do that anyways for HSA reimbursements. Every HD plan I've ever had clearly shows progress towards the deductible on their website.
Won't I also then get an EOB from my Medigap insurer after they process it?
I would assume so.
That's Standard Operating Procedure: Ignore all bills until you get the EOB. True whether you have high or low deductible or some or no copays.
I don't know where you get this stuff. If I suspect a discrepancy, I call the billing department and they call up the EOB and it's resolved. I've been paying copays and deductibles for decades, and never had the type of problem you describe. Why would any of that change just because my form of insurance changes?
I haven't ever had any provider require an up-front payment on our Plan G-HD plans. Also, I go online on the Medicare website and make of list of who we will owe and how much.
I have on, Plan G. I have mentioned this before. I went to a local walk-in medical facility to get a pre-op physical. They wanted payment up front. They said "This is our policy". They would return any excess if paid by M/C and/or my supplement. I explained that, "My policy is I don't pay anything until I see that M/C's and my Supplement insurer's EPB agreed with what the provider was billing me. I asked, " How do we reconcile our different policies?" They decided they would accept my position. The point is if you don't politely push back what you know is how it is supposed to work, you will pay up front when asked. You might get your excess payment returned.
Interesting, thanks for the update. It might make MediGap,policies a bit pricier but it sure helps people enrolled in closed plans. It also makes the first enrollment choice easier.
...those who are at least 65 years old, currently have a Medicare supplement policy, and want to switch to a similar policy with a different insurance company within 60 days of their birthday. For these applicants, insurance companies are prohibited from denying coverage, conditioning the policy's effectiveness, or pricing the policy differently based on the applicant's health status, medical history, healthcare usage, or current medical condition.
Contact your state legislators? I plan to contact mine.
www.indianahousedemocrats.org
Not if your old plan is closed. If I have it correct - presumably you'd only use your MA trial right #2 when/if you find yourself in an expensive closed book supplement group. You can't buy into your old plan because it's a closed book. So you can buy another plan with any provider if within 12 months. However, you can only do this once, so it should be done with careful consideration - if you're unlikely to pass underwriting you will probably find yourself in another closed book situation at higher expense. So if I do it, I will at least make sure I choose a provider who does not have a history of closing the books - though there are no guarantees.wmc1000 said:
I don’t know how exactly how it works with an an HD policy, but it seems like it should simply be the remaining 20% to make 100% on top of the 80% Medicare paid, until you meet your HD plan deductible. I don’t see how it could be any different. Certainly talk to billing and get them to explain any discrepancy after you see exactly what Medicare paid. Don’t let assumptions of a collections agency intimidate you up front.
Isn't it now the case that medical debt doesn't affect credit reports? If true, even if a debt got turned over to collections, there really wouldn't be any impact other than the calls/letters from the collection agency.
United American is a popular HD-G carrier. They have an annuity that acts like a savings account. You deposit funds and UA withdraws as needed to pay the Medicare deductibles, copays and coinsurance that comprise the plan's deductible. You designate a beneficiary to receive any unspent funds.
The MA Trial Right #2 discussion is for residents of states that do not let you change Medigap plans without underwriting.
I'm on-board with that thinking, but my experience with big hospital billing departments is that they essentially ignore messages by replying with boilerplate. If you corner them on the phone, they offer to send you the detailed bill, but I could not get them to analyze the discrepancies. So I took their detailed bills and reconciled with Medicare and told them where they screwed up. So after 9 months of saber rattling about sending to collections, they got down to a zero balance. They didn't alert me that they fixed it, they just silently quit re-sending the bill I'd been seeing every month for 9 months.
