Top 5 Things your Medicare Advantage salesman won't tell you

I am sooooooo tired of the "ITS FREEEEEEEE" commercial. The endless phone calls. I tried to let them go to VM. But one year I decided to answer and told them I was on Tricare. I asked them to remove my PH and after several calls they quit. Now its just having to endure those scummy commercials. My Dad always told me if it was free... Run!
 
I was pretty ignorant of medicare details, but I am 8 years out so had not really begun serious research. I had budgeted for the higher cost of either medigap or MA. This thread caused me to do a LOT more research.

But since then almost every ad I see online no matter where I browse is pushing one MA plan or another. It could be that I am now just more aware of them but I think my searches made google identify me as a potential [-]mark[/-] customer and now i am being bombarded with ads while browsing, by email, and even by text. Anything sold that hard is suspicious to me.

I can't say I know enough to judge actually. But at this point the bombardment by ads is steering me away from MA!
 
I recently retired from a major health insurance company. Before I left, an executive mentioned to me that he was a little uncomfortable with his new position, as his team's compensation was based in part on the savings from denied claims. Like the original article said, the insurance company's interest is not aligned with the customers.
 
winyaz said:
I recently retired from a major health insurance company. Before I left, an executive mentioned to me that he was a little uncomfortable with his new position, as his team's compensation was based in part on the savings from denied claims. Like the original article said, the insurance company's interest is not aligned with the customers.
Click to expand...

Excuse me if I don't believe this. It's unethical and against the law.
 
Just to add a data point about Boomer Benefits. When she was eligible for Medicare, she used them to pick a Supplement plan and a Plan D. She is quite healthy but takes one expensive medication. The Plan D they recommended would have meant paying $120/month for the medication. I went on the Medicare site to look at options and found one that meant paying $40/month for the same medication, but was $20/month more for the plan. Still a $60/month savings.

She called BB to talk about it and the BB rep said yes, that seems like a better plan for your specific circumstances. They didn't recommend that plan initially because they don't "represent" that company. However, they still made all the arrangements for coverage even though they got nothing out of it. They could have just told us to take care of it ourselves but they did it anyway, and that impressed me.

And they went the "extra mile" by asking her when she would need a refill. She had enough to last through mid-January, so the rep suggested doing nothing now, then call them back in mid-December to switch to the other plan to be effective in January since she would still be in the initial sign-up window. Saved two months of premiums. We would not have thought of that.
 
prudent_one said:
And they went the "extra mile" by asking her when she would need a refill. She had enough to last through mid-January, so the rep suggested doing nothing now, then call them back in mid-December to switch to the other plan to be effective in January since she would still be in the initial sign-up window. Saved two months of premiums. We would not have thought of that.
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Boomer Benefits are licensed insurance agents. Who would have thought to advise a customer to wait to take advantage of benefit language and rules: a good insurance agent. You and she will remember this agency for future needs.

- Rita
 
Gotadimple said:
Boomer Benefits are licensed insurance agents. Who would have thought to advise a customer to wait to take advantage of benefit language and rules: a good insurance agent. You and she will remember this agency for future needs.

- Rita
Click to expand...

Many folks benefit from using insurance agents
 
how do you find the insurance agents that are working for your benefit and not the insurance company?
 
ivinsfan said:
Excuse me if I don't believe this. It's unethical and against the law.
Click to expand...

Countless actions that are unethical and against the law occur every day, generating hundreds of thousands of jobs for police, prosecutors, lawyers, judges, prison guards and parole officers worldwide. It's a booming business.
 
I am a Fed retiree with Medicare A and B. One of my options through OPM is Kaiser NW. The Kaiser standard plan offers a refund of Medicare B premium for the equivalent of their Medicare Advantage program. The only exception is that you can't purchase Kaiser NW's Medicare Advantage dental insurance (which includes vision and hearing aids) so must buy that separately. Since I don't need hearing aids and can purchase their glasses separately that isn't a big deal.

Kaiser insurance using the Medicare B reimbursement costs me a net of $3/mo.
 
prudent_one said:
Just to add a data point about Boomer Benefits. When she was eligible for Medicare, she used them to pick a Supplement plan and a Plan D. She is quite healthy but takes one expensive medication. The Plan D they recommended would have meant paying $120/month for the medication. I went on the Medicare site to look at options and found one that meant paying $40/month for the same medication, but was $20/month more for the plan. Still a $60/month savings.

She called BB to talk about it and the BB rep said yes, that seems like a better plan for your specific circumstances. They didn't recommend that plan initially because they don't "represent" that company. However, they still made all the arrangements for coverage even though they got nothing out of it. They could have just told us to take care of it ourselves but they did it anyway, and that impressed me.

And they went the "extra mile" by asking her when she would need a refill. She had enough to last through mid-January, so the rep suggested doing nothing now, then call them back in mid-December to switch to the other plan to be effective in January since she would still be in the initial sign-up window. Saved two months of premiums. We would not have thought of that.
Click to expand...

To look at it a different way, BB was self-serving at the start. While they are regularly considered very good, they still act as an insurance agent and do get commissions for selling their product not the competition's. By doing what the rep did, BB did manage to get 2 more months of commissions out of her. The agent may also get a "referral fee" from the new insurer even if he didn't "sell" the new policy. Yes, a win/win for both her and BB but may not necessarily be an act of total benevolence.
 
Brat said:
I am a Fed retiree with Medicare A and B. One of my options through OPM is Kaiser NW. The Kaiser standard plan offers a refund of Medicare B premium for the equivalent of their Medicare Advantage program. The only exception is that you can't purchase Kaiser NW's Medicare Advantage dental insurance (which includes vision and hearing aids) so must buy that separately. Since I don't need hearing aids and can purchase their glasses separately that isn't a big deal.

Kaiser insurance using the Medicare B reimbursement costs me a net of $3/mo.
Click to expand...

We are on BCBS PPO MA in Washington county OR for several year now. The benefits get a little better each year. The premiums went to zero a couple years ago. They include vision,dental,hearing & gym memberships. No payback for part B.
I think the competition between companies is driving them to reduce costs.
 
ivinsfan said:
Excuse me if I don't believe this. It's unethical and against the law.
Click to expand...


And Auto damage adjusters get paid extra to deny your claim.....NOT.
I don't believe it either. You can't believe everything you read on the internet it seems......

VW
 
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