LINK Diane Archer on the Medicare Advantage Racket
I get a lot of people angry with my take on this. I urge any of you turning 65 to consider signing for Medigap and separate Part D. Your monthly premiums for Medigap + Part D will be about $200 more than an "Advantage" plan. IMO Medigap is like a Cadillac health plan. Plan C is like a bad HMO or PPO.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I have had Medicare Advantage since I turned 65. First AARP United Healthcare and for the past three years Keystone Blue Shield. Every year my cost goes down, my benefits go up, co-pays get smaller. And compared to what I was paying the two years before once I retired (35% of the cost for my company insurance), 100% better!
Barnie2years
Level 8
Oct 19, 2022
3
I have different insurance but my experience with Medicare Advantage has been the same as yours.
In my opinion Medicare Advantage was created as a stepping stone to do away with Medicare as we know it now and turn it into a voucher program. Once that happens Medicare Advantage will no longer be a bargain.
Wuld I pay more to avoid an Advantage plan? I think it would depend on my circumstances and could not fault anyone for doing so. I don't need to because I get to keep my federal employees insurance as well as Medicare and normally pay nothing for copay except on meds.
Lorajay
Level 9
Oct 19, 2022
1
I have had several Advantage plans since i turned 65, my total knee replacement (2 on the same knee within 4 months) cost <$100 Total, including the bouts of rehab therapy & the nursing home stays after the surgeries.. My total shoulder replacement cost under $90 (extra bloodwork both times due to my CHF) including rehabbers, visiting nurses, etc. coming to the house 4 times a day for 6 weeks post-surgery and 12 weeks of outpatient rehab.
My prescriptions cost $2-3 for generics for a 3 month supply.
I also get $120/year in free, delivered to my door, OTC items of my choice, free flu/Covid/pneumonia, shingles & whatever shots, PCP visits are $5. Also vision & yearly checkups in-home, some dental, Silver Sneakers Gym membership free, most labwork free. I pay $108/month for the best coverage i have ever had in my entire life, hands down no comparison!!!! Why would i want to pay more for less?????? Also mammograms, colonoscopies etc are generally free-- if they remove polps they do charge by the polyp.
Call AARP, a free call to a USA-based person, have your med list handy, they will steer you to the right plan, for example when i knew i was having the joint surgeries, they gave me a plan weighted towards that. Now i go with the best drug coverage plan.......i generally use Costco because they are so nice there!!!!
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Oct 19, 2022
1
No way. I don't like AARP and I'm tired of fighting with HMOs and having to go to preferred networks, paying copays for doctors visits and procedures. "Medicare" Advantage isn't Medicare.
I take generics and have many of the same benefits you do. In case of an expensive super high med I might have to give in and drop my VA card on them. I think those prescriptions are still $15 each.
@barjoe i chòse all my own doctors/specialists and do not know what an HMO is.(in terms of ever being in/using one)
If you don't like the non-profit AARP there are about 500 brokers, at least, who can guide you the same, just know they make $$$$ off it
@barjoe my plan is a PPO. When you chose a plan you just have to be sure your preferred practitioners are in the network. Copays for out of network are not really that bad except for hospitals and emergency care.
@AnneWimsey So do most "non profit" 501C3 orgs. AARP is non profit like churches are non profit. If they weren't making money they wouldn't advertise so heavily. Their insurance is affiliated with United Health Care. My elderly mom got tricked, because she loved AARP, into converting her Keystone Blue Cross supplemental into a United Health Care Plan C. I've been fighting with HMOs and PPOs for years. Medigap is a one time deal, sort of. When someone first turns 65, there's a one time open enrollment, mandated by the government, for Medicare Supplemental. After that the insurance companies have a strict medical underwriting enrollment that 95% of senior can't pass. If you can afford the premiums, it's worth it. Just my opinion. I can always go to MA in the future, it doesn't work in the reverse.
@Barnie2years last month when i accidentally put wart remover in my eye the copay for the ER was $90 on a well over $1100 bill, not terrible at all!
I am planning to avoid Medicare for a few more years by staying employed and staying on my employer's health plan.
HippieChick58
Level 9
Oct 19, 2022
2
I haven't worked for a few years. I was on Obamacare and am being forced off because when I turn 65 my subsidy get taken away.
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