Among Friends

[kitty60]

A couple of years ago when I turned 65 and was shopping for my supplemental our agent suggested we reprice my husbands policy.  Surprisingly you can change your supplemental at any time, not just open enrollment, but no matter when you do you will need to go through underwriting.  We were told we had to fill out the health questionnaire and they would call to go over.  Lo and behold we completed and a couple of days later he had a medical issue.  When they called we obviously had to disclose it.  It made absolutely no difference and he was approved and we saved a couple of hundred dollars a month with the same plan. During open enrollment you can change RX plans or to an advantage.

[Carmie]

@kitty60   All states are different.  In PA, you can downgrade a Supplemental plan, but not upgrade.

Because of underwriting, it costs more for a downgraded policy than it does for the upgraded plan people already have. So, it is not worth it to change plans.

Also, it is next to impossible to change insurance companies.

[CelticCrafter]

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@ladyann45 wrote:

Be careful doing that because if you have special doctors, make sure you can continue to go to them. People have learned the hard way on that. 

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That applies to Advantage Plans, not Supplement Plans.  

If you have Original Medicare with a Supplement, doctors do not deal directly with the company that issued the Supplement

[hckynutjohn]

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@Mom2Dogs wrote:

 @Carmie ...we do have a phone meeting later this month.  He has his insurance thru the State of Ohio ...he was employed by the state for many years.

We always get a letter telling us to go to their website to compare plans and then they would discuss any changes during that meeting.

Our biggest issue is his drug plan - he never knows (like everyone else) what a prescription will cost - this month eliquis was almost $100.00 more than 3 months ago.

thanks.

@Mom2Dogs 

I know nothing about Retired State Workers Medical Plans. My company plan, had I worked till age 65? It would have been dropped, and Medicare was my only option. Geez, had I worked at that discriminatory company that long, it would have added up to 46 years. Yikes!!

I have 2 comments. One is we have stuck with United HealthCare Medicare Advantage for several years now. My wife's many years as a Medical and Dental Claims Analyst, certainly was a help in understanding this decision.

Second comment. I think you read where I was recently on Eliquis for a Blood Clot in my arm. I was fortunate in that I never paid for any of it over the 8 weeks I was taking it. My Hematologist's Pharmacist made sure I got enough samples to cover those 2 months. I was DVT Clear after my recent Doppler Ultrasound.

This I can tell you. Were I to permanently need to be on a blood thinner? I would choose Coumadin/Warfarin because I know how it works, and it did work for me for 9 years, and is not expensive.

No doctor yet has been able to explain to how they measure, or know the Eliquis types of Blood Thinners, clotting time. I asked them about both INR and ProTime readings done. Those accurately measure blood clotting times.Those numbers are the difference between Blood Clots or Organs Bleeding Out.

I unfortunately have gone through both, either of which are deadly, and miraculously survived. Had the Pulmonary Embolisms(Lung Blood Clots)Twice, and the Organs Bleeding Out Once.

Through all of these, my INR and ProTime readings spelled out the exact reason these happened to me. Had I been on Eliquis or Pradaxa, with no blood draw to spell it out? I would be dead.

I won't go into my whole story of Coumadin/Warfarin and Lovenox, it's even too long for me to do.

Long post per usual, and maybe something I said makes sense to you about part of your thread's topic.

hckynut  🇺🇸

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[Mindy D]

@judianne @OP is talking about switching supplement companies. 

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Imaoldhippie wrote:

They are NOT going to give you anything and charge you less.  This is insurance, crooked as a dogs hind leg.  Its in the fine print somewhere, then again maybe not.

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@Imaoldhippie 

Oh, please ... you can't be serious.  I was in the Benefits field for several years, and one thing that never ceased to surprise me .... how many people just refuse to ever take the time to understand their coverage.  

Well, as Judge Judy says ... you can't fix stupid. 

[Mom2Dogs]

@hckynutjohn ...When you were on coumadin did you have to get weekly blood tests as well as stay away from lettuce....there may be other things to stay away from but lettuce was one of the food items that I recall?

According to my husbands cardiologist, he is on blood thinners for the long term because of his AFIB...although that doctor is retiring end of the year and the appt. is already set up with the new doctor for next year.   Possibly the new doctor will have other ideas for him to consider.