Wellness

[151949]

We figured out who we were going to change our advantage plan to. We are actually staying with our same company, but changing from a PPO to an HMO with a passport (travel ) feature. We looked at the cost of various supplements and advantage plans. No doubt - for us - an advantage plan is still the best financial decision. That is not to say it is the best for everyone, but for us it definitely is. Some folks don't want to deal with the rules of a managed care system like an HMO or PPO, some don't want to deal with copays. Some who have a lot of medical issues are better off with a supplement. We learned  a little from our agent and went to the best we could reasonably afford. 

IMO - everyone who is on medicare needs to look into this and get informed every single year.

[millieshops]

@151949Glad you found the plan that seems to work.

If there were one major changeI'd love to see in the Medicare program, it would be something that wouldn't require this every year search.  With so many elderly facing myriad health problems including mental health issues, the choices become overwhelming --and where fairly often the choices land on a younger family member or someone outside the family even, having to work at the insurance every year isn't great.

But, given what I do know, I can't imagine one plan that would even come close to satisfying everyone's needs, so I'm not hassling my representatives to get to work on any adjustments.  Medicare is still like democracy -  awful, but the best system there is.

[Mom2Dogs]

Choosing these plans is tough....this was our first year having to choose a plan...my dh's retirement group will not be funding their health care any longer so we had to do a lot of learning what the different plans provided.

He eneded up with a medigap policy with a $145.00 monthly policy and a yearly dedudctible of under $200.00. We can manage this plan...I would have picked a different policy but since he has had some medical issues this year (first year in his 75 years he has been ill) he was concerned with what medical bills might cost us in 2016. Hopefully if these health issues take care of themselves he will purchase a different policy next year. 

[151949]

We look at ours every year and this year there were changes we really didn't like. They had taken away just too much. So that was when DH called our agent. He came by our house today and we discussed about 6 different plans, then decided on this one. We had always thought the HMO was the best choice but because we travel for 4 months over the summer we could not use the HMO. This year they came out with the passport option so this issue was solved. This HMO covers silver sneakers so we will save our $60/month gym dues at the Y among some other things, plus the copays are less than our PPO was.

[151949]

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@Mom2Dogs wrote:

Choosing these plans is tough....this was our first year having to choose a plan...my dh's retirement group will not be funding their health care any longer so we had to do a lot of learning what the different plans provided.

He eneded up with a medigap policy with a $145.00 monthly policy and a yearly dedudctible of under $200.00. We can manage this plan...I would have picked a different policy but since he has had some medical issues this year (first year in his 75 years he has been ill) he was concerned with what medical bills might cost us in 2016. Hopefully if these health issues take care of themselves he will purchase a different policy next year. 

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Did you get a plan D drug plan? Don't forget that.

[Mom2Dogs]

Yes, I believe the plan is silver script.  We just signed up about 2 weeks ago...so we are waiting for the paperwork to show up in the mail so we can review it.  The state hired a professional company to help the retiree review and choose their new health and drug plans.

My DH was a public employee and the health insurance was not  mandatory, so they are discontinuing coverage.

[Kachina624]

My Medicare Advantage Plan is totally 100% paid for by the employer from whom I retired so I never have to make a decision.  I would never select a HMO plan though unless I absolutely had to.  My parents had one with the largest insurer in this area.  I took them to their appointments and was present when they saw their doctors.  There were many who only spoke marginal English, whose competency I questioned, and I always felt like the were getting second rate care by second rate providers.  When my dad had a heart attack at 92, they refused to do any sort of treatment or surgery because he was too old.  The hospice program they put him in was a nightmare.  I could go on and on....

[Mz iMac]

For those on Medicare, don't forget that every year IN THE MAIL you receive the MEDICARE & YOU booklet.  This year it's titled Medicare & You 2016.

This booklet is customized to you & the state you domicile in.  It lists all the ins companies that are AUTHORIZED to sell policies in YOUR state & county.

[Mom2Dogs]

My DH had a Humina Medicare Advantage plan it was a GREAT policy. He has barely paid anything out of pocket this year (first year he has had to use his insurance in years).  We had no idea what a great plan it was....it was a rude awakening when had to start looking for his policy.

As I stated earlier in this thread, the employer (State) retiree plan was not mandated to cover heatlh benefits and to keep their retirement healthy...good by health insurance.

[151949]

We also looked at some supplement plans too,  but it would have cost us $250 each to get comperable coverage with a drug plan. We did not feel that we would use our insurance to the tune of $6000 a year, and they don't offer silver sneakers which means we would be paying another $720 a year for our YMCA membership. All in all - for us - and many other medicare patients the advantage plans make more sense financially. 

we had HMO type insurance for many years before we retired through DH's company so it is nothing new to us, and we are knowledgeable about how to use the system. While I think in years past many managed care  did have newer and maybe less good doctors but now a days most doctors belong to these groups.It is a financial necessity.