Quote:
Originally Posted by villagetinker
I will provide the following, I recall information stating that we would be 'grandfathered' in VHS. Unfortunately, I looked very hard for hard copy documentation and I could not find it. I looked at historic webpages from The Villages with the same results, but I know that both myself and my wife heard this, so I am thinking this was TOLD to us, but never SENT to us. There were several previous comments that we agree with.
1. We really liked our PCP doctor, he actually came for where we came from and my wife knew him from back up North.
2. We were sorry to leave, but there were limitations (or perceived limitations) with VHS that we were very concerned about.
3. Would we come back, OK we will need to see if there are any changes in accepted insurance, we still have concerns about Advantage plans in general, and once you drop Medicare, you may not be able to go back without going to underwriting.
4. And of course ALL of this is going to change with all of the confusion in the area of 'ObamaCare', my crystal ball (some what foggy now) indicates that once the dust has settled, there will be after effects on Medicare, and advantage plans. At that point in time I guess we will need to look over options to determine what is best.
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I think you are right.
As to your preamble, TVH was flooded with phone calls, mostly answered by those who weren't "in the know" I called twice and couldn't get a straight answer until I spoke with someone much higher up. I don't recall if she specifically used the term "grandfathered", but one of the people I spoke with told me I could stay without changing insurance. But I'm under 65 and have Blue Cross. My wife is on Medicare and was told she either had to change to UHC MA or go elsewhere (a choice, NOT a boot). It certainly possible that the phone staff were playing "footloose and fancy free" with the word "grandfathered". I don't think all the people who believed that they were "grandfathered" are hallucinating, but I don't think that term ever appeared in written form.
As to your point #2:
I checked out the availability of network specialists and it is really quite extensive, but NOT ALL inclusive. People have posted they want "the best", but not even I can define what "the best" actually is. There are about 57,000 cardiologists in the US, and only one is "the best" But he (or she) cannot see 320 million patients, so someone gets second best, and third best, and someone gets 57,000th best. If you ever did get to see "the best", you would probably be profoundly disappointed. He would be some ivory tower academician who doesn't know how to talk to real people, much less relate to them. He would give you about 90 seconds of his time as he rushed off to his research lab, or to write his next article, or next teaching rounds with cardiology fellows. You would see his name plastered all over the textbooks and the literature, and he would be acclaimed as "the best", but in reality that is a title given to the biggest academic @$$ by other academic @$$e$. For me, give me the clinician who ranks 10-15,000th on the list and I'll be happy and well cared for.
As to your point #4:
Very true, healthcare delivery is a moving target. If you recall, about 8 years ago Advantage plans were all but declared dead. Then for some unknown reason, like the phoenix, they rose from the ashes and now are all the rage. I suspect this is because the QA programs associated with MA plans help support practices working towards becoming a PCMH, but then again this would imply that the healthcare policy wonks in D.C. have the slightest clue about what they are doing. Why's that? Because they get their advice from the academic @$$e$. Remember Jonathan Gruber????