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Originally Posted by bsloan1960
Be VERY careful. If your BCBS is the same as mine from The VA, once you drop it you can't get it back. I have Fed BCBS as well as Medicare A and B. I pay for part B every month- maybe $180(?), but BCBS Refunds $800 of that to me in cash every year. Plus- BCBS recently enrolled me in medicare Part D (drugs) for FREE. Call BCBS of Florida to determine if your current plan offers these perks- or if you can switch to one like I described. I have NEVER paid a co-pay in the 2 years since I retired- and I'm at the doctors a couple of times every month.
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Do you also have a Medicare supplemental plan? if so, do the math and compare your Part B premium plus your supplemental insurance premium plus any deductibles to the Standard BC/BS catastrophic limit. The BC/BS Standard plan has an annual catastrophic limit of $6,000, which means that when you exceed $6,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, everything will be covered at 100 percent for the rest of the year. This includes hospital, medical, prescription drugs, co-pays, and deductibles. If you are paying more than $4,000 per year for Medicare premiums and deductibles, you may want to consider dropping the Medicare insurance. In my case, the Medicare premiums would exceed $6,000 per year so it is a no brainer that Medicare is a total waste of money. Even at $4,000-$6,000, you will probably save money by dropping Medicare. The reason BC/BS pays you $800 per year is because the BC/BS insurance is mostly redundant with Medicare, so they save a lot of money if you have Medicare.