Shingrix free on FL BL MED ADVANTAGE

It’s now $100/quarter!

You noted: "The advantage plan is good as long as you are healthy". Novice here- what happens once you are not healthy? Is there a different plan for people who have health conditions, and are on several medications?

How can there be No Premium??? I'll soon go on Part B which is something like $175 per month. So are you saying there are plans that include Part B, but somehow the company bundling the Parts offers it for nothing? How is this possible? If it is, I want in. Thanks

I’d be sure to read the fine print.

Really?

"Moffitt Cancer Center and Moffitt Medical Group accept both types of plans"

Differences Between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage | Moffitt

This is my point - people that love the advantage plan are not being long-sited in my opinion. Advantage is great when your healthy. What happens in a few years when:
1) you have multiple specialists and you are limited to those that are in network.
2) your health takes a turn, and now you have a large deductible /copay to meet.
3) your favorite doctor has left or been booted from network, and now you are forced to find another.
4) a necessary procedure that your doctor prescribes is denied by the advantage claims adjuster

All the above scenarios have occurred! And it is near-impossible to go back to regular Medicare once your forefiet it. That is why those slick advantage commercials play one’s desire to pay nothing for a supplement, and they give you a bunch of freebies to entice you - if you want to roll with the dice with your health, believing you will stay perfectly healthy, and then just drop dead one day, then advantage may work out for you financially. Too much of a risk for me.

A complete overabundance of misleading to outright false information about advantage plans being posted here. Let's clarify one of the biggest fallacies - you can't go back to Medicare. You can always go back to Medicare in the fall at enrollment time. No questions asked. Supplemental is a different story. Pay attention to the overwhelming majority of doomsday reporters of Advantage Plans. They never had one. Unlike many advantage plans enrollees had Medicare first and switched. Go to SHINE and get the straight story. 48% of Medicare eligible seniors are on Advantage plans. That percentage is increasing year over year.

Aetna
 

We came down from CT with an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan that was awesome, but not for Florida. Switched to Florida Blue Advantage that was similar and have no complaints. But meeting with Shine is very helpful to get the right direction to another plan. Welcome to TV!!

i've had no problem, my meds have no to low co-pay. i can see my dr's., & if a specialist isn't in network, they will find me one. i may have to drive to orlando or clermont, but i can be seen & treated. Village doctors have gone out of their way to help me, no complaints here

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It is not $0 premium. Medicare pays the insurance company the $174 taken out of your social security check each month. When one refers to 0 premium it means you pay no extra beyond the $174 / month for the plan. Not all plans are $0 beyond the $174 / month either. Price seems to have a strong correlation to geographic area of residence.

Aetna loss
 

I have Aetna Medicare PPO so I can travel back/forth to NC. You need to do some investigation if you want to keep it.

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"Health insurance at $0 a month premium."

With medicare the $0 premium outfits get $800+ from the feds for your care. Even the advantage plans that you get $160 back a month from are reaping the $800 a month from the feds.

Your response is not quite clear to me - no offense. For a person on Medicare, Part A has no premium. It is paid from the Medicare trust fund. Part A is the hospital part. Part A is the part you paid for from your paycheck before retirement. Part B was $174 in 2022. That is the part the gov pulls out of your social security check per month. This is the part you are paying for during retirement.

Correct, there is no monthly premium for Part A. But, a supplemental plan will cover the copay part of a Part A claim. The premium for Part B is based on your income level, and it can range from $164.90 to $560.50 per month for higher income groups.

Beware Ron and all other health insurance sales people. They are biased!

Contact SHINE.

Note that after your health inevitably declines you may not be allowed to switch back to original medicare with a supplement. SHINE can explain all that.

There’s no need to go back to Medicare and a supplement.

How are the reviews of the rebate plans? Is there an offsetting downside, like higher copays, higher drug costs?

Go to Welcome to Medicare | Medicare to compare local plans. Then meet with Shine as suggested above.

Before one gets too excited about how wonderful Medicare Advantage is, they may want to perform an online search how $307 billion has been moved away from Medicare Advantage and is to be used to fund other “special projects”. Cuts to Medicare Advantage may be coming.

Announced in January, a new “advance notice rule” proposing to cut funds for Medicare Advantage in a move that could cost seniors up to $540 per year in benefits.

I did the online search trying to get as close to a reliable source as possible. From HHS.gov published Feb 17 2023:

"Despite industry-funded reporting indicating otherwise, the (current) Administration is not proposing cuts to Medicare Advantage. In fact, the Administration is proposing to increase Medicare Advantage payments this year by 1%, on top of an 8.5% increase in Medicare Advantage payments last year. The Administration also announced efforts to strengthen Medicare and hold industry accountable. This year, it will start recovering improper payments made to insurance companies in Medicare Advantage through audits. Recovering these improper payments and returning this money to the Medicare Trust Funds will protect the fiscal sustainability of Medicare and allow the program to better serve seniors and people with disabilities, today and in the future."

We’ve been seeing ads stating don’t let the proposed changes to Medicare Advantage happen. It’s a slight of hand thing, IMHO, tightening of codes for coverage and going after patients who they feel shouldn’t have received coverage for certain procedures. Remember if insurance coverage is removed for a procedure, the patient is on the hook.

The diverted money will go for pet projects. Search under KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) and search if there are proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage in 2023.