Talk of The Villages Florida - Medicare Advantage Plans

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- Medical and Health Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/medical-health-discussion-94/)

- - Medicare Advantage Plans (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/medical-health-discussion-94/medicare-advantage-plans-279391/)

I would first ask why any advantage plan. With traditional Medicare and a Supplement, you essentially guarantee that you have universal coverage anywhere, cap your out of pocket and have no co-pays for any visit or procedure. What could be better than piece of mind and complete freedom at our age?

We have had terrific service from United Health Care Medicare Advantage PPO plans.

In addition to my earlier post asking why ANY Advantage plan, I forgot to mention my Supplement plan has no annual deductible as well as no co-pays. Also, the Villages UHC Advantage plan is not accepted by Shands Healthcare/UF Health, arguably the premiere health care center in the Southeast. Yes there are other options but I’m unwilling to eliminate what is likely the best local option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyp (Post 1606580)

What plan are you going with for 2019 ?

Medicare with BlueFlorida Plan F supplement , it's not cheap though , it costs me $ 207 per month, plus they force me to have a Rx plan which costs anther 28.00 per month.

Medicare with BCBS supplement F and SilverScripts part D. Peace of mind.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

Quote:

Originally Posted by genobambino (Post 1606441)

Dan9871 is right on with his description. We have UHC thru the Villages Health and consider it is the best one going anywhere around here. I have always had a advantage plan since I started on Medicare 11 years ago with no payment and no problems. I just had spinal fusion surgery and the bill was about $325,000, I paid maybe 12 or $1400 out of pocket. We have friends that have advantage plans with other companies that give you back 60 or $70 of your part B back as an incentive to sign up, but they go thru hell getting refferals and wait times, we don't have any of that with Villages Health. There very professional, no referrals, no BS.

Thanks for your input, that's what I hear from a lot of people. Well as far as the TV Health, I've only been there 1 time & I don't want to get into a long story but I just had a 5 way heart bypass a month before I went to TV Hospital & it was during the Flu season & I had to wait 4 1/2 hrs. to get seen by a PA, not a licensed Dr. well it was a nightmare. Thanks for your input about the Advantage Plan though!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyp (Post 1605991)

Good luck - I would not be taking advice from here. My experiences is 180 degrees from what most have posted on here for this subject. Everybody's an expert but they don't want to give up their doctor or we are not switching insurance form our previous employer etc. Then there is the crowd that believes you have to go to some fancy high class institution to get good care including the cure for a hangnail. Find someone down here with similar background as you and your previous employer and area where you lived plus has a couple year head start on you. Be sure to ask when being sited chapter and verse if their experience truly happened to them or "I heard this from ". A good place to start is SHINE. As an aside I believe UHC is the largest health insurance company in the USA.

Quoting my own old post #2 it is amazing how much non factual information gets posted about TV Health. Perhaps people are using the term as any health care in The Villages or The Villages Hospital. This thread is full of inaccuracies. TV Health is the system that has the Marcus Welby style of preventative care at various care centers throughout The Villages. The primary care doctors are salaried and not paid by how many patients they can pack into a day. There are many specialists associated with this system but you don't need to use them. You can use your own. As far as in network or not it is the same as any plan you would have. Each plan has its own network. In fact with TV UHC you do not even need a referral to go to a specialist. Perhaps we can get a bit closer to reality if only the people who have or had TV Health would post their experience Vs "I heard".

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyp (Post 1606715)

:agree:
The Villages Health is a corporation which owns a system of 6 primary care centers, 1 specialty center and 1 combo primary/specialty care center in The Villages.

Central Florida Health is a foundation that owns The Villages Regional Hospital and Leesburg Regional Medical Center.

These two organizations have different and independent insurance requirements.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyp (Post 1606715)

Each plan has its own network. In fact with TV UHC you do not even need a referral to go to a specialist. .

You are ignoring the fact that IF you have original Medicare you are not limited to any network, you can go to any Dr that accepts Medicare. And no referrals required with original Medicare either.
The Advantage Medicare plans that you are talking about (TV-UHC) require to you choose within their network, and your Specialists must also be in that same network.

Quote:

Originally Posted by capecoralbill (Post 1606772)

You are correct but limited to a doctor that accepts Medicare - Six of one half a dozen of another.

The Advantage Plans are severely limited. The Medicare plan is nowhere near as limited. I would not call that equal.