[SusanStCatherine]

Originally Posted by Mrprez

Stop the BS. You can always switch back to regular Medicare.

Joining a plan | Medicare

When switching from a Medicare Advantage plan you are not guaranteed issue of a MediGap policy if you have preexisting conditions unless you live in one of these four states:
Connecticut
Maine
New York
Vermont
If you are issued a Medigap plan, you may be charged higher rates.
There may be a few exceptions such as if your MA plan is dropped.

[Mrprez]

Originally Posted by SusanStCatherine

When switching from a Medicare Advantage plan you are not guaranteed issue of a MediGap policy if you have preexisting conditions unless you live in one of these four states:
Connecticut
Maine
New York
Vermont
If you are issued a Medigap plan, you may be charged higher rates.
There may be a few exceptions such as if your MA plan is dropped.

Medigap is not Medicare. I am talking about the often repeated misinformation that once on MA, you can’t go back to Medicare. Patently false. Medigap is a whole other subject.

[Mrprez]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

You can always ATTEMPT to switch back, with medical underwriting, and you will most likely get rejected if you have a history of expensive health conditions. Insurance isn’t designed to allow people, with minimal health care needs, to get free/inexpensive coverage and then be able to switch to better/more expensive coverage when they get a serious/expensive health condition.

Again, you are talking about Medigap. I am talking about Medicare. Huge difference.

[rjm1cc]

We have the Humana Advantage plan. Unfortunately we have made extensive use of the plan over a number of years and we never felt that we were being denied needed services. My guess is that we would have paid more if we had the traditional medicare plans due to the traditional co pays.
However some plans do give you a lot of "non medical monthly benefits" so I can see that they may not have the desire to fund some medical needs. Just have to be selective of the plan you pick.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Mrprez

Medigap is not Medicare. I am talking about the often repeated misinformation that once on MA, you can’t go back to Medicare. Patently false. Medigap is a whole other subject.

True, but as I understand it, Medigap is a supplement to Medicare that covers the 20 percent of coinsurance costs that Medicare doesn't cover. That can be a substantial amount of money that could bankrupt a lot of people. So, switching from an advantage plan to Medicare without Medigap could be a disaster for many people.

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

How is that a problem? That’s chump change compared to what we pay through Obamacare! And the Medicare Supplement benefits blow away the ACA benefits. $3K in premiums per year for outstanding benefits, a national network, and no referrals, absolutely blows away close to $3 k per MONTH for inferior benefits, with a limited local network, needing referrals for everything, and dealing with co-pays and max out of pockets.

I wasn't comparing Medicare Supplemental Plans to ACA plans. Those are not comparable, one is a government benefit that YOU PAID INTO your entire life to get the plan at that cost, the other is a fully-insured plan run by a for profit health insurance company that if it's not subsidized by the government, is going to cost a lot of money.

I was comparing the cost of Medicare Supplement plans to the Cost of Medicare Advantage. It could easily cost $3,000 more and that's not chump change to a number of people.

[Mrprez]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

True, but as I understand it, Medigap is a supplement to Medicare that covers the 20 percent of coinsurance costs that Medicare doesn't cover. That can be a substantial amount of money that could bankrupt a lot of people. So, switching from an advantage plan to Medicare without Medigap could be a disaster for many people.

True, but that’s beside the point. I’m merely refuting her statement that once you sign up for MA you are stuck for life and can’t go back to Medicare.

[Mrprez]

Originally Posted by GoRedSox!

I wasn't comparing Medicare Supplemental Plans to ACA plans. Those are not comparable, one is a government benefit that YOU PAID INTO your entire life to get the plan at that cost, the other is a fully-insured plan run by a for profit health insurance company that if it's not subsidized by the government, is going to cost a lot of money.

I was comparing the cost of Medicare Supplement plans to the Cost of Medicare Advantage. It could easily cost $3,000 more and that's not chump change to a number of people.

Supplement plans are run by insurance companies, not the government. Jeez!

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by Mrprez

Supplement plans are run by insurance companies, not the government. Jeez!

I am not articulating myself as well as I should, but my point is that one cannot compare the cost of traditional Medicare, which people paid into their entire lives to get this at age 65 at this price plus Medicare Supplement which will cost about $3000 a year to the ACA plans. Especially if the ACA plan is not subsidized. Of course $3,000 will seem like a bargain compared to the ACA plan, but that was not what I was comparing it to. I was comparing Medicare Supplemental vs. Medicare Advantage. The $3,000 more in premium costs for Supplemental vs. Advantage is not chump change to many seniors.

That's why more far more people are on Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans than are on Supplemental Plans. About 20% of Medicare enrollees have Medicare Supplemental Plans. A little more than 50% of Medicare enrollees have Medicare Advantage Plans. The rest are traditional Medicare members, but some people have Medicaid in addition, some have some previous employer coverage in addition, and some just go with traditional Medicare alone.

[Pat2015]

Originally Posted by SusanStCatherine

But when signing up at age 65 and selecting an Advantage plan, it is basically the selection for the rest of your life (you can change within first six months or something like that). But selecting a MediGap plan allows you to switch to Advantage later, but not the other direction. Some states allow the change. A fair number of people don't understand this. Also some people don't know your Medicare premiums can double or more depending on your income. My widowed cousin sold her house and is now stuck paying double for two years - pretty sad.

That increase will only be for one year as they look at your income two years prior to establish your rate each year. It will go back down the following year.

[Pat2015]

Originally Posted by SusanStCatherine

Hospitals (and doctors) across the country are dropping access to Medicare Advantage plans and a simple internet search will show that this is true. Virtually all hospitals accept Medigap policy.

All the local hospitals in the TV area accept Medicare Advantage and while recently traveling to Oregon and ending up in an ER there, the insurance was also accepted. Yes, there are some places that don’t accept this type of insurance, but many places do thus there’s no problem at present to obtain care.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by kansasr

And yet, in Florida, we rewarded one of those fraudsters by making him governor and then making him a US senator!

Originally Posted by RICH1

you speak the Truth .... finally someone who remembers

Good thing politics are not allowed to be discussed on this site...

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GoRedSox!

In the original ACA, everyone had to have insurance. There was an individual mandate. If everyone was insured, the burden of those who can't or don't pay for care would have been eliminated. One way or another, we all pay for those who don't have insurance, and in 2010, there was 50 million uninsured Americans.

The individual mandate was thrown out, that took many healthy young people out of the pool and increased costs dramatically.

I can't tell you how many people I have heard complaining about the ACA, while their own kids got to stay on their parents health insurance until they were 26 years old. The number of uninsured Americans has dropped by more than 20 million since 2010.

The biggest reason that it is costly is because there is no pre-existing condition limitation and the people who need care the most are the most likely people to sign up for it. And it required all insurance policies to include certain essential benefits so that insurance companies weren't selling plans to people which were so skinnied down that they didn't pay for much of the care that people needed.

The United States remains the only industrialized democracy in the entire world where health care is a privilege and not a right. We are the only country that ties health insurance to employment. We also spend far more than any other country per capita on health care and our outcomes are not superior.

Saying all of this does not make me a communist or a socialist. The US is the only outlier. Millions of Americans routinely travel to other countries to receive care, the nickname for this is medical tourism.

Many folks think that a government health care system is socialism. But we already have tens of millions of people in a government health care system who are on Medicare and Medicaid, and generally, the folks who are covered are ok with their coverage and don't see themselves as participating in a socialist system. There is no reason that Medicare can't be expanded to cover everyone.

For those who would not want everyone to be covered by Medicare, do you think it's better run by a handful of gigantic for-profit health insurance companies, big pharma advertising all over TV, and conglomerate health care systems buying up individual practices?

Your complaint that "children" could stay on their parent's plan was and integral part of the ACA by design. It was a bone thrown to help it get passed.

My 2 younger kids could stay on my plan (until age 26), but neither one had to. They were both covered by their employers. Employers found it cheaper to offer health insurance rather than higher pay.

My oldest had to pay her own way.

Your other claim that we spend more with no better results is an outcome of our legal system.

No other industrial country has the medical malpractice industry that is seen in the US.

Docs here MUST practice defensive medicine, and order too many tests or risk being sued.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by Pat2015

All the local hospitals in the TV area accept Medicare Advantage and while recently traveling to Oregon and ending up in an ER there, the insurance was also accepted. Yes, there are some places that don’t accept this type of insurance, but many places do thus there’s no problem at present to obtain care.

That doesn't change the fact that what SusanStCathrerine is true...

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by GoRedSox!

I was comparing the cost of Medicare Supplement plans to the Cost of Medicare Advantage. It could easily cost $3,000 more and that's not chump change to a number of people.

Totally true. But that $3,000 in savings will rapidly disappear, and then possibly way more, if/when the MA insured individual has a medical event that requires more than basic wellness medical care. There are easily many real world scenarios where spending the $3 grand on a supplemental plan will indeed appear like chump change at the end of the year compared to TOTAL health care expenditures if one opts to choose a MA plan.

Choosing a MA plan, versus Medigap, is akin to gambling one’s finances on their future health care needs. The biggest problem with MA plans is that when you win the gamble, you can save around $3 grand per year, when you loose the gamble it can be catastrophic. That’s not a risk/reward scenario I’m willing to take.