[Sabella]

Originally Posted by BigDawgInLakeDenham

Why are you all so worried about specialists? Why aren't you worried about a solid primary Care doctor that can get to know you and manage your needs? Are you those people that don't have a doctor but want a specialist when you're really f'ed up? I'm really interested in how you come up with your way of thinking because I spent a career working with people coming into the hospital because they believed themselves to be healthy and would see a specialist if they ever needed, but because they didn't pursue primary care, like managed care or an advantage plan, they were too far gone for any "specialist" to save. The general public knows nothing about navigating the Healthcare system. I had an HMO for 40 years of work and have always had everything I've needed because you can get "specialists" and I get all of the same in my "mistake" of an Advantage Plan. You never admit that you can choose a PPO that gives you more doctors to choose from or do you not understand that concept. Please do tell us your health history and how it's negatively been impacted by Advantage Plans and how traditional Medicare has saved your lives. Never once was I told not to do CPR on someone because they had an advantage plan. Never once did I not do labs on an advantage plan patient. Healthcare Professionals don't see insurance in that moment you really need them. Actually I never heard anyone mention a patient's insurance. Other people's health and lives is nothing to tinker with and insurance choices are and should be personal. Everyone needs a Primary Care Physician to manage their care and to recommend appropriate treatment including a specialist, only if necessary. Seeing a specialist unnecessarily is abusing and burdening the health care system but entitled people don't see it that way. I'm done for now

I will refrain from adding all my comments about Medicare advantage plans, and the only thing that I know for sure is as you get older, and as we get older, we get sicker and more problems with our health you will wish you had stuck with original Medicare with a gap plan.

[SusanStCatherine]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

Weird. I have Blue Cross PPO from UpNorth thru the exchange and there are copious choices of in-network doctors down here.

Well that is not the same plan if it is not Florida Blue. Is Advanced Dermatology in your plan? They dropped Florida Blue right before I had an appointment there. Also Jerrold Ecklind no longer takes it. My daughter got in as a new patient in 2021 to see him and I cannot get in until I get Medicare.

Florida Blue Select Bronze ppo/EPO -
A 64 y.o. Female non- smoker monthly premium $923/mo gets you a $6,150 deductible and a $9,450 out of pocket limit. So you get to pay (add premiums and deductible combined) $20,526 before they pay out the first penny. It's pretty much the least expensive PPO plan. Yet I've been told "Select" narrows the network further.
Florida Blue asked me if I want their medigap plan and I told them I hated my current plan so no way I would go with them so they hung up on me LOL

[SusanStCatherine]

My broker told me that I probably cannot switch between Medigap plans (like switching from plan N to plan G) not even within the same Insurer. So basically you are stuck with the plan you pick your first year for the rest of your life. The one exception is leaving medigap to join an Advantage plan at any time. So when you reach Medicare you are thrown back into the preexisting conditions that the ACA was meant to protect. SMH

[biker1]

Maybe. AARP UHC for Sumter County (and probably other counties in Florida or all of Florida) allows you to switch Supplemental Plans without underwriting. Perhaps this has changed in the last year but it was true about 1 year ago as my wife switched from Plan F to Plan G. Our broker, who has been reliable to date, told us she would warn us if UHC was going to change their policy regarding switching Plans without needing to go through underwriting.

Originally Posted by SusanStCatherine

My broker told me that I probably cannot switch between Medigap plans (like switching from plan N to plan G) not even within the same Insurer. So basically you are stuck with the plan you pick your first year for the rest of your life. The one exception is leaving medigap to join an Advantage plan at any time. So when you reach Medicare you are thrown back into the preexisting conditions that the ACA was meant to protect. SMH

[rustyp]

I have been enrolled in TVHS for over ten years. I never waited more than 5 minutes in a waiting room for my PCP or lab appointment. Today I escorted my spousal unit for labs at Qwest. We had a pre-booked online appointment. Still had to sit in a waiting room for an hour. To add to our not so satisfying experience there was a guy talking to his grand daughter on a cell phone the entire time which inhibited us from hearing the lab tech announcing the next person. He wasn't the only low life in that waiting room. Also there was literally a video notice on the wall if anyone is rude or obnoxious to other patients they will be asked to leave. I'll stick with TVHS where the facility looks like an upscale hotel and runs like a fine tuned watch.

Question - what do you folks with Medicare and a supplement do for labs ? Was our Qwest experience today abnormal ?