Medicare advantage & tv healthcare
 

Since receiving letter from tv health in july 2016 regarding medicare advantage policy i have been very upset by the situation. I have been looking for a pcp. No success yet. Just wondering how the other villagers who don't want to give up their current insurance for medicare advantage are doing. What are your feelings at this point?

I'm annoyed but not upset. I have found a new PCP (recommended by neighbors) and have had my first appointment.

Life goes on. Good luck to you!

I'm just curious as to why you haven't found a new doctor. Are they not taking new patients? You don't like the location? I'm asking because I would think it will be wild and crazy when the snowbirds arrive! I will begin the process in April, so I'm thinking/hoping things will be calm again by then.

At the beginning they wouldn't take our insurance so we just found a PCP. We didn't like him and switched to one we did like.

Non-United Physician
 

I'm new to the villages and don't know where to find a PCP not requiring United coverage. I have BC/BS as a retiree from the State of Michigan. Thanks for your help

We have Anthem BC/BS. While I am sure it is different from yours, I would think their website is very similar in that you can find a list of in-network, non UHC physicians. Have you tried that?

This is all very confusing, if you are under 65 call Villages Health, and you MAY be able to be seen. However, you will need to change insurance or get out when you turn 65.
As for surrounding PCPs, we asked other people we met for recommendations. Found a very nice one in Leesburg, a longer drive, but he appears to be a very good doctor.

Many physician groups and individuals are running ads in the Daily Sun. Some ads specifically target those patients that were "booted" by TVH.

Talk to friends and neighbors.

Go to the website of BC/BS Michigan (or call them) and search for providers in this ZIP Code.

Good Luck - it CAN be done successfully!

I totally agree. We have been ripped off. I know of a person who is 87 who gave up her original medicare. Now she can't relocate to live near her daughter without a financial penalty because she will need to new a medicare account and it will be more expensive than it would have been had she never left it to join UMAP. No one will want to move here if this is allowed to be implemented. I am shocked that The Villages developers have allowed this to happen. I am very worried. I am from Alaska and may return there when I deem it is necessary so I want to keep my original medicare. How sad. Our wonderful Villages has just turned into a bad deal for seniors.

I'm pretty sure you get a one time move from an advantage plan back to original Medicare.

I have been here 10 years ago. I have made four attempts to find a primary care doc none of those choices worked either because of the doc or the his staff. So I asked my cardio guy to fill in and he has, in fact i was having problems with another specialist and he intervened and found me a specialist this is really good.

Be careful with enrolling in and out of plans it can create a nightmare for some. When ACA instituted insurability it made it possible for corp to no longer includ retirees in their enrollment plans. My company continued to pay us a stipend but we were forced to buy our own plans. We stayed with the medical & dental plans the compay worked with and had to decide on a RX company. We are please with both

As of this moment in time, the villages health specialists will continue to see original Medicare patients so you are really looking for a PCP. We are from Orlando so my husband went back to the Florida Hospital associated doctors. We drive less than 45 minutes from Brownwood to FH Waterman. The doctor indicated she will refer my husband to TV specialists whenever possible. She has privileges at Waterman. Unless there is a problem, we see the PCP twice a year. We are very pleased. More importantly, It's halfway to Costco, trader joes and altamonte mall LOL. I'll change to her when I go on Medicare next year.

I have decided to move to a university city in Florida to get excellent health care. I've always lived in cities where the academic practices were resources for the community practices and peer review "lifts all the boats".

You would be surprised how many people buy after a 3 day lifestyle visit. Few do the appropriate research. They find out later about the health care. They see all these beautiful heathcare facilities for "villagers". They assume that they will take medicare. I mean, come on. It's a retirement community. Most villagers are on medicare. And they DO take medicare,...just not part b. But that doesn't seem to come up in discussions during their 3 day visit. Off to the town centers in our golf cart; "now isn't that fun?"

Under the heading of been there and done that, there is an option to switch back to traditional Medicare during the first year (before the 52nd week), after that, you may be subjected to additional Medicare costs, health questions, and underwriting for the supplemental plans. We changed at week 50, and avoided the surcharges and possible underwriting.