The Villages Medicare Advantage Plan
 

I posted a thread yesterday about my experience with the Villages health but it doesn't seem to be showing anywhere I can find it
My husband and I are two of the 15,000 residents whose health insurance will be cancelled on 1/1/17 unless we switch to a UHC Medicare advantage plan, preferably the one the Villages is advertising everywhere.
We have original Medicare and a supplement which work very well for us. The VHC is much less expensive and provides good care, IF AND ONLY IF YOU ARE HEALTHY, which we were. We both had no serious health issues but because of our ages mid seventies), we should stay with Medicare and the supplement we had. We found a new primary care doctor outside of the Villages in early September.
THANK GOD WE DID. In mid October I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and saw a surgeon here in the Villages who I was not at all impressed with. I ended up having the surgery at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa where the care was absolutely wonderful. If I had stayed with the VHC, Moffitt is considered "out of network" and my surgery would not have been covered. So, thank you for dropping us. When I see the full page newspaper ads and receive flyers in the mailbox saying how wonderful the insurance is, I get so angry and want to tell the world that no, it is only wonderful if you have NO health issues. My advice is to please please choose very carefully.
I hope this helps anyone who is trying to decide what to do.

Villages Health Care
 

We all have to be our own advocates when it comes to our health care.

That's why I'm staying with regular Medicare and a supplement.

I had/have a very different experience with VHC. I have what is considered a rare disorder which started a bout three years ago. My primary care doctor at VHC knew I needed to see a very special specialist. I got permission from United Health to go to Shands where I was correctly diagnosed, started treatment. About a year ago I was beyond their scope of knowledge, did a bit of research, found a doctor at Massachusetts General in Boston who is a worldwide known expert. She is now my doctor for this issue all covered by United Health Care using the Passport option. For a $15 copay I have the best care available and it all started with The Villages Health System and my primary care doctor employed there. That's the other side of the story!
Seek and ye shall find.

As I read the OP, it seems the issue was a personal choice and had little to do with the plan. Her rant seems to be about her satisfaction (or lack of) with the surgeon. That is her option, and her plan gives her more options. But just because it doesn't serve her individual needs doesn't mean it won't work well for others. We all have choices, and not sure why the OP believes she can try and slant those choices. It might be a revalation, but we are all aduilts and are capable of making our own choices. Do your thing, and let the rest of us do ours.

Thank you.
 

It is important to hear everyone's experiences with doctors and insurance she so that we can be as informed as possible, weather we agree or disagree. Please don't knock the OP's information. Someone may find it valuable when making their healthcare and/or Dr. decision.

We are sticking with our Medicare and supplemental plan that we have had for years.
While we may be paying more, we can go anywhere, to any doctor, and it doesn't cost us a cent.
While a time could come when we might change our supplemental coverage, we would never go with anything the Villages offers.
This is how we look at it: Why is TV changing the health coverage? It's very simple and is based on economics. They aren't making enough money!
We find it very worrisome that TV is involved in so many -- too many things, i.e., banks, health coverage, insurance, construction, etc.

Ours is one big horror story. Run away don't look back. It would take pages for me to tell you how much run around this system has given us on our first year. Will be changing.

Thank you for sharing your story with us. I hope you are doing well now.

Our story has a different twist to it. Our friends are snowbirds and spend roughly half their time in Michigan and half time in TV. He is a retired educator and is insured through a BCBS Advantage PPO. They have had this insurance for years and it has always served their needs well wherever they have sought care. Recently he had emergency triple bypass surgery. He started in TV hospital and than was transferred to Leesburg for the surgery. He received good care in both hospitals. Where everything broke down was when he needed a skilled care facility for physical therapy when he was being transferred from the hospital. None of the facilities in TV would take him because of his insurance. The absolute worst was Freedom Pointe. My wife and I went there to speak with one of their coordinators and were treated in a rude and condescending manner. We were told that while they have a contract with BCBS they essentially do not accept anyone with the insurance. The Club was the same. The Villages Facility on 466 were very nice but than we learned that they have 100 beds for medicare but only 15 for insurance. The interesting part of this story is our friend was readily accepted in a Leesburg facility that ironically is also owned by Brookdale which owns Freedom Pointe. We also learned that the Club which will not accept BCBS is owned by the same company that owns the Lady Lake facility which does accept BCBS. It causes us to question whether TV has some type of agreement with facilities on their property that force the use of United Health. The whole thing stinks.

With all the changes occurring in the Village Health Care (VHC) system, I predict there will be more changes to come ...... most likely a buy-out by some large group that will take over the VHC patient workload......who will then again change the paramaters under which it will work. Anyone here in TV long enough to see what happened starting with the Moffet Center Relationship will understand VHC does not have a good track record.

And I have speculated that the buyer might be United Healthcare (they may already have a partial ownership interest).

Many of the experiences are rants based on specific situation and we have no view of the other sides opinion or any other facts to support any poster. Who would make a decision just based on some persons personal opinion....on something as serious as health care? Many have left for fear of change, many have left because it just isn't what I had up north and some have left because they love to live here but hate the fact that the Developer is making money or that decisions are economically based. No one is forcing anyone to use the healthcare system but it seems there is a core that finds it important to take the negative side whenever someone doesn't agree with what they believe to be "what it should be". End of rant.

Agree with rant. My best advice is to either talk with SHINE or the UHC rep at the health centers. TOTV has nothing but anecdotal horror stories that MAY or MAY NOT have been different elsewhere. Also, about 2/3 of the perceptions of the Advantage plan is just plain wrong. People are worried about restricting their choice of specialists/hospitals. For example, it is true, if you have traditional medicare with a supp, you can go to 99.9% of the providers in Central Florida. With the Advantage plan you can only go to 98% of them---but if you have an unusual situation you can get covered for the other 1.9%. So get the facts from a reliable source before hunting for greener grass.