Health Insurance?
 

I am shopping for health insurance for next year. We currently have BCBS basic through the postal service. We have been happy with it, but the premiums are increasing for next year.
We were thinking of getting a Medicare advantage plan. I was wondering if anyone has these and are they happy with them.

These have been discussed as nauseum and there are plenty of detractors as there are happy ones. Go talk to the people at SHINE and ignore most of what you hear here.

We also have BCBS with the federal government and we have basic Medicare and it works very well for us.

Of course this insurance is not accepted by the Villages Healthcare System, but there are MANY doctors in The Villages and in our neighboring communities that love our insurance.

For example Villages Dermatology accepts our insurance and we have never had to pay anything. When they sent me to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, we received excellent care and did not have to pay anything.

For my six-month check-ups, I see Dr. Justin Morgan in Leesburg and he is associated with the Orlando Health Care system. I never have to pay anything.

Like I said, BCBS and Medicare works very well for us.

It is excellent insurance, my wife has it and she will never give it up. Plus, with basic option you get $800 back each year. I’d like to have her go to Self +1 but to do that is very expensive.

OP, if you are over 65 I would suggest contacting SHINE and discussing with them to get UNBIASED information, as noted previously there are probably hundred's of comments and opinions. Also, remember if you go to an ADVANTAGE plan you have a limited time to go back to original Medicare, I believe this is less than 1 year.

I hope you are not thinking of dropping your postal insurance.

I have BCBS Standard with the Federal Government, but I do not have Medicare, except for the free Part A. I have saved thousands of dollars by not paying the Medicare premiums. The BCBS has a $6,000 annual catastrophic limit, which provides all the protection I need. Yes, you are not paying money out-of-pocket, but you are paying high Medicare premiums, especially if you are affected by IRMA. Do the math and compare the Medicare premiums with the $6,000 catastrophic Blue Cross limit to see if you really need Medicare.

Don’t drop it, suspend it. Once you drop it, it is gone.

I have freedom for a supplement. Get most of Medicare part b back, no copay for primary, $175 per day for first 4 days in hospitals, then nothing up to 90 days, and $500 Mastercard for any athletic activity which includes any golf course in the USA. No monthly premium.

Before you even consider an Advantage Plan, understand that uf it isn't a federal plan listed with FEHB and/or your post office system, yoy MUST do the correct paperwork to suspend your federal health coverage. If you don't, you will not be able to het back into the FEHB system.

If you select GEHA standard plan you can then switch to the GEHA Federal Advantage plan which looks gr8 -- I plan on doing that this year.

For 2 years I had a FEHB Aetna plan and then moved into their Federal Aetna Advantage plan. The plan was good but local doctors here have begun to refuse Aetna Plans.

Just because you save a little money, getting an advantage plan puts you at risk. This has been brought up many times before but here are some snippets from prior posts about this issue.
How many hospitals aren’t accepting advantage plans? Dozens and the list is growing. This has been in papers and websites for months now.
The biggest risk is that you have a 60-70% chance they (advantage plan provider) will deny medical service for you. Why do advantage plans get to decide what medical procedures will be performed when Medicare doesn’t require any such approval?
Medicare with a supplement plan is the gold standard

talk to SHINE
 

I had the same question. We went to talk to SHINE, and then went to the BCBS workshop they held in Wildwood a couple of weeks ago. After comparing options, we decided that sticking with the FEP BCBS Basic plan is the best option for us. SHINE couldn't find a cheaper option, and the $800 refund for each of us for the Medicare part B plan is only available in the BCBS Basic plan. We are starting to accumulate a list of expensive prescriptions, and the BCBS CVS Caremark mail delivery service is the cheapest Rx service we can find. There are plenty of medical providers that are in the Basic Plan PPO system. We've never had a problem finding a provider around this area, or anywhere else.

I believe that you can go back at any time - depending on your health. If you have developed some severe health problems such as kidney or cancer they will probably refuse you.

However, if you have to go back to Medicare and you have health problems, I think you can get around the denial problem by moving to New York, Maine, Massachusetts, or Connecticut. I don’t think think they allow the medigap companies to refuse you.

Be careful of the other plans. Check their rate of declining requested services. There is a reason they are less expensive