Medicare issues

gggg...@gmail.com

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Oct 3, 2019, 11:38:07 PM10/3/19

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

ItsJoan NotJoann

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Oct 4, 2019, 12:24:04 PM10/4/19

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On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 10:38:07 PM UTC-5, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order
>
In a nutshell Medicare Advantage plans.

catalpa

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Oct 4, 2019, 8:42:08 PM10/4/19

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<gggg...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:c433df11-df02-43d5...@googlegroups.com...
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

"Democrats in Congress pointed the finger at Trump for failing to consider
Democratic legislation that aims to lower health care costs for seniors."

If they want to lower health care costs for seniors why don't they support
lowering or ending the monthly Medicare premium?

Bob F

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Oct 5, 2019, 12:27:58 PM10/5/19

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If you like having your "provider" tell you which doctors you can go to,
you will love trumps new medicare order.

The Real Bev

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Oct 5, 2019, 2:23:36 PM10/5/19

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"Advantage" plans are HMOs, which only make money when you don't use
them. I wouldn't use one when I was younger and I won't use one now.

Kaiser is supposed to be one of the best. I had occasion to take
someone to the ER at a Kaiser hospital. That experience convinced me
that even the best HMO sucks. Receptionist and triage nurse were the
same person. SRO in the waiting room. 15-minute wait for somebody to
come clean the blood off the floor from a guy with a bleeding leg wound.
He DID go to the head of the line though, even if it took 10 minutes
to get him there. Hell, somebody had already put a bandage on it, it's
not like he was bleeding OUT or anything...

--
Cheers, Bev
"I can't stand this proliferation of paperwork. It's useless to
fight the forms. You've got to kill the people producing them."
-- Vladimir Kabaidze

ItsJoan NotJoann

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Oct 5, 2019, 5:34:01 PM10/5/19

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On Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 1:23:36 PM UTC-5, The Real Bev wrote:
>
> "Advantage" plans are HMOs, which only make money when you don't use
> them. I wouldn't use one when I was younger and I won't use one now.
>

Absolutely. My brother and sister-in-law tried to get me to select a Blue
Cross/Blue Shield Advantage plan because it's sooooooo cheap. No thanks, I
had an HMO when I worked as that was all that was offered. Need to see a
specialist? Gotta get approval from your HMO and that's only after all
treatment they can offer has been exhausted and there is no improvement.

catalpa

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Oct 5, 2019, 6:21:19 PM10/5/19

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"Bob F" <bobn...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:qnagab$vsh$1...@dont-email.me...

My provider has a choice of hundreds of doctors and I get to select the ones
I want to go to.

catalpa

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Oct 5, 2019, 6:27:50 PM10/5/19

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"The Real Bev" <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:qnan35$82f$1...@dont-email.me...

> On 10/05/2019 09:26 AM, Bob F wrote:
>> On 10/4/2019 9:24 AM, ItsJoan NotJoann wrote:
>>> On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 10:38:07 PM UTC-5, gggg...@gmail.com
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order
>>>>
>>> In a nutshell Medicare Advantage plans.
>>
>> If you like having your "provider" tell you which doctors you can go to,
>> you will love trumps new medicare order.
>
> "Advantage" plans are HMOs, which only make money when you don't use them.
> I wouldn't use one when I was younger and I won't use one now.
>
> Kaiser is supposed to be one of the best. I had occasion to take someone
> to the ER at a Kaiser hospital. That experience convinced me that even
> the best HMO sucks. Receptionist and triage nurse were the same person.
> SRO in the waiting room. 15-minute wait for somebody to come clean the
> blood off the floor from a guy with a bleeding leg wound. He DID go to the
> head of the line though, even if it took 10 minutes to get him there.
> Hell, somebody had already put a bandage on it, it's not like he was
> bleeding OUT or anything...
>

Advantage plans can be HMOs or PPOs.

Around here the plans don't run the hospitals, so the ER treats everyone the
same.

The Real Bev

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Oct 5, 2019, 6:35:22 PM10/5/19

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On 10/05/2019 02:33 PM, ItsJoan NotJoann wrote:
> On Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 1:23:36 PM UTC-5, The Real Bev wrote:
>>
>> "Advantage" plans are HMOs, which only make money when you don't use
>> them. I wouldn't use one when I was younger and I won't use one now.
>>
> Absolutely. My brother and sister-in-law tried to get me to select a Blue
> Cross/Blue Shield Advantage plan because it's sooooooo cheap. No thanks, I

I chose the Blue Shield High-Deductible Plan F, which cost roughly $500
less per year if we used the full deductible and more than that if not.
Any doctor, any specialty, any hospital. There's still a ~2-week wait
unless you can make a case for urgency, but at least you don't have to
talk to one of the people from the bottom 10% of his med school class.

Not that all board-certified docs are actually competent (I could tell
you stories!), but at the very least you can dump the losers.

> had an HMO when I worked as that was all that was offered. Need to see a
> specialist? Gotta get approval from your HMO and that's only after all
> treatment they can offer has been exhausted and there is no improvement.

It would be nice if docs could trust our self-diagnosis like they used
to ("Could you renew the prescription you gave me last time I had this
problem? Thanks!") but I guess we can't have everything -- their
workload is a lot heavier than it was 20 years ago.

--
Cheers, Bev
Politicians are stupid like cats are stupid.

The Real Bev

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Oct 5, 2019, 6:38:56 PM10/5/19

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He HAD to go to the Kaiser hospital ER -- that's what his doc insisted
on. If he'd actually been bleeding out (just senile
dementia+dehydration) I suppose it would have been possible to go to the
nearest one, but it wasn't that serious. Still, that much crowding
can't possibly be conducive to good care.

catalpa

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Oct 5, 2019, 6:42:59 PM10/5/19

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"ItsJoan NotJoann" <itsjoan...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:3639edfb-e55c-4773...@googlegroups.com...

I was in an HMO when employed and never had any problem with getting
referrals to specialists. When I had spinal issues I saw a bunch of
specialists. I was never denied a referral to a specialist even for multiple
second opinions.

With Medicare Advantage I've been in a HMO and now a PPO and have had zero
issues with getting referrals to specialists.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield anything should be avoided.

ItsJoan NotJoann

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Oct 6, 2019, 8:19:09 PM10/6/19

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On Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 5:42:59 PM UTC-5, catalpa wrote:
>
> "ItsJoan NotJoann" <itsjoan...@webtv.net> wrote in message
> news:3639edfb-e55c-4773...@googlegroups.com...
>

> > I
> > had an HMO when I worked as that was all that was offered. Need to see a
> > specialist? Gotta get approval from your HMO and that's only after all
> > treatment they can offer has been exhausted and there is no improvement.
>
> I was in an HMO when employed and never had any problem with getting
> referrals to specialists. When I had spinal issues I saw a bunch of
> specialists. I was never denied a referral to a specialist even for multiple
> second opinions.
>

I had a terrible and I mean terrible sinus infection one time when I worked
and my regular doctor gave me every antibiotic that I was not allergic to.
All to no relief and this went on for almost a year. Finally, when they
decided I simply was not improving THEN I got to see a nose and throat specialist. After taking a few other antibiotics that had not been
prescribed to me then surgery was the only alternative. After doing their "Roto-Rooter" routine on my schnoz and all that wonderful 200 feet of packing they shove up your nose, I've had nary a problem since. Thankfully!!

>
> With Medicare Advantage I've been in a HMO and now a PPO and have had zero
> issues with getting referrals to specialists.
>

That's great!

The Real Bev

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Oct 6, 2019, 11:04:52 PM10/6/19

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On 10/06/2019 05:19 PM, ItsJoan NotJoann wrote:
> On Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 5:42:59 PM UTC-5, catalpa wrote:
>>
>> "ItsJoan NotJoann" <itsjoan...@webtv.net> wrote in message
>> news:3639edfb-e55c-4773...@googlegroups.com...
>>
>>> I had an HMO when I worked as that was all that was offered.
>>> Need to see a specialist? Gotta get approval from your HMO and
>>> that's only after all treatment they can offer has been exhausted
>>> and there is no improvement.
>>
>> I was in an HMO when employed and never had any problem with
>> getting referrals to specialists. When I had spinal issues I saw a
>> bunch of specialists. I was never denied a referral to a specialist
>> even for multiple second opinions.

I don't see why I need to get a referral to a specialist when I'm pretty
sure I already know what part of the body is involved and how to decide
which specialist I should see. It's truly unfortunate that
'board-certified' doesn't guarantee actual competence, but it's good to
look up a doctor's schooling and experience before making a choice.
Certainly better than Yelp recommendations, which I think are pretty
much valueless. I want House, not a Nice Guy.

Thus far two of my choices have been promoted to (a) Dean of the USC Med
School and (b) Head of the UCLA Ophthalmology Department. The bad part,
of course, is that it takes longer to get an appointment.

> I had a terrible and I mean terrible sinus infection one time when I
> worked and my regular doctor gave me every antibiotic that I was not
> allergic to. All to no relief and this went on for almost a year.
> Finally, when they decided I simply was not improving THEN I got to
> see a nose and throat specialist. After taking a few other
> antibiotics that had not been prescribed to me then surgery was the
> only alternative. After doing their "Roto-Rooter" routine on my
> schnoz and all that wonderful 200 feet of packing they shove up your
> nose, I've had nary a problem since. Thankfully!!

I had my nose reamed out a few years ago, and I was dreading having my
brain pulled out through my nose. It didn't happen. I think there was
some plastic thing that came out easily. I wish I'd paid more
attention. No more snoring and I can actually breathe through my nose
-- a new experience!

Blue Shield Medicare Plan F was bery bery good to me! "High deductible"
version is cheaper over all and just as good, although I've had to deal
with some doctors' billing errors that would have formerly been taken
care of by BS itself.

>> With Medicare Advantage I've been in a HMO and now a PPO and have
>> had zero issues with getting referrals to specialists.
>>
> That's great!

--
Cheers, Bev
"What's truly sad is that your vote counts the same as mine."
-- S. Brown

Bob F

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Oct 7, 2019, 6:39:08 PM10/7/19

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On 10/6/2019 8:04 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
> Blue Shield Medicare Plan F

I assume that's a standard Medigap plan? Not an "advantage" plan. There
is a big difference. I did find that the plan with no coverage for the
deductible for the Part B expenses easily saved me more money than the
one that covered that. I just have to pay my doc the first $184 or whatever.

The medigap plans do not restrict your choice of doctors. They just pay
the deductibles and cost sharing not payed by Medicare. You are only
assured access to them when you first join Medicare. Once you are in an
advantage plan for more than a few months, your options can be very
limited. Of course, word is that Medigap plans are on the Republicans
target for elimination in their effort to force everyone into the
privatized advantage plans.

The Real Bev

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Oct 8, 2019, 11:31:40 AM10/8/19

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On 10/07/2019 03:37 PM, Bob F wrote:
> On 10/6/2019 8:04 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>> Blue Shield Medicare Plan F
>
> I assume that's a standard Medigap plan? Not an "advantage" plan. There
> is a big difference. I did find that the plan with no coverage for the
> deductible for the Part B expenses easily saved me more money than the
> one that covered that. I just have to pay my doc the first $184 or whatever.

Yes. It costs about as much to cover the last 20% as my Medicare
premium, but if you have a big expense (heart surgery, for instance)
you're way ahead of the game for a long time.

> The medigap plans do not restrict your choice of doctors. They just pay
> the deductibles and cost sharing not payed by Medicare. You are only
> assured access to them when you first join Medicare. Once you are in an
> advantage plan for more than a few months, your options can be very
> limited. Of course, word is that Medigap plans are on the Republicans
> target for elimination in their effort to force everyone into the
> privatized advantage plans.

Thanks for giving me yet another piece of shit to worry about. Why
would this be a Republican policy rather than a Dem? Medigap is already
private.

--
Cheers, Bev
Save the whales for dessert

Bob F

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Oct 8, 2019, 4:09:31 PM10/8/19

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They seem to think that advantage plans make huge money for the
insurance company, so they are good. The advantage plans cost Medicare
more than regular Medicare because their costs end up being higher, and
they passed laws to require Medicare to make up the difference to try to
get insurance companies to participate.

Bob F

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Oct 8, 2019, 4:25:31 PM10/8/19

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On 10/8/2019 8:31 AM, The Real Bev wrote:

By the way, if you haven't looked at the plan G, the only difference
between it and the F is that it doesn't cover the Part B deductible of
$185, but it costs maybe $300 less.

The Real Bev

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Oct 8, 2019, 4:29:12 PM10/8/19

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The less they treat more patients, the more money they make. I think I
can decide when I'm being over- or under-treated, and I don't want
"under" to be the default.

> The advantage plans cost Medicare
> more than regular Medicare because their costs end up being higher, and
> they passed laws to require Medicare to make up the difference to try to
> get insurance companies to participate.

When Pelosi was negotiating Obamacare, she talked to all the providers
and none of the recipients.

--
Cheers, Bev
Linux -- the ultimate freebie!

ItsJoan NotJoann

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Oct 8, 2019, 4:54:46 PM10/8/19

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On Tuesday, October 8, 2019 at 3:25:31 PM UTC-5, Bob F wrote:
>
> By the way, if you haven't looked at the plan G, the only difference
> between it and the F is that it doesn't cover the Part B deductible of
> $185, but it costs maybe $300 less.
>

Plan G was what I opted for from AARP United Healthcare. All this depends on
what state you live in but the same plan from BC/BS was $10 more per month in
my state than the AARP plan.

Bob F

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Oct 8, 2019, 5:15:43 PM10/8/19

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Cheapest for me in Seattle was Cigna.

ItsJoan NotJoann

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Oct 8, 2019, 5:42:12 PM10/8/19

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Funny you should mention Cigna! I got a letter from them last week wanting
me to switch to their plan G. It was close to a dollar higher than what I'm
presently paying here in Nashville.

gggg...@gmail.com

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Oct 11, 2019, 8:50:31 PM10/11/19

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On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 5:38:07 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/these-tips-can-help-you-navigate-medicares-updated-online-tool

gggg...@gmail.com

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Oct 21, 2019, 9:19:55 PM10/21/19

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On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 8:38:07 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/bernie-sanders-spending-a-lot-on-medicare-for-all-will-save-people-substantial-money

gggg...@gmail.com

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Nov 1, 2019, 4:23:08 PM11/1/19

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https://www.npr.org/2019/11/01/775339519/heres-how-warren-finds-20-5-trillion-to-pay-for-medicare-for-all

gggg...@gmail.com

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Nov 30, 2019, 3:47:28 AM11/30/19

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On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 8:38:07 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

https://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/open-enrollment-season-for-medicare-can-be-confusing-but-worth-the-effort

Message has been deleted

gggg...@gmail.com

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Nov 30, 2019, 3:51:19 AM11/30/19

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On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 8:38:07 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

(Recently posted on Youtube):

Tips on Finding the Right Medicare Plan for You

ItsJoan NotJoann

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Nov 30, 2019, 7:59:33 PM11/30/19

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Soooooo, which one did you choose?????????

gggg...@gmail.com

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Dec 7, 2019, 11:14:41 AM12/7/19

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On Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 8:38:07 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/column-what-seniors-should-know-about-trumps-medicare-executive-order

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/major-medicare-costs-will-jump-in-january/

rbowman

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Dec 7, 2019, 2:11:19 PM12/7/19

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That doesn't mention the IMRAA that was jacked up too.

rbowman

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Dec 9, 2019, 9:43:25 PM12/9/19

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On 12/09/2019 02:41 PM, Derald wrote:

> ...so, exactly what is a "jump" and what is "jacked up"? Misleading
> headlines and oversimplifications are wonderful, IMO
>
https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20181120/FREE/181129997/medicare-high-income-surcharges-to-increase-in-2019

According to the notification I received last week, those numbers are low.