But I will say that I have an Advantage Plan, and despite the claims I see here, my Advantage Plan has done well by me. I had a heart attack nearly two years ago, had a stent put in, three days in hospital a bill of nearly $80,000. I paid less than $1,000. So exactly how am I being taken advantage of?

If I were simply on original Medicare, I'd have been responsible for 20% of that bill. You can do the math.

But it sounds like you were able to find an Advantage plan that works well for you.

The problem is wading through all the marketing hype and lies to figure out what the truth is. There's a reason insurance companies go to all that trouble to lure customers, and that reason is profits. At least now they'll have to be more honest.

for is hideously complicated. This year, as every year since I went on Medicare, I am getting a lot of mail, trying to persuade me to switch to another plan. It really should be a lot simpler.

But I'm heartily sick of those here who simply trash all Advantage Plans without seeing what they actually offer. My plan doesn't cost me anything extra, and I've found it to be better than any health care plan I ever had prior to Medicare. Again, I point to my heart attack nearly two years ago, and the small amount I paid out of pocket for my stent and hospitilazation. If I'd simply been on original Medicare I'd have paid vastly thousands more.

The reality is that in this country health care is needlessly and unendingly complicated. Unlike almost everywhere else. A huge problem is that those in Congress, and even those who simply work for the federal government, have excellent coverage and assume everyone else has the same. Alas, we don't.

Explain to me how the Medicap Plan G was so much less.

Medigap isn't free, after all.

It doesn't take very many months of Medigap premiums to make up the difference between $233 and $1,000. At least according to my math.

I think it’s fantastic. I’ve had a number of surgeries and hospitalizations over the past 4 years and my out of pocket has been next to nothing, like $90 for a $12,000 bill.

Notice that now that real Medicare sign up period has begun, the MA ads are announcing just that - it’s Medicare sign up time - and then giving a phone # for MA companies …

It’s a scam. It needs to end


On edit: I watched the whole clip … and stand by my claim
Medicare advantage is a scam


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had I had only Medicare when I had a heart attack two years ago. Gosh. What a terrible thing.

Are you on Medicare? What plan do you have for the things that basic Medicare doesn't cover? Really? Now you know why I have and Advantage Plan.

And due to pre-existing conditions I can’t afford a plan B or D
I live on SS and plan D would cost almost 1/2 of my income …

So I live w/out health insurance … sux to be me

But at least I’ve not been scammed by insurance company fraud


YMMV


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as I have, is somehow worse than an a plan that would cost you 1/2 of your income?

What am I missing here? What exactly is the insurance company fraud?

Contact us to see if your plan is accepted.

Never been to this doc before & will not be going back (nightmare), but notices appeared to be new compared to some of the others affixed to the door.

That said, Advantage is a PPO. But maybe something has changed in the system to have prompted this notice.

If the doctors/hospitals you need and want are in your network you’re golden.
If you need specialized care that’s not available in your network you’re out of luck. If it’s 100 miles away that’s where you go. The networks are in constant flux so you have to keep up with who’s in and who’s out.
With traditional Medicare with a supplement you can go anywhere Medicare is accepted. But you pay a higher premium for that flexibility.

There’s no one right answer. It all depends on what facilities are in what networks in your area.

Several decades ago, the company my husband worked for switched to a different plan that did not include the doctor we'd been seeing for several years. So we switched to a different one. At the time we had little kids who needed the kind of care little kids typically need.

While the new doctor was quite nice, we were very grateful when the company went back to the old plan and we could go back to the old doctor.

My point is this: many, many health care plans set what doctors, hospitals, specialized services that you can use. Medicare Advantage is no different from those.

In reality, all health care plans should cover all health care wherever you are. Sadly, in this country, that's never the case.