Need a PH.D. to understand Medicare options

[CathyA]

I have trouble sorting these things out. I'm sure glad DH is better at it. We went to a recommended Insurance agent who only does Medicare. Geez.............could it get any more complicated??
Then I tried to call our doc's office to make sure they accepted Medicare and since their practice was taken over by a big local hospital, I was put on hold twice for a very long time, and never did get to talk to anyone. I wonder what the future will hold??

[gimmethesimplelife]

Cathy, this might sound a little off the wall (?), but I have been doing secret shops of Medicare presentations and I have been getting paid and also learning about how Medicare works along the way. PM me if you wish, I will gladly share the name of the company I do Medicare secret shops for, and there is no referral money or credits or points involved.....just an idea to learn how Medicare works and pick up some side money while you are learning. Several of the big Medicare Advantage plans here in Phoenix are secret shopped so if this is true where you are, you can find out the pros and cons of each plan and ask the sales rep questions and find out about coverage and which doctors are covered.....all sorts of good stuff. I am getting $25 for example for submitting a report that is not that hard and not heavy on narrative, with the presentation lasting for one hour. Rob

[Lainey]

CathyA,
I've heard the same from my older sib who has a master's degree from an Ivy League university and a life-long career in health care, so you're not alone. I second the idea to go to a broker who can help you figure it out.

[bae]

My wife had the same problem trying to sort things out CathyA, and she has an Ivy League degree, a law degree, practiced insurance law for several years, and was the general counsel for an S&P 500 company. This week sucked up several hours on the phone/net with our helpful-but-doomed state folks. Their web site and backing database infrastructure picked a fine week to go belly up, during the same period the "renew now and fill out your new improved information forms or be cancelled" notices went out.

(Cue the "you're all just tea party low information voter speech from The Usual Suspect...)

[Simpler at Fifty]

CathyA your agent should have been able to tell you if your Dr/hospital was in the plan you chose. Our agent is up on all that and if you are selling the plans I would expect that.

[iris lilies]

At the recent retirement seminar we attended, I learned something scary about Medicaid. There is some kind of permanent penalty that one pays for failing to sign up for parts of the program. It's the "permanent" part that is scary.


Failing to sign up for Medicare at the right time can cost you - big time. The monthly Part B premium jumps 10 percent for each full 12-month period that a senior could have had coverage but didn't sign up. A mistake can be costly; someone who fails to enroll for five years would face a 50 percent Part B penalty - 10 percent for each year of delay. That penalty is permanent, and can translate into thousands of dollars in unnecessary lifetime penalty expenses; a headache no one needs on top of already soaring healthcare costs.

Most seniors on Medicare will pay $99.90 per month this year for Part B outpatient coverage. But how would you like to pay 10 percent more for that coverage, or 50 percent more?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-column-medicare-filing-idUSTRE80J1CS20120120 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-column-medicare-filing-idUSTRE80J1CS20120120)

And the overall information for Medicare's "penalty" program is nicely summarized here, but I'm not sure that it includes changes to the program made in 2012:

http://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T039-C000-S001-don-t-get-trapped-by-medicare-enrollment-rules.html

tl;dr: Nanny G who only wants to help me will in fact hurt me bad if I do not follow her very strict instructions. Spank me Nanny! I am bad!

[gimmethesimplelife]

At the recent retirement seminar we attended, I learned something scary about Medicaid. There is some kind of permanent penalty that one pays for failing to sign up for parts of the program. It's the "permanent" part that is scary.


Failing to sign up for Medicare at the right time can cost you - big time. The monthly Part B premium jumps 10 percent for each full 12-month period that a senior could have had coverage but didn't sign up. A mistake can be costly; someone who fails to enroll for five years would face a 50 percent Part B penalty - 10 percent for each year of delay. That penalty is permanent, and can translate into thousands of dollars in unnecessary lifetime penalty expenses; a headache no one needs on top of already soaring healthcare costs.

Most seniors on Medicare will pay $99.90 per month this year for Part B outpatient coverage. But how would you like to pay 10 percent more for that coverage, or 50 percent more?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-column-medicare-filing-idUSTRE80J1CS20120120

And the overall information for Medicare's "penalty" program is nicely summarized here, but I'm not sure that it includes changes to the program made in 2012:

http://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T039-C000-S001-don-t-get-trapped-by-medicare-enrollment-rules.html

tl;dr: Nanny G who only wants to help me will in fact hurt me bad if I do not follow her very strict instructions. Spank me Nanny! I am bad!


IL, I can see where this penalty is annoying and where you would be against it. I myself find this bizarre, too. Seriously. That being said, however, why are you against the government trying to get people to consistently keep their Medicare? I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of someone 65 or older and it sure seems I'd be grateful for being insulated from the private market for health care once reaching that age and that I instinctively would be signing up for Medicare the first split second I was eligible for it.

I guess what I am saying is that while I can see a reason for your annoyance, it doesn't (for me anyway) translate into bashing Medicare in general and seeing that Part B is a good deal. If nothing else, think of how many health care jobs are saved by part B and seniors not having to run to Mexico or elsewhere for anything but meds? Without part B this would quickly become all kinds of procedures being offshored, too. Rob

[iris lilies]

IL, I can see where this penalty is annoying and where you would be against it. I myself find this bizarre, too. Seriously. That being said, however, why are you against the government trying to get people to consistently keep their Medicare? I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of someone 65 or older and it sure seems I'd be grateful for being insulated from the private market for health care once reaching that age and that I instinctively would be signing up for Medicare the first split second I was eligible for it.

I guess what I am saying is that while I can see a reason for your annoyance, it doesn't (for me anyway) translate into bashing Medicare in general and seeing that Part B is a good deal. If nothing else, think of how many health care jobs are saved by part B and seniors not having to run to Mexico or elsewhere for anything but meds? Without part B this would quickly become all kinds of procedures being offshored, too. Rob

My post is specifically about Nanny G's bizarre punishment of giant, non-retractable penalties for failing to follow her obscure dictum. The one poor sod in the Kiplinger article who followed the gubmnt bureaucrat's instructions, only to find that bureaucrat was wrong, now has to pay for life.

My post is not about the overall Medicare program. If you "instinctively" wish to sign up for Medicare, fine, whatever. That's not a point I'm addressing. Perhaps I will later. I'm not sure that understand the point of Nanny's hand slapping, but someone here can probably make that clear to me. Someone on the MMM board pointed out to me, when I asked, exactly why the ACA had penalties for "cadillac" insurance policies.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm in that position; I opted out of my company's part B because they kept harassing me to call for an appointment for some kind of interview or discussion or something. I'll throw some money to anyone who promises to leave me alone...

[kib]

My post is specifically about Nanny G's bizarre punishment of giant, non-retractable penalties for failing to follow her obscure dictum. The one poor sod in the Kiplinger article who followed the gubmnt bureaucrat's instructions, only to find that bureaucrat was wrong, now has to pay for life.

My post is not about the overall Medicare program. If you "instinctively" wish to sign up for Medicare, fine, whatever. That's not a point I'm addressing. Perhaps I will later. I'm not sure that understand the point of Nanny's hand slapping, but someone here can probably make that clear to me. Someone on the MMM board pointed out to me, when I asked, exactly why the ACA had penalties for "cadillac" insurance policies. Well, assuming you don't actually get sick, they lose $100 a month for every month you're not signed up.

[flowerseverywhere]

My post is specifically about Nanny G's bizarre punishment of giant, non-retractable penalties for failing to follow her obscure dictum. The one poor sod in the Kiplinger article who followed the gubmnt bureaucrat's instructions, only to find that bureaucrat was wrong, now has to pay for life.

My post is not about the overall Medicaree program. If you "instinctively" wish to sign up for Medicare, fine, whatever. That's not a point I'm addressing. Perhaps I will later. I'm not sure that understand the point of Nanny's hand slapping, but someone here can make that clear to me. Someone on the MMM board pointed out to me, when I asked, exactly why the ACA had penalties for "cadillac" insurance policies.

simple. Say you are 65, in good health and decide to forgo part B. Your friend, signs up for part b and pays the $100 per month even though she is in good health. Suddenly at age 72 you develop a medical condition that requires frequent office visits. Aha you say. I'll sign up for part B. They say, wait a minute dearie, you could have been paying into the system all these years like your friend and opted not to so now we require a higher contribution. Your firend has been paying all along so is not penalized. It mirrors other forms of insurance. Here in Florida, if you buy a house they recommend you lock in house insurance immediately when the offer is put in, because they don't write home insurance when a hurricane is x many days out. By law they are allowed to not suddenly write policies when a hurricane is coming if you opted not to pay into the pool all along.

like all other insurances, like auto, home, hurricane and flood, for instance everyone pays into the pot. If you are one of the lucky ones who doesn't have to use it, whoopee. Do the happy dance. Medical insurance, right or wrong, is run the same way as other insurances. With the ACA many of the things that insurers have done to other policy holders, like cancel home insurance policies if you have a claim, or put a lifetime cap are not allowed.

The he same reasoning applies to wiping out pre existing medical conditions. At one time if you had depression or diabetes you could be denied. That went away. But the only way it works is if everyone pays in all along.

i am not saying the system is perfect, it is just how it works. You will pay one way or the other. Lower income people get medicaid or subsidized insurance. Middle class and higher pay for their insurance plus higher taxes to cover those in the previous categories. People who opt out of policies pay a fine because the preexisting clause is waived. If they have a heart attack or come down with cancer you can bet they will sign up at their next opportunity.

[iris lilies]

thanks kib and flowers, I see the point of Medicare penalties now.

[ToomuchStuff]

CathyA your agent should have been able to tell you if your Dr/hospital was in the plan you chose. Our agent is up on all that and if you are selling the plans I would expect that.
Better to get it from the doctors office, since they can choose to opt out of medicare or things can change if the practice is bought out, etc.

I'm in that position; I opted out of my company's part B because they kept harassing me to call for an appointment for some kind of interview or discussion or something. I'll throw some money to anyone who promises to leave me alone...

Who here wants money, leave Jane alone..............:laff: