Medicare Advantage Plan Commercials

[dlgoff]

I'm so tired of TV commercials advertising to purchase Medicare Advantage Planes. When will they stop?

 

[BillTre]

A) Never
B) After good universal health care is established without options (so, see A).

 

[Frabjous]

I'm so tired of TV commercials advertising to purchase Medicare Advantage Planes. When will they stop?

Have you bought one yet?

 

[dlgoff]

Have you bought one yet?

 

[gmax137]

Find a local insurance broker that deals with Medicare plans. Ask your > 65 year old friends and neighbors. The brokers can be very helpful, because they spend all day every day explaining Medicare to 64 year olds. Plus they are knowledgeable regarding the locally available plans. They are paid by the companies offering the plans, but the good ones do not push any particular plan. I was very pleasantly surprised.

 

[dlgoff]

Find a local insurance broker that deals with Medicare plans. Ask your > 65 year old friends and neighbors.

Not a chance.

 

[Frabjous]

It appears (from a non-scientific google search) that the percentage of Medicare enrollees who choose Advantage plans is increasing (predictions of ~50% by 2029). The ads are not going anywhere.

 

[gmax137]

It appears (from a non-scientific google search) that the percentage of Medicare enrollees who choose advantage is increasing.

That's because most of the advantage plans cost you the same as Medicare Part B ($150/month) yet they provide a lot more benefits (like prescriptions).

Not a chance.

Your choice.

 

[dlgoff]

Your choice.

Indeed.

 

[dlgoff]

they provide a lot more benefits (like prescriptions).

bold by me.
Really? They wanted to charge me an extra $65/month

 

[gmax137]

Really?

Yes, really. Around here, anyway (Northern Nevada, Reno area). There are prescriptions with varying "tiers" of co-pay amounts (starting with "tier 1" at zero dollars, stuff like generic statins), but the premium for the equivalent of Part D is included. The plans available here (probably half a dozen) are each a little different, that's where the broker's knowledge can save a bunch of reading time. I don't know how available plans differ in other areas of the country.

 

[dlgoff]

Yes, really. Around here, anyway (Northern Nevada, Reno area). There are prescriptions with varying "tiers" of co-pay amounts (starting with "tier 1" at zero dollars, stuff like generic statins), but the premium for the equivalent of Part D is included. The plans available here (probably half a dozen) are each a little different, that's where the broker's knowledge can save a bunch of reading time. I don't know how available plans differ in other areas of the country.

Then why did they want to charge me more?

They wanted to charge me an extra $65/month

 

[gmax137]

Then why did they want to charge me more?

I really don't know anything about you or your plan, so I can't answer that. Was this for an advantage plan, or was it just Part D?

The advantage plans are not the same as Medicare. They are really private insurance, by which I mean, they are provided by insurance companies / hospitals / medical groups, as opposed to you going to the doctor and then the doctor billing Medicare. As I understand it, they operate by taking the ~$150/month you would pay into Medicare Part B from your SSA check. It is an "Advantage" because the benefit, the coverage, is better than you would get from Part B.

Caveat: this is all as I understand it, I'm not an expert. Find a broker, the one my wife & I saw spent two hours answering our questions on our first visit and another hour a few weeks later. This thread is interesting and important, and if we were neighbors or friends I'd be glad to talk for hours. But it isn't physics, it is bordering on medical/legal advice.

 

[hutchphd]

It is an "Advantage" because the benefit, the coverage, is better than you would get from Part B.

But the actual price of that coverage is a host of restrctions and limitations in terms of providers, geography and decisions about particular allowed coverages. It is (surprise!) profit driven and was instituted in the late 1990's in an attempt to "desocialize" Medicare to keep the cost lower. It is not free money.
I would not presume to advise you. I can afford not to use an Advvantage plan and personally I choose not to. There are individuals for whom it may make sense.

 

[dlgoff]

It is (surprise!) profit driven and was instituted in the late 1990's in an attempt to "desocialize" Medicare to keep the cost lower. It is not free money.

 

[Tom.G]

But the actual price of that coverage is a host of restrctions and limitations in terms of providers, geography and decisions about particular allowed coverages.

Absolutely!

Many of my neighbors are under a 'Plan.' They are the ones with serious/multiple/extensive health problems. For them it makes sense because the co-pays under Medicare for all the specialists they need would be quite high. Also their medications tend to be numerous and sometimes pricey. As long as a particular medicine is on the plan's 'formulary', the price is either cheap or free.

Part of the price they pay is the restriction on the particular doctors that the plan will 'allow' without either the patient paying full price or getting payment 'pre-approved' for a particular doctor visit.

The doctors are often direct employees of the particular 'plan', and in my opinion, from rather limited knowledge, lean toward those that would not be very successful in their own private practice.

So, for those that have rather pedestrian health needs it can be best to stick with Medicare, then switch to a 'plan' when things get expensive. The drawback is that 'enrollment' is limited to a specific date range each year (see pg 71 of the annual "Medicare & You" book that is sent out to Medicare recipients each year.)

Admittedly an outlier, the Southern California Region "Medicare & You" book has 38 pages of 'plans' for the area.

Separate from Medicare 'plans' are the HMO, or Health Maintenance Organization, businesses. These are straight insurance companies that tend to have their own restrictions and own doctors on their payroll. They tend to be high-margin business enterprises. I and others I know have had rather poor experiences with some of these; some, however are rather good at what they supply.

Like everything else in life, "You pays your money and takes your choice."

Cheers,
Tom

 

[jtbell]

When will they stop?

Probably after March 31, when the annual Medicare Advantage open enrollment period ends.

My wife and I both chose traditional Medicare (paying for Part B, a supplement plan, and a Part D drug plan). Every year during open enrollment season, we get many flyers in the mail promoting Medicare Advantage plans.