Uh, no, not “all” options. Brokers earn a commission and have favorite carriers to work with. Nothing wrong with that, but other fine plans may exist that the broker won’t quote. For example a ‘top’ broker in my County poo-poohs HD plans, even tho we have the birthday rule in CA so its easy to change if health deteriorates later. (Of course, HD plans are pretty cheap so they have a lower commission potential…coincidence??)
Pays to do your own home work while also speaking to a broker.
For an unbiased pov, contact your State SHIP or Aging program.
It’s my understanding (and experience) that Medicare supplement plans (such as plan G or plan F) have nothing to do with your doctor choice. As long as your doctor accepts Medicare and your procedure is covered by Medicare, the supplement will pay for whatever Medicare part A and part B don’t pay for after you pay for your plan’s copay and up to the plan’s limits.
Agree that the MOST unbiased and free option is your state Dept of Health, office on Aging SHIP program. They’re volunteers and staffers are paid by our tax money.
@bluebayou I don’t know the total universe of plans, so you’re right, I don’t know that we were shown all of them. We were shown so many that it took her a while to walk us through them, from a plethora of carriers. We think we had more than enough information to make the right choices.
TBH we had no idea that there’s a state office for help with this. We went to the broker who handles my employee health insurance, a group my company’s been working with for decades and trusts. Another advantage (we felt) was that we walked out of the office with the business card of a specific person who now knew us and could be called with followup questions (of which we had a few).
Based on my experience, I would advise doing independent research before going to your local Office of Aging. I’m sure it’s dependent upon which volunteer you are assigned to, but they recommended the cheapest Medicare Advantage plans (monthly premium) without considering any deductible and cost of co-pays. In fact, she thought my husband should switch to another MA plan with Highmark BCBS (with whom he already has a great plan), because the premium was only $13 a month. We didn’t bother arguing that the network was very narrow, and the co-pays were very high. I had thoroughly investigated all 43 MA plans that were available in my county, and was disappointed that she wasn’t more knowledgeable than me. But it was still worth the visit for other information she provided which helped make the decision.
@Jugulator – I think that if you had Kaiser and were not happy with the MD, you could switch to another Kaiser MD – but not just any one you choose – I think you’d find that some Kaiser MD’s are able to accept new patients, and others are not. That’s the same outside of Kaiser as well, of course – so I can see why you might decide having a dedicated and easily identified network might be less of a hassle down the line. Is there a directory of the local Kaiser network you can access online? You might want to check their listings to get a better sense of what your experience would be coming in as a new patient.
I just added to my list of things to check into is whether or not my current PCP takes Medicare since H just turned 63. I hope that will be working until I turn 65 at least, so H can stay on my insurance until then (he’s 3 years older) with Medicare as a secondary, but I need to make sure about our doctors. Otherwise, I figure that I should find new caregivers who take Medicare about a year before he becomes eligible, at least for him.
You and your H do not need the same doctors. I think if anyone has Medicare that becomes the primary insurance. You will need to find out the rules for delaying Medicare when you have other insurance your H can use. You will need to check on your costs/benefits if you continue a “family” plan for the two of you or separate with his Medicare (plus supplemental coverage) and you a single policy. Many variations to consider.
Most docs will accept Medicare for existing patients when the age into Medicare. OTOH, some primary care docs will not accept new Medicare patients from who they had no prior relationship.
Thanks @annamom. I couldn’t find any more information on second opinions besides surgeries. Here’s an example: I once had an injury before leaving town for an extended period. I originally saw my own MD, who gave me guidance, but the injury was not healing as expected while I was away, so I saw someone locally. 2nd MD wanted me to do extra tests that I felt were more invasive than the injury warranted, so I side-stepped that MD and went straight to a specialist. The specialist agreed with me, and suggested a totally different approach & timeline, which proved more correct. When I returned to my home town, I had to see someone locally. That’s (4) visits for the same injury. SO, I was curious how Medicare treats these scenarios. My current insurance fortunately covered all (with co-pays and co-insurance by me). Can Medicare simply decide that’s too many visits? If they do, then a Supplemental policy will not pay as well. OR, does one need to pre-approve all the extra visits with Medicare before making appointments?
My H has had multiple opinions by MDs and has not had any coverage issues with Medicare so far. If in doubt, you can call the number on your supplemental or MediGap card and ask. H has had Medicare as primary since 2013.