No. My office doesn’t take Medicare Advantage but see Medicare as an example
BFF has a 2nd home in an area where no advantage plans are accepted. And correspondingly, no broad variety of specialists. She refers to the local hospital as little more than urgent care (temporary; if it’s serious, they can fly you out to the nearest big city. Or you drive 60 minutes.)
But the bottom line is you ask- now, not when the need arises.
I agree that it’s crucial to understand coverage and providers now when you are making choices rather than when care is urgently needed. In our state, there are very few specialists at all on islands other than Oahu, so the patient or provider needs to be willing and able to fly or use telehealth. They have to see what’s covered as well and who is accepting new patients with xxxx insurance coverage.
Also know, what a particular practice/physician accepts today, may not be true in January. For many reasons, a practice will drop a plan they previous accepted, or add a plan they were never on.
My practice never was on our local BCBS Market Place plan, but finally began accepting it in January. Many of our patient purchasing through the Market Place, moved to this plan. We join a hospital network, and the plan was dropped in March during the Pandemic. We tried to get back on to no avail. We ended up writing off a good bit of services for these patient while we tried to get it sorted out. Lets just say we had a lot of unhappy patients as they chose this plan knowing we accepted it. Now the closes specialist in our field is 20 miles away.
If your part of a large hospital system and you go there to see your doctors then you should be ok but ask first. My practice is a solo practitioner (yes we are still out here…LOL) and not hospital based and I can pick and choose what I want to take. Medicare advantage pays very little to the doctor. Might be great for the hospital but not the doctor doing your care.
And some folks think we have the best health care (financing) system in the world with oodles of private insurance options. Just reading some of this boggles my mind.
What’s best? Well, if A, then X, but if B then Y, or if C, then XX - and watch out for Z plus this is oversimplifying it!
Good luck to all who are making decisions. May your minds be clear when thinking through it all and may your eyesight catch all the small print.
There are parts of the country where this is problematic and parts where it runs smoothly. We do the best we can to choose a plan that works for each of us.
Imo, it’s premature to predict alh will run into the worst of it. Here’s a reassuring piece
https://www.ehealthmedicare.com/faq/doctor-no-longer-accepts-medicare/
ETA: reassuring is the wrong word. But I think it calmly explains some options.
update:
I believe I’ve now figured out what works best for my circumstances, at least at this particular moment in time, and have begun the process of signing up.
Why I imagined medicare choices would be the same to all seniors (regardless of geography and/or other individual circumstances) … I have no idea. Maybe just the fact it’s a government program?
Thanks to all for the answers and advice!! It was extremely helpful.
What is the best carpet cleaner for a very bad stain? Knocked over a full glass of red wine onto light colored carpet. Gah!
Will a carpet cleaning company make a visit for one stain? I’m hoping to find something OTC for this awful mess.
I have used the laundry product Shout with great success. Good luck.
And Yes, the carpet cleaning company should make a visit for one stain.
Yes, they will come for a stain removal. Did this just happen? First I would put corn starch over the whole stain to absorb any liquid that may remain. Once the corn starch has dried it can be vacuumed.
We recently had a full glass of red wine spill on a white tablecloth and I got every bit of it out with oxiclean. But I would call a professional before trying home solutions on carpet. It’s important to use the correct products first because you can set the stain in more by using the wrong thing.
I don’t think corn starch could cause any harm because it’s just being used to absorb remaining liquid. My carpet cleaner told me to keep an emergency kit with white cloths, corn starch and distilled water. He also told me to get a small wet/dry vacuum to keep just for carpet and upholstery. He said the first thing to do was vacuum up a spill, spray with distilled water and dab with white towels. Then cover with corn starch and wait til it dries. The corn starch will wick up remaining stain. Then call him for something that still remains.
Good luck!
@GRITS80, no, it was last night. All I had on hand was a Woolite carpet stain cleaner that did absolutely no good whatsoever.
I tried the Shout as suggested above by @VeryHappy, and it has helped a lot. But will probably still need to call a carpet cleaner. Dang it. I had just poured a glass and set it down on the side table by a chair and then promptly knocked it over.
I’ve had great success in getting rid of a red wine and several tea stains from my light-colored rug with Folex carpet cleaner which is available on Amazon.
My D swears by Puracy, also from Amazon, but I haven’t used it although I bought it on her recommendation.
Second the Folex suggestion. That stuff’s great.
Third the Folex. I can buy it at my grocery store, Home Depot and the local Ace hardware.
This morning I went to Home Depot. I was looking for one product that they didn’t have (read about something called “Wine Away”). But by chance I did buy Folex and it has taken care of the stain. Whew!
It might not be 100% due to sitting overnight, but unless you knew about it and were specifically looking for it, I don’t think you’d notice it.
I knew the right answer could be found on CC.
So glad your problem was resolved, @Nrdsb4.
My challenge is finding new hardware for an exterior gate we’re having replaced. I need to it be appropriate for outdoors with a lock that, ideally, accommodates more than one combination. Since I can’t find that, I’m now looking for one that allows for just one programmable code. The one I found is a unique size that will require customization on our new gate. I’m concerned that, if ever it breaks, any other lock won’t fit. I can’t be the first person who’d like a lock/handle on their exterior gate with a lock that can be used by others (i.e. gardener) but it sure feels like I am.
I’m being told this is the only option I have but, as I mentioned, apparently the hole it uses isn’t standard so I’m trying to find something else.
The oxy clean pet stain remover works great. I don’t even have pets.
I found this one, it’s pretty expensive but can have 200 codes:
https://www.gokeyless.com/product/trilogy-t2-dl2800-keyless-access-control-lock/
Why isn’t there a place where one can complete the Net Price Questionnaire once, check off the schools they’re interested in and see the results in a nice Excel or chart form?
Or, have it select all schools that fit a specific criteria based on your specific NPQ?
So frustrating to have to do this multiple times.
PS - If such a site exists, please DM me. I’m familiar with College Navigator but it just gives broad brush info.