Medicare Cost and How-To Information Videos

dilettante

dilettante

Well-known Member
Location
Michigan
There are a number of organizations offering information and advice for free on YouTube. These are often "benefits brokers" and while some charge many of them also offer free services as well as brokering supplemental insurances.

Be cautious and skeptical, of course. However much of the free information seems to be offered honestly and accurately. Here is one that I like:


Does anyone else have anything of this kind to suggest?
 

I like the Aetna Medicare Eagle Plus Plan (PPO). It gives you $25 back on the Part
B premium and has a $3,000 annual Dental, $150 every 3 mos. for a Fitness Allowance, $300 annual Vision Care and $105 every 3 months for any health related items at CVS!
Good luck!
 

The state of New Jersey Retiree Health Benefits plan seemlessly slid me into Aetna Medicare HMO when I turned 65. I just had to send proof that I had gotten the government Medicare card. I'm so glad I didn't have to maneuver the maze of options, trying to find a plan. The state has other options but since way before I retired, I've loved Aetna plans. I switched to Aetna PPO a couple of years ago and I'm glad I did. I had to pay my optometrist $140 before I switched to the PPO, last year I only had to pay the copay of $10.

But I don't have the extra benefits that @vintageMo mentioned! The state reimburses me $46 a month toward Medicare B.
 
I always see people advising against the medicare advantage programs, but I have had an advantage plan pretty much ever since I have been on medicare, and I have never had any problems with any medical issues being covered. I have the best heart doctors in this area (and we have really great doctors here !), and all of my heart procedures were covered, as well as all my heart medications, and Plus I have all of the extra benefits that come with an advantage plan.

The only thing that I do recommend is to talk with your insurance broker, assuming they also handle medicare supplements, and they can advise you which plans have the best benefits for you each year. We have had the same agent for about 8-9 years now, and each fall he goes over the new plans and helps us choose the best one for us.
This year, we moved from our Humana plan to a Devoted Health plan because he said Devoted is a 5 STAR company, and they had the very best benefits for our plan.

So far, I really like Devoted Health, and they have what they call “Devoted Guides” that you can call or text with any questions or issues, and they will get someone right on the problem and get it straightened out; so they are wonderful to work with.
They have special programs for people with diabetes, heart failure, and other chronic illnesses that need special care and attention. I have my Apple Watch, but they also give you a medical alert device if you do not have one, and want that benefit, and it appears they have several styles of alert devices you can choose from.
 
I wouldn't touch a Medicare Advantage Plan with a 10 foot pole. No way am I going to put myself at the mercy of a private insurance company that only cares about their bottom line, not to mention helping said private insurance company rip off the taxpayers and the government. It's a scam.
 
If you need to go out of network to get the best care you are screwed with an advantage plan. I know a few people that are still alive because they could go to another state for the best care.

The exception is some employers have specific MA plans for their retirees which are PPO plans which are decent. I’m not willing to risk my life to save money.
 
My state retirement offers a free MA plan that includes vision and hearing. On paper it looks great. Then I think back to an HMO plan I was covered under years ago. “Denied” and “Out-of-Network“ caused some major headaches. No thanks. Sticking with my Plan G and Part D (I have to pay for it of course). I did take the state dental plan though - it’s not MA.
 
Medicare advantage plans have too many cracks to fall through. It takes a fairly adroit person to realize that - otherwise its all about the money. Of course if you can't afford regular Medigap coverage then your choice is to go with the advantage plan or just have basic medicare and hope you'll be ok.
 
The global Medicare Advantage market is projected to be worth a staggering $456.6 billion in 2023, with a projected growth to $758.5 billion by 2032. I wonder who is making all the mulla?
 
Paco Dennis said:
The global Medicare Advantage market is projected to be worth a staggering $456.6 billion in 2023, with a projected growth to $758.5 billion by 2032. I wonder who is making all the mulla?
Click to expand...
Private equity. But it appears to be slowing down. Probably easier dollars to be made in the long term care market.
 
I found that the MA plan supported by my former employer as a retirement benefit offers nationwide coverage, as opposed to the various non-MA alternatives they support which are far narrower geographically.
 

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