My husband is 62 and will be eligible for Medicare in March. I'm assuming he will need a supplemental plan since placement will most likely be within 6 months. Any suggestions on what I should-- and more importantly, should NOT do?
We were covered under COBRA, but when the premiums skyrocketed to $2300/month....well, you know.......Anyway, I was able to find an insurance for the now---still expensive, but not as high. I am the primary with this insurance plan. I was told that better to find a different plan for my husband once he was eligible for Medicare.
Hope this makes sense........and I thank you in advance for your suggestions!
When my husband lost his health benefits from GM. I went with AARP United Healthcare. Since he was under 65 & on Medicare, that was the only one I could find.
Kadee, my husband also lost his health benefits from GM on Jan. 1. He is 62 and on Medicare. We went with Blue Advantage Ruby for $99 a month for him. It is a Medicare Advantage plan through Blue Cross. They left me on the Blue Cross plan we previously had because I am 60 and not on Medicare and raised my yearly deductible to $5,000. I am going back and picking up the insurance I declined (because I had such good insurance through GM when my husband was still working) from my retirement system, but there is a 6-month waiting period so it will start 7-1-10. Meanwhile, I have to keep the GM insurance, too, for a year and a half because my husband still has 2 dependent daughters that we must insure and I cannot insure step-children on mine. I have had a constant headache since Jan. 1 dealing with all this.
AnnMW1157 Medicare does not pay for long term care.
Medicaid does but you have to be broke or do some legal work with assets to qualify.
Medicare is so confusing part A B part D is for Drugs and then you get supplemental to help cover the out pocket on hospital and then you have a donut hole on part D.
I think all of Congress should be placed on Medicare and then watch them fix it. As long as they have no pain they will continue to do what the lobbist want and forget why they are there.
moorsb......I know that Medicare will not cover a nursing home.....that is why I'm considering a supplemental insurace.
Medicare is confusing.........I don't understand it. Guess I need to be in the mood to do paperwork.....oh well, none of us wanted or expected to be in this position. Hope we all figure it out soon.
Ann, most insurance companies also won't pay for nursing homes either unless it is medically necessary and the medical care is leading to improvement in the patient's condition. My mother was in nursing homes several times and my sister was once. As soon as the insurance companies decided they could not make further improvement, they quit paying. I hope someone with more personal experience that I have has more to say about this.
Ann,we have Highmak's Freedom Blue supplementary insurance,we pay no premium but have a 1100. deductible.We have been very pleased with them.That iS cheaper than paying a premium.It pays a certain amount of time in a nursing home if the patient meets the three criteras,I would think your husband would meet those if you canno longer care for him at home.At price of nursing homes ,I know when my husband has to go into a home it will eat up his IRA in a couple years.He was turned down for long term care insurance 8 yrs.ago because he failed the memory test.I'm not sure what the future will bring,how long do people have this disease?
I am not sure I understand this correctly, but I thought the supplimental Insurance only paid after Medicare and only if Medicare paid on the bill. I didn't think suppliment Insurance would pay anything on NH. I have AARP and do not have personal experience.
Lois, I think I was wrong about what I said. With Mom, it was Medicare who quit paying when she wasn't improving. My sister wasn't on Medicare yet, so it was her regular insurance that quit paying for the same reason. Sorry for the confusion. I don't really know what supplemental insurance does. I should figure that out. I may need to know!
Freedom Blue is a medicare advantage program by Blue Shield.You do not deal with medicare at all. from what I understand mymedicare deduction from my SS goes to them and they handle everything.Different plans are offered depending on where you live.In my area just about all the doctors and hospitals accept it.I've been very pleased so far with them.
The medigaps don't pay for nursing homes except in that timeframe that medicare also pays. They pay the 20% that regular medicare doesn't pay, they pay the upfront co-pays etc. The only kind of "supplemental" insurance that pays is "long term care"...
At this moment in time don't get into a medicare Advantage program. What you don't pay, the government DOES, more than for plain medicare. They're almost certainly going to be reduced in the future.
And if you're worried about ltc - yhouniey in particular - go see an elder law specialist lawyer, asap. Yes you will have to use up his IRAs on his care, but there are lots of things to protect you too.. GO SEE THE LAWYER - but make sure it's an elderlaw specialist.
I also have Highmark's Freedom Blue. It covers the first 100 days of a nursing home in the same way as Medicare does. Same requirements. Like all Advantage plans, this one is Primary. Nothing gets sent to Medicare. I went for the most expensive plan because of the improved Podiatry benefits. It also has vision and dental, but in both of those cases I get reimbursed.
Because our feet are a mess, I think this version will work much better for us since I won't have to pay for half of the podiatry visits every year.