Reply #3: Medicare Part D....is a pia.... [View All]

[windbreeze]

I have private insurance who before Part D...had a prescription allowance for it's retirees....after Part D...when you hit 65, they threw you entirely off their prescription coverage, and informed you that if you chose NOT to take part D...then you would have NO prescription coverage at all, period....They opted to pay the monthly fee that each retiree is charged to have Part D coverage...Right now, I believe they pay, out of the premiums we pay them for medical insurance, around $25 a month for each individual retiree...

Part D is NOT free...every retiree who has it, pays a monthly fee..sometimes a quite high fee, depending on what agency the Part D you have, is through...Our retiree program dropped the prescription coverage they previously had, because when their contract came up last time, that company raised the fee from $24 to something like $70 a month...and they had a $250 deductible right out of the gate....I can't even remember the name of that insurance, because I never got to use it...

There are things that need reformed when it comes to medicare and SS...there's no two ways about it...but let's hope they get the things that need to be fixed, w/o screwing everything up...

Ever hear of Medicare Advantage ??? The private medical insurance(HMO's) companies are raking in the dough hand over fist for any retiree who was dumb enough to sign up for one of those programs..(I hear there are lots of old people who are really sorry they did, because of all the restrictions placed on useage by the HMO)

The guy who tried to get me to sign up, painted this rosy picture about how much better they are...the retiree just continues to pay their regular medicare payment out of their SS every month....and then the gov't pays the difference...which can be as much as $500 or $600 a month....red flags went up for me...and I made him tell me several times, because it made NO sense to me...why would the gov't subsidize medical insurance payments for that amount for every individual signed up for advantage programs??? I asked him, you mean I don't get a bill at the end of every month, for the difference between what I pay out of my SS right now for parts A/B and what the advantage plan actually costs??? I was told NO...so if you want to know what is breaking the gov't...there's your answer...and I don't know how long, nor how many millions of retirees have signed up for those programs...but multiply a $500 difference against each one...and I am sure it is a staggering number, paid EVERY MONTH TO PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES...even IF it were only a difference of $200 a month...it would still be a staggering amount of money...and since I would have had to opt out of my private insurance, a plan I am familiar with, and have NO gripes about...I walked away...anything that sounds too good to be true...usually is...wb