10/24/2024
Don’t listen to these people that tell you Medicare Advantage plans are no good. They simply don’t know what they are talking about.
If you want to know, talk to someone like me who offers both Medicare supplements and Medicare Advantage plans.
For over 25 years, I have enrolled thousands of Medicare beneficiaries on Advantage plans here in Acadiana.
Roughly half of my clients nowadays are enrolled in Medicare Advantage instead of a Medicare supplement.
I would not put someone on a health plan if I knew it wasn’t a good plan. Why would I burden myself and my client with that? Why would I enroll one of my clients on a plan if I knew that the plan would deny them care ?
The truth is these Advantage plans work very well. Advantage plans are not new. They have been around for over 30 years. Over 26 million Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled on a Medicare Advantage plan.
That’s 50% of the people on Medicare. That fact alone tells me that these plans work.
And I am tired of hearing that Advantage plans are only good for healthy people. That is so untrue. Actually, the opposite is true; Advantage plans are good for people that have health issues. Do you know why this is?
BECAUSE MEDICARE SUPPLEMENTS DENY COVERAGE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK!!!
Try applying for a Medicare supplement if you have been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation; try applying for a Medicare supplement if you have COPD. In most cases, unless you are new to Medicare , a Medicare supplement won’t offer you a policy.
Your only option at that point is Medicare by itself or Medicare Advantage.
Medicare Advantage is good for both the healthy and the sick. And a Medicare Advantage plan will NEVER refuse to accept someone due to their health.
My mom lived in New Orleans and she was on an Advantage plan for over 20 years. She lived to be 89 and she never paid a penny in premiums to a supplement; she was on the Humana plan and she had excellent care. Towards the end, she was diabetic, had Afib and was in the hospital quite a bit.
We never had ANY trouble with the insurance. No one tried to force her out of the hospital before she was ready to go. No one tried to tell the doctor what they could or couldn’t do. Towards the end I actually expected that this could happen and I prepared myself; I was ready to challenge the insurance if they started to deny care or delay care. But it never happened. Her Humana insurance always worked great.
I just want the fear mongering to stop. Maybe Advantage plans are NOT for everyone, but they work well for those that have them!
First of all, not everyone can afford a Medicare supplement. Soon, the Medicare Part B premium itself will probably increase to over $180 a month.
So, some people can’t afford to pay another $140 a month for a Medicare supplement, plus another $25 for a Part D prescription plan. And then there’s the annual $240 Part B deductible . Then for the drugs, don’t forget the over $500 Part D deductible.
Most Advantage plans don’t have any of that: no premium, no medical deductible, no drug deductible. And then in addition, they offer benefits for vision, dental, hearing. Yep, that’s right. So it’s easy to see why people are attracted to these plans.
As I said, they are not for everyone. Some people don’t like being told what doctor you can go to. Maybe so, but I have to be honest; for my entire working career, any health plan I had through my employer or my wife’s employer, we were ALWAYS told what doctors we could go to. Every plan I have EVER been on has told me there was a network of providers that I could use. Every insurance I have ever had has told me this. I don’t understand why people get so bent out of shape about this. Just ask your son or your daughter about their health plan that they have with their employer. Ask them if they have a network of providers that they have to use. Ask them if they sometimes are required to have “prior authorization “ before certain procedures can be done. This is what every private insurance company does.
I’m going to be posting more about Advantage plans. And check out the photo posted here. It’s something I typed up, explaining the difference between Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement.
Please don’t give in to the fear mongering! Become informed and make your own decision.
That’s what I do with my clients. I explain both types of plans and I help them decide which way they should go. Many of the insurance companies will offer you either type of plan:
Blue Cross will offer you a Medicare Supplement or they can offer you a Medicare Advantage plan. Aetna also has both types of plans; so does Humana. And so does United Health Care.
Whatever you do, do not discount Medicare Advantage plans; they work and they could be the right type of plan for you.
