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Medicare Commercials Pre 12/7, yikes..
 

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/6/22 3:44 PM

Medicare Commercials Pre 12/7, yikes..

Maybe I just never notice before. But figured these would stop after 12/7 when enrollment period ended, nope.

Maybe I am noticing more as 5/7 I'll be 65. Even just got the "Social Security Administration" eMail "What to Know Before Your Medicare Coverage Starts" today. ;) Telling me what that is will be coming in the mail soon apparently.


So some of us here are past the onset. I guess it is time to learn ahead of, what? 6 months past my b-day is it I have to decide on things??

I got the impression so far [not paying attention much] the Advantage Part C plans are contractors you sign your Orig over to, and they delve to you?? Don't like the sound of that much.

Let er rip!

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/6/22 3:46 PM

BTW, I never imagined when we posted bike\ride stuff here all these decades ago, I'd be asking this here of all you other young-ins on the TTF. ;)

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Chris Klaren
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 82
Location: Iowa

1/6/22 4:33 PM

Medicare - intentional complication and confusion. Most choices are an illusion of choice. I can't imagine 80+ year olds making informed decisions every year when their faculties eventually decline.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

1/6/22 4:58 PM

Medicare

I think Medicare is a great program, I’ve been on it for years. I’d advise paying attention to what Social Security sends you, I think they do a good job with retirement and Medicare benefits. But I don’t think they’ll help you with Advantage or Supplement programs.

I don’t have an Advantage program, and can’t help you with that. I have a Supplement program with Anthem BC/BS, which is different. When I became eligible you didn’t have the incessant onslaught of advertising for Advantage programs that you have now. I just asked a very detailed oriented friend what he’d done, talked with the guy he recommended, and went with that.

Good luck!

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

1/6/22 5:59 PM

There is a free service of very proffesional advisors to help navigate the medicare jungle. They have nothing to sell you. Its located here:

https://www.shiphelp.org/

They were of tremendous help to me when I started. They are different in each state but you can search for your state.

Who why and how did medicare decide that ear, eye, and teeth problems are not healthcare for senior citizens?

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

1/7/22 11:49 AM

I've been onboard the ship for 16 months now. A/B not C.

Thought similar to you. I just don't recall the onslaught of advertisements for Medicare as little as 3-4 years ago. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention either? I thought "there must be obscene money in selling these Part C plans" to justify all the advertising featuring JJ, Broadway J, and others.

Just received the Part B premium notice yesterday and shook my head at the 14.5% increase over 2021. Ouch. Doesn't feel good when I've been in the program for little over a year and see almost 15% increase.

I think Part C Advantage plans are pretty much hmo. That's how they seem to offer more for less.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/22 12:32 PM

"14.5% increase"

Yeah, but you got 5.9% Cost/Living on your SS. I guess they think we can't do math...

I really just pray I continue to be med free mostly.
I recall seeing my in-laws monthly RX cost, and that was 20 years ago..

Mostly=Just the beta so my 'dilation of aortic/root' gets no furtherance from the elevated sprinting systolic. ;)

Luckily 3 year running no change. So either the strategy is working, or it was bigger than normal to begin with, which I suspect. Either way, better to know than not, so like others here, the yearly ECG is prescribed. I am hoping 4th year out Cardio guy sez every 2 years if/when still no furtherance..

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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3234
Location: Midland, MI

1/8/22 10:45 AM

Socialized medicen

Medicare is the American version of the evil socialized medicine that every other developed country in the world has, only Medicare is not nearly as good. If you have access to a Medicare Advantage program that doesn't cost too much, it really does simplify things. You present your card just like it was any insurance card and everything is taken care of. With my Advantage program, the co-pays are small and the coverage is good. Mine is a retiree (subsidized) plan so I don't know what an "open market" plan looks like.

I don't have experience with Medicare supplements. Don't forget to sign up for the cheapest prescription drug plan even if you're not on anything. They'll penalize you later if you need a drug plan and you didn't sign up when you first enrolled. Sign up about three months before your birthday.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/8/22 10:52 AM

Being Elaine is younger and still working etc. Not to mention each year what extra she pays for me on INS goes up and the out of pocket does the same.. I have to seek out if paying for part B is going to be cheaper, and if comparative care/services and out of pocket.. blah blah...

An example of the extra care we pay to her work include RX plan that her one RX cost 1/3 as much if [when] we use a GoodRX coupon than use our INS.


Then we gotta figure if we will retire to the UK, her being dual Brit/US citz as a spouse they allow migration for me. If this US of ours keeps heading down towards the populist/authoritarian headed factious tendencies etc. It burns me to say it... I may be making my twilight posts here from over the pond...

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

1/9/22 7:11 AM

We’re OLD.

I turn 64 in March. Guess I’d better start studying up on all this…

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

1/9/22 10:27 AM

Be careful with your phone number. I endure 6 months of spam calls every year trying to get me to buy some kind of medicare insurance. Must be a lot of profit in it cause once they get contact info they are incessant.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/9/22 12:07 PM

Great, more badgering from marketing channels.

We are inundated with extended auto warranty calls for out new cars. They got the caller ID spoofing mechanism down to a science too!

My SmooooglePixel has a great 'weed out' option on incoming calls...


Anyone else getting a zillion snail mail cremation and/or funeral services fodder?

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

1/9/22 3:52 PM

Marketing

One thing I don’t get is calls for Advantage programs. But I get LOTS of glossy mailers. I do get lots of calls for extended car warranty, for the car I sold a couple years ago. Lots of mailers for retirement planning/investment dinners (free dinner!). Also retirement communities, just got a mailer for hearing aids. Jeez.

But my age doesn’t exempt me for continuing legal education requirements, as I still work full time.

@ Sparky, re aneurysm, I have a 2 year scan coming up in a few months. Hope they do it (not overloaded due to COVID). A friend of a friend had a significant heart surgery scheduled, and the hospital cancelled it due to COVID overload.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/9/22 6:37 PM

How many 1 years did they do before it went to 2 years, or is that covid delays? My 3rd was 18 months out by the time it was actually got to, covid delays.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

1/10/22 6:42 AM

Scans

I think I had one at 6 mos, then 2 at one year intervals, then they went to 2 years.

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

1/10/22 7:31 AM

Andy, In my case, my birthday is in August and the ONSLAUGHT of Medicare pitch attempts started in January. I'm not sure if it was triggered in the calendar year of my birth year or perhaps just 7-8 months before the actual date. The phone calls, especially, were incessant... on the order of 10-12 per week from a myriad of different groups. My 94-yo mother was failing in a nursing home then and every time the phone rang, I'd tense that the call might be bad news. Drove me crazy.

I'd advise to see if your financial advisor's institution has online Medicare webinars that you can log into from your computer and watch anonymously. I found Fidelity had a pretty good basic explanatory webinar. Also, sometimes you can find a seminar offered at a local library by a non-profit group with no ulterior motives.

Be very guarded about agreeing to meet with or attend a seminar from other parties. Once they have your contact info, they can be persistent and sometimes ruthless.

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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3234
Location: Midland, MI

1/10/22 10:42 AM

Extended warranty

Speaking of phone spam for extended car warranties, over a period of a decade I got probably 20 calls to extend the warranty on my Buick. Funny that, since no one in my family or my wife's family had ever owned a Buick. You just have to wonder how the spam business can be profitably, but it obviously is.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

1/10/22 11:08 AM

Lee: Absolutely agree. I'm going to do some research over the next few months to see what the situation is. Spouse is still working and so we're well-insured, so things MAY not be that time critical. But I want to know.

Kerry: As for "automobile service center" calls, I've taken to treating them as a fact of life. I typically why the dealer has cut short the warranty on my Ferrari Testarossa (or, alternatively, my Amphicar)* and that seems to make them go away for a while.

I'm still trying to figure out the nature of that particular scam...you'd think overexposure would have killed it by now.

*I actually drive a 2010 Honda Fit. But I could have interesting tastes, had I the money.

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

1/10/22 12:15 PM

I've taken to telling them I'm my brother and we are settling his estate. Can you please remove him from your calling list?

They lie about the number they are calling from so I'm just returning the favor.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

1/10/22 12:39 PM

You guys actually talk to them? Any calls I don’t recognize go to voicemail on my cell. If they’re picked up at the office my assistant gets rid of them.

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

1/10/22 12:46 PM

I run my business on my personal cell and if the spoof number looks like it may be a real call I sometimes answer, or if I'm feeling frisky I answer just to mess with them. I may answer 10% of incoming calls.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

1/10/22 1:51 PM

What assistant?

I don't have an assistant, so...

I use Google Voice for a business line, and if they call it, I need to answer it. Fortunately, until recently I had very few "service center" calls on my GV line. As for the others, if they call the home landline or my personal cell number, it's good for a few minutes of amusement, and they may get pissed off enough to remove my number.

What car shall I tell them I have next?

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

1/10/22 5:48 PM

What car?

Life is way too short (particularly at my age) to spend any of it talking to spammers, but if you must, tell them you have a Tesla. I have one, they’re kind of proprietary.

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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY

1/10/22 8:07 PM

AMC Gremlin. 1975. Maybe one of the worst autos ever built, if you can scam an extended warranty out of them, power to you, with that car you'd need it,. I owned one.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

1/10/22 8:29 PM

Where’s the rest of your car, Toots?

nm

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