best medicare plan and supplements

daisy366
daisy366 Member Posts: 1,458 Member
in Uterine/Endometrial Cancer #1
With medicare eligibility coming in July, I would like your guidance on which plans are best for cancer patients.

It gets expensive when procedure co-pays are $200 like my present BC/BS plan.

I'm interested in your feedback. Thank you in advance.

Mary Ann

Comments

  • JoAnnDK
    JoAnnDK Member Posts: 275
    #2
    insurance
    I continued to use the same Aetna plan - one that we have had for years - as a supplement once I went on Medicare. So I did no shopping around because my husband's former company supplements it somewhat.

    A cousin and her husband DID shop around, though, and had several insurance agents come to their house with their "packages". Her husband has had 2 kinds of cancer and heart problems, and their insurance is $500 a month for both of them (in addition to Medicare premiums). They thought that was reasonable.
  • soxgirl823
    soxgirl823 Member Posts: 8
    #3
    medicare plan
    my parents both have Aetna advantage and with my mom's cancer her co pay is 25.00. Thank goodness. They are on fixed incomes and i pick up the rest of the medical bill etc. Their premium per month is 98.00
  • Ro10
    Ro10 Member Posts: 1,561 Member
    #4
    Check on the Internet
    My husband did all the checking for insurance for me. He recommends Medicare F as it covers more things. Then check which company has the lowest rate for your state. For IL it was mutual of Omaha. As long as it is plan F all the companies pay the same. Since I went on Medicare in April we have had no co pays.

    The drug plan- medicareD is more complicated. You need to plug in your drugs and see which company pays more for your drugs. There can be Tier 1,2,or3 drugs. The plan I have this year I pay nothing for tier1 drugs where as last year I paid $4.00 for a 30 day supply of tier 1 drugs. Then you pay a percentage of the cost for tier 2 and tier 3 drugs. Unfortunately two of my drugs are tier 3, so they are more expensive. My three Emend pills cost me $142' and someone recently posted their co pay with insurance was only. $6.00 . Quite a difference!

    Good luck with choosing your plans. Our Senior Center has a SHIP representative and a booklet to help make the decision. Think the SHIP stands for Senior Health Insurance Program ( not sure of the P). They may be able to help you,too.
  • Double Whammy
    Double Whammy Member Posts: 2,832 Member
    #5
    Ro10 said:

    Check on the Internet
    My husband did all the checking for insurance for me. He recommends Medicare F as it covers more things. Then check which company has the lowest rate for your state. For IL it was mutual of Omaha. As long as it is plan F all the companies pay the same. Since I went on Medicare in April we have had no co pays.

    The drug plan- medicareD is more complicated. You need to plug in your drugs and see which company pays more for your drugs. There can be Tier 1,2,or3 drugs. The plan I have this year I pay nothing for tier1 drugs where as last year I paid $4.00 for a 30 day supply of tier 1 drugs. Then you pay a percentage of the cost for tier 2 and tier 3 drugs. Unfortunately two of my drugs are tier 3, so they are more expensive. My three Emend pills cost me $142' and someone recently posted their co pay with insurance was only. $6.00 . Quite a difference!

    Good luck with choosing your plans. Our Senior Center has a SHIP representative and a booklet to help make the decision. Think the SHIP stands for Senior Health Insurance Program ( not sure of the P). They may be able to help you,too.

    Be sure to get your supplement within first 6 months
    Because with the new health care laws, pre-existing conditions cannot be considered by supplemental health insurance companies within the first 6 months of going on Medicare.

    Or at least that's what a good friend told me. She had no problems with a supplement because of this - she has UPSC. I go on Medicare in June and am fortunate enough to be able to use my retirement benefit health insurance. I will still worry that I did everything right when the time comes, tho. Don't you hate having to worry about these things?

    Suzanne
  • JoAnnDK
    JoAnnDK Member Posts: 275
    #6
    Double Whammy said:

    Be sure to get your supplement within first 6 months
    Because with the new health care laws, pre-existing conditions cannot be considered by supplemental health insurance companies within the first 6 months of going on Medicare.

    Or at least that's what a good friend told me. She had no problems with a supplement because of this - she has UPSC. I go on Medicare in June and am fortunate enough to be able to use my retirement benefit health insurance. I will still worry that I did everything right when the time comes, tho. Don't you hate having to worry about these things?

    Suzanne

    What is....
    Ro, what is Medicare F? I never heard of that and cannot seem to find any info...

    Thanks

    JoAnn
  • Ro10
    Ro10 Member Posts: 1,561 Member
    #7
    JoAnnDK said:

    What is....
    Ro, what is Medicare F? I never heard of that and cannot seem to find any info...

    Thanks

    JoAnn

    Medicare plan F
    It is a supplemental plan that covers what basic Medicare does not cover. There are plans -A through F for supplements. Plan F covers more things, but it is a more expensive plan,too. With a cancer diagnosis I would think you would want the best coverage. Treatments and tests are very expensive as we all know. So if you check your individual state to see which company offers plan F for the least amount of premium to be paid.
  • JoAnnDK
    JoAnnDK Member Posts: 275
    #8
    Ro10 said:

    Medicare plan F
    It is a supplemental plan that covers what basic Medicare does not cover. There are plans -A through F for supplements. Plan F covers more things, but it is a more expensive plan,too. With a cancer diagnosis I would think you would want the best coverage. Treatments and tests are very expensive as we all know. So if you check your individual state to see which company offers plan F for the least amount of premium to be paid.

    plan F
    Ro ---Guess I never heard of Medicare F because I was not looking for supplements --- we already had one in place from my husband's company. I pay very little out of pocket.

    I thought you were talking about the regular Medicare....

    JoAnn

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