daveisonthisforum
New member
Hi everyone,
My dad was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. He also has heart disease, and has gone through a quintuple bypass and multiple heart stents. He is (otherwise) a healthy, in-shape 77 year old.
My mom feels completely lost trying to choose a Medicare plan for him and herself (she is a healthy 65 year old). She has spoken with several healthcare professionals and insurance brokers about which supplemental Medicare plans they should choose, but so far has not received any definitive answer.
Neither of us are in the healthcare field, and trying to wrap our brains around Medicare terminology has been exhausting. Being an avid Redditor, I decided to take my question to y'all. Any advice you could give me would be amazing.
So, here's what my mom and I have been able to come up with in regards to Medicare plans:
When you turn 65 and apply for social security, you are automatically given Medicare Part A, which helps with expenses if you are hospitalized. This does not cost anything, however there is a deductible of $1,288 every 60 days throughout the calendar year.
Medicare Part B pays for major medical doctors visits and testing. This deductible is $166 annually. Medicare pays 80% of the approved costs and the individual pays for 20%.
Medicare Part C would have a $4,600 annual deductable due to my dad's preexisting cancer and heart disease. This is more than they can afford, so they are not considering this as an option.
Supplemental plans exist which may be purchased from other insurance providers and brokers, and these help with various costs to the individual. The most popular plans for hospitalization are F & G.
Based on this, they have determined that they will need a Medicare Plan D (for drug coverage) as well as a supplemental policy for both of them - either F or G.
The way these policies are sold are two ways: by attained age or issue age. With attained age, the insurance company can raise rates yearly for increased age and for claims. With issue age, the company holds your rates at your age, although they can be adjusted for the cost of living and amount of claims made. Based on this, issue age seems like the better choice.
My parents live in North Carolina. The only three companies offering issue age in this state are Old Surety Life Insurance (offering Medicare F & G), Bankers Fidelity Life Insurance (offering F only), and Old Surety (F only).
My mom has been told by two health insurance brokers that Medicare Plan F will be discontinued in 2020. This is making us think that going with plan F would be a bad decision, since there will be no new people coming into the plan after 2020, so the people remaining in that policy will become sicker and sicker and the rates will go up and up.
My Dad only has until Dec 1 to choose a supplemental policy (six months from the beginning of signing up for Medicare Part B). In other words, we need to make a decision soon.
PLEASE comment below if any of the information I have provided is incorrect; if you have any information about any of the health insurance companies listed above; or if you have additional information or advise about Medicare plans.
Additional information that may be important: Dad is a vet, their zip is 28768, and they make about $50,000/year.
My dad's illness has been extremely taxing on my mom, and I really want to help her out with this. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
My dad was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. He also has heart disease, and has gone through a quintuple bypass and multiple heart stents. He is (otherwise) a healthy, in-shape 77 year old.
My mom feels completely lost trying to choose a Medicare plan for him and herself (she is a healthy 65 year old). She has spoken with several healthcare professionals and insurance brokers about which supplemental Medicare plans they should choose, but so far has not received any definitive answer.
Neither of us are in the healthcare field, and trying to wrap our brains around Medicare terminology has been exhausting. Being an avid Redditor, I decided to take my question to y'all. Any advice you could give me would be amazing.
So, here's what my mom and I have been able to come up with in regards to Medicare plans:
When you turn 65 and apply for social security, you are automatically given Medicare Part A, which helps with expenses if you are hospitalized. This does not cost anything, however there is a deductible of $1,288 every 60 days throughout the calendar year.
Medicare Part B pays for major medical doctors visits and testing. This deductible is $166 annually. Medicare pays 80% of the approved costs and the individual pays for 20%.
Medicare Part C would have a $4,600 annual deductable due to my dad's preexisting cancer and heart disease. This is more than they can afford, so they are not considering this as an option.
Supplemental plans exist which may be purchased from other insurance providers and brokers, and these help with various costs to the individual. The most popular plans for hospitalization are F & G.
Based on this, they have determined that they will need a Medicare Plan D (for drug coverage) as well as a supplemental policy for both of them - either F or G.
The way these policies are sold are two ways: by attained age or issue age. With attained age, the insurance company can raise rates yearly for increased age and for claims. With issue age, the company holds your rates at your age, although they can be adjusted for the cost of living and amount of claims made. Based on this, issue age seems like the better choice.
My parents live in North Carolina. The only three companies offering issue age in this state are Old Surety Life Insurance (offering Medicare F & G), Bankers Fidelity Life Insurance (offering F only), and Old Surety (F only).
My mom has been told by two health insurance brokers that Medicare Plan F will be discontinued in 2020. This is making us think that going with plan F would be a bad decision, since there will be no new people coming into the plan after 2020, so the people remaining in that policy will become sicker and sicker and the rates will go up and up.
My Dad only has until Dec 1 to choose a supplemental policy (six months from the beginning of signing up for Medicare Part B). In other words, we need to make a decision soon.
PLEASE comment below if any of the information I have provided is incorrect; if you have any information about any of the health insurance companies listed above; or if you have additional information or advise about Medicare plans.
Additional information that may be important: Dad is a vet, their zip is 28768, and they make about $50,000/year.
My dad's illness has been extremely taxing on my mom, and I really want to help her out with this. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.