15 year surgiversary
- Thread starter DianaCox
- Start date
Happy surgiversary!
Do you have your Medicare in place?
Do you have your Medicare in place?
Pretty much - the paperwork isn't complete - it got complicated by the fact that I didn't want it to start until September 1st, for both of us, because my insurance is good through the end of the month.
For both of us - BCBS Plan G: mine is $122/mo, his is $141. $138/year deductible, no copays.
For Charles: Plan D through Aetna with zero copay for any of his current meds, and less than $13/mo
For me: Plan D through AARP/UHC (which pisses me off - I hate UHC), about $27/mo and about $25/mo for scripts - go figure.
I'm waiting for documents from BCBS and UHC - I was able to set up everything on the phone (including autopay) with Aetna on the phone, and I'm highly annoyed that that could not be done on the phone with BCBS and UHC as well.
And SSA/Medicare totally screwed up our CLEAR AND DEFINITIVE REQUESTS to not start our Part B until September 1st. Fixing that is requiring canceling our Part B and restarting it. But we shouldn't have to pay $134 each for August for no reason.
This is way way WAY harder than it should have to be - I've been struggling to figure out the best plans for MONTHS. And I'm still not sure that's what we've got.
For both of us - BCBS Plan G: mine is $122/mo, his is $141. $138/year deductible, no copays.
For Charles: Plan D through Aetna with zero copay for any of his current meds, and less than $13/mo
For me: Plan D through AARP/UHC (which pisses me off - I hate UHC), about $27/mo and about $25/mo for scripts - go figure.
I'm waiting for documents from BCBS and UHC - I was able to set up everything on the phone (including autopay) with Aetna on the phone, and I'm highly annoyed that that could not be done on the phone with BCBS and UHC as well.
And SSA/Medicare totally screwed up our CLEAR AND DEFINITIVE REQUESTS to not start our Part B until September 1st. Fixing that is requiring canceling our Part B and restarting it. But we shouldn't have to pay $134 each for August for no reason.
This is way way WAY harder than it should have to be - I've been struggling to figure out the best plans for MONTHS. And I'm still not sure that's what we've got.
Whit
Well-Known Member
You look fantastic. Your hair is so long! Steve will be 62 so we have a bit of time for Medicare. However Tricare and the military is cancelling Dental Benefits after 2018 which sucks. They weren't great but at least we had coverage. Now I need to look for an alternative. Blah! Any way Happy surgiversary!
Take good care...
Take good care...
Medicare doesn’t do dental. The few Advantage plans that cover it are worth less than the paper to print on.
Now, there are “reasonable” dental plans for individuals out there. We actually prefer Delta Dental. Costco has an HMO dental plan thru Delta Dental for a few states. FL is one, CA is another and I think three to four other states. But fair warning, they pay the dentists next to nothing so finding a participating dentist is hard. Another option is to see if there is a dental school near you that takes patients for students to learn on.
hilary1617
First time at the rodeo.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2014
- Messages
- 3,757
Happy Surgiversary, you look great. not at all old enough to be going on Medicare.
too hard for sure - how are non-brilliant not-lawyers supposed to figure it out?
too hard for sure - how are non-brilliant not-lawyers supposed to figure it out?
That’s how I’ve started every goddamned conversation with the SSA, Medicare, BCBS rep, Aetna rep, AARP rep, and various people in my office in charge of the medical, dental and vision plans. If I’m this confused and frustrated and unclear, and if even doing the right things months in advance, it gets screwed up, how the hell is the average person supposed to DEAL with this shit??
This coming week: I have to make sure I can maintain my dental and vision coverage when dropping medical; I have to find out what I can spend the rest of my FSA and HSA on, and by when, since I can’t contribute to them anymore (our medical plan was 9/1-8/31, but I think dental is 1/1-12/31, as are the savings plans); I have to arrange the autopay for Parts B and D for me, and Part G for both of us, when the forms come, and I have to find out if Charles and I were disenrolled and then re-enrolled in Part B but with the right start date. I called the SSA lady multiple times late last week and she didn’t return my calls.
And then there are the doctor’s appointments. And the house needs cleaning and I’m not in the mood.
This coming week: I have to make sure I can maintain my dental and vision coverage when dropping medical; I have to find out what I can spend the rest of my FSA and HSA on, and by when, since I can’t contribute to them anymore (our medical plan was 9/1-8/31, but I think dental is 1/1-12/31, as are the savings plans); I have to arrange the autopay for Parts B and D for me, and Part G for both of us, when the forms come, and I have to find out if Charles and I were disenrolled and then re-enrolled in Part B but with the right start date. I called the SSA lady multiple times late last week and she didn’t return my calls.
And then there are the doctor’s appointments. And the house needs cleaning and I’m not in the mood.
Munchkin
Full of Fairy Dust
So where did you get all that hair???? You are looking great!
When we “moved” to FL, dh’s start date was the next month. However, because I was doing my cataract surgery, I pushed my start date to June. Had no issues getting those straight. But then again, I was swapping plans not enrolling for the first time.
FWIW, we have dental through Tricare. We do pay a premium. Or are you talking about Tricare is dropping that option? "Blah" is right.
Congratulations on both fronts. Fifteen years of improved health is fantastic and navigating Medicare is a PITA. If I cooked, I would like that kitchen as well. I also can't help noticing as the weight came off, the smile got bigger.
Munchkin
Full of Fairy Dust
Happy 15 to both of us! Hard to believe. The time has gone fast and so much has happened!
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OK, Part B dates for Charles and me have been corrected. Still waiting on paperwork coming by snail mail to sign up for autopay for all the plans except Charles' Part B (coming out of SS check) and his Part D (they did it over the phone).
Our 2007 Jeep has a recall (for a suspension issue) - parts on order. I just got my 2005 Infiniti airbag recall taken care of. RV has to be moved to our new storage area as soon as it opens (costs almost 3x as much per month, but the sites are under a carport instead of out in the open, and have electricity for trickle charging, and the community lot is ridiculously unprotected - they shut off the security system because rabbits kept setting it off and people's RVs have been broken into multiple times). Charles has daily treatments (5 days/week) for the next 6 months. I have doctor's appointments today and tomorrow. Prosthedontist appointments for both of us next week. In September and October, I've already got appointments scheduled for annual physical, liver doc, and neurologist for baseline testing. It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge - when you finish one round of taking care of everything, go back to the beginning and start over!
It's a good thing that I'm only working part time, because taking care of this kind of SHIT is a nearly full-time job.
I'm hoping Charles can travel for the balloon festival RV trip in October - I need a vacay. And then we're supposed to go to Gilroy (SF South Bay area) for Thanksgiving. But it all depends on how he's feeling.
Our 2007 Jeep has a recall (for a suspension issue) - parts on order. I just got my 2005 Infiniti airbag recall taken care of. RV has to be moved to our new storage area as soon as it opens (costs almost 3x as much per month, but the sites are under a carport instead of out in the open, and have electricity for trickle charging, and the community lot is ridiculously unprotected - they shut off the security system because rabbits kept setting it off and people's RVs have been broken into multiple times). Charles has daily treatments (5 days/week) for the next 6 months. I have doctor's appointments today and tomorrow. Prosthedontist appointments for both of us next week. In September and October, I've already got appointments scheduled for annual physical, liver doc, and neurologist for baseline testing. It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge - when you finish one round of taking care of everything, go back to the beginning and start over!
It's a good thing that I'm only working part time, because taking care of this kind of SHIT is a nearly full-time job.
I'm hoping Charles can travel for the balloon festival RV trip in October - I need a vacay. And then we're supposed to go to Gilroy (SF South Bay area) for Thanksgiving. But it all depends on how he's feeling.
