AARP Online Community and Discussion Forums - Is AARP United Healthcare Medicare supplimental in... - Page 5

Hassiman · ‎10-30-2015

Hi,
AARP's Medicare Supplemental Medicare Insurance sounds great... but I decided that before I purchase it I should read the reviews.

I was astounded!

Consumer affairs reviews were the worst I have EVER seen for any product or service from any company. People were talking about outright misrepresentation of services, copays, non-existent customer service. Representatives simply hanging up on customers, drug formularies not covering many common medications. Increasing co-pays. A litany of misrepresentation and worse.

Now I understand the Internet. You will always find people more willing to badmouth a product or service than to praise it... but I looked for positive reviews and found none...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/insurance/aarp_medicare.html

Is it really this bad? If so why does AARP tolerate this if they are, as they claim, an organization that exists to promote the best interests of senior citizens?

Have I simply been looking for reviews of AARP United Healthcare supplemental insurance in the wrong places?

Can anyone here describe their own experience with this insurance? I live in California... but will be moving to Arizona...

If not AARP/UHC insurance, can anyone here recommend a company for Medicare supplemental insurance with which they have had a positive experience?

Thanks

GailL1 · ‎11-10-2017

@Roxanna35 wrote:
Gail!!!!!!! I just want to see the eligibility questions. for a Supplemental. or are they secret to the general public? just the questions Gail just the questions.?

These are private companies so there is no reason why the general public has to have access. Medigap policies are sold by area to a select group of people - not the general public.

Do like john258 said and contact an independent agent in your area and he probably has access to all the insurers in your area that offer a Medigap policy.

There are qualifiers -

age and/ or other access to Medicare

original Medicare - Parts A and B

your status as an enrollee - Medigap Open enrollment period or Guaranteed issue rights - if neither, you health history and probably the right to get some medical records.

There Are also things that are illegal -

Medicare.gov - Illegal Medigap Practices

Why is what's on the application so important to you ?

Like I said, you are not being denied Medicare - you have Medicare.

GailL1 · ‎05-12-2016

AARP and UHC have an affiliation agreement. No big secret there.

Same is true of their other affiliates.

As the Medicare link says additional benefits can also be added and these, if any, have to be weighed against a person's needs and cost.

ykaplinsky · ‎03-22-2017

NO...their Medicare Supplements are FANTASTIC. Even docs comment on how great our insurance is. It is the ADVANTAGE plans that have had problems...NOT the Supplements. But even the Advantage plans are upgrading and more and more doctors and hospitals are now taking them again.

ss219 · ‎05-01-2017

Yes, it is. They gladly collect a premium and delay paying even a one-night stay claim.They'll ask for multiple examples of itemized bills and never pay. Avoid it-it's a waste of money and only will aggrivate you.

ykaplinsky · ‎05-01-2017

Sorry, but a Medicare Supplement does NOT work that way. Medicare pays first and if Medicare pays then, by law, the Supplement does have to pay...depending on what Plan level you have. We have Full coverage Plan F. In the last 8 years, we have had easily $600,000 in claims and NEVER have had a single instance of a claim paying problem. Not sure what Plan you have or if you have an ADVANTAGE plan instead of a SUPPLEMENT, but I guarantee, Plan F is a Godsend.

GailL1 · ‎11-02-2015

@Arturistar

Keep paying your Plan F premiums on time cause there might be a time in the not so distant future when there will be no more Plan F - you will be grandfathered but no more Medigap Plan F will be offered. Reason being according to the government is that it is too generous - people need some skin in the game to use their plan wisely.

byrondennis · ‎11-03-2015

@GailL1 wrote:

Keep paying your Plan F premiums on time cause there might be a time in the not so distant future when there will be no more Plan F - you will be grandfathered but no more Medigap Plan F will be offered. Reason being according to the government is that it is too generous - people need some skin in the game to use their plan wisely.

Gail, when you say "there might be a time in the not so distant future" are you referring to the first-dollar-coveage changes in Medgiap law that happened in the spring of 2015 (effective 2019 I think for new enrollees) or some other possiblity?

Arturistar · ‎11-02-2015

Gail,

Thanks for the heads up about Plan F may be ending. I had planned to keep the plan, and pay the cost. Like I said, I have been happy. Fortunately I have been very healthy and rarely go to the doctor and only take 3 Tier 1 prescriptions, so I am sure they are making money on me. I do like the security Plan F provides though. Best of luck to all those who are trying to make sense out of all the plans and options.

Chris7715 · ‎11-02-2015

GailL1 wrote:
Keep paying your Plan F premiums on time cause there might be a time in the not so distant future when there will be no more Plan F - you will be grandfathered but no more Medigap Plan F will be offered. Reason being according to the government is that it is too generous - people need some skin in the game to use their plan wisely.

IMO this idea the government has about Plan F is ridiculous. And to make matter worse, should Plan F become too expensive, the good old government gives no option to a person who can not pass medical underwriting except to stick with it or have no supplement at all (except in certain states which give people better options than the Feds.) My Plan F is getting very expensive but even if I wanted to change, I could not due to a surgery that I will have to have some time in the next few years. I wrote to my US Senators about the issue of being locked in to a MedSup plan after the first six months on Medicare. One did not reply and the other said thank you for contacting me about the Affordable Care Act. Duh!!! Just reinforces my thinking that Congress does not really understand the workings of Medicare except that it costs a lot.

Chris

GailL1 · ‎11-02-2015

.Chris, as with any other Medigap plan that is no longer offered, if a person has Plan F now and keeps their premiums paid, they will continue to have the same plan. It will just be closed to any further enrollment.

not being able to change Medigap plans because of medical underwriting or whatever is more of a state issue, that is to say a state insurance regulatory process or rule.

The feds only develop the plans, states set the insurance regulatory rule about how rating and premiums occur.

GailL1 · ‎10-30-2015

Hassiman,

After reading your comments and those on that consumer affairs board that you linked, I can see that there is a good bit of confusion.

I don't know how long you or those commenters have been in the Medicare program but it is made up of many different parts.

Your post heading says "supplemental" insurance which is Medigap coverage and there is not too much a private insurer in such a program as Medicare Medigap (supplemental) insurance can do to mess up since each of the plans are strictly defined by their alphabet title and coverage by Medicare although state insurance regulators can watch premiums and how those premiums are set in their state.

There is NO formulary medication coverage in a supplemental plan.

The only medications which cover the part that Medicare doesn't pay are the ones described in Medicare Part B or as described if you are hospitalized or institutionalized for recooperation for a period of time.

Normally with traditional Medicare, you buy a supplemental policy to augment it and then based on your medication needs, you buy a separate Medicare D policy.

Of course, seniors also have the choice of participating in Medicare Part C or s Medicare Advantage plan instead of participation in traditional Medicare, a supplemental policy and a prescription drug plan.

Within a Medicare Advantage Plan the private insurer has some leeway as to the plan design but must still cover basically the same things as Medicare. No Medigap or supplemental policy is needed with a Medicar Advantage plan. Prescription Drug coverage may or may not be included in the Medicare Advantage plan as well as some other perks which may also be included in these Medicare Advantage (private insurer) plans.

Everybody has to pick and choose the type of Medicare which is best for them in coverage and in price.

some of the people responding on that consumer affairs site also seem to be confused.

I suggest that you begin reading everything on Medicare.gov for clearer understanding and what type Medicare Plans are best for you and your health needs.

Hassiman · ‎10-30-2015

Thanks.... It is totally confusing which is why I decided posting a question on the AARP forum might get me some clarity.

Given your reply how exactly would you define the plans AARP/United Health Care offer:

https://www.aarpmedicaresupplement.com/medicare-insurance/find-a-plan-download.html

It is a supplement by their definition... they say that they allow you to choose your own physician if the accept medicare. Do I need to subscribe to medicare Part B as well as this medicare supplement?

I believe that "Medicare Advantage" plans are far more limiting... and may not be portable should one move to another state. Is that not correct?

drawpoker · ‎10-30-2015

".......It is a supplement by their definition... they say that they allow you to choose your own physician if the accept medicare. Do I need to subscribe to medicare Part B as well as this medicare supplement? "

__________________________________________________________________

No offense meant, Hassiman, but your knowledge of Medicare seems quite shaky. At least based on that last question you posed.

Yes, you have to be enrolled in both Medicare Part A and Part B. (paying the monthly premiums for Part B I mean)

This is true whether you are on Original Medicare with a Supplement (Medigap) or if you decide to enroll in Part C (Medicare Advantage)

You still have to pay (or have your state pay if you are poor enough) the monthly Part B premium. Currently $104.90 for most people; higher for higher income people.

In Calif you have the state protection of what is called the "Birthday Rule". If you move to **bleep** you will lose that.

Slick UHC reps love to tout the "Birthday Rule" to Calif customers in the rather disingenuous way of making it sound as tho it is a company rule (AARP endorsed UnitedHealth Care) rather than a state-specific reg exclusive to Calif. The state of Oregon has something similar, but not technically the same, and is not named the "Birthday Rule".

So, tread very carefully when making this move. Research, research, and research again Arizona Medigap premiums. You might be in for an unpleasant surprise, as in another recent thread, a UHC customer was led down the garden path by greedy and unscrupulous reps when making a move from Connecticut to Florida.

Be careful ! And, please, do some homework in the meantime and bone up on Medicare and how the various parts work. You seem to be very much in the, er, dark here on the fine points.

Lack of knowledge can hurt - some mistakes cannot be "undone"

drawpoker · ‎10-30-2015

Am really loving this AARP new software

Apparently if you write the official USPS abbreviation for the state of Arizona it becomes -

** B L E E P **

S T U P I D , S T U P I D, S T U P I D

byrondennis · ‎10-30-2015

@Hassiman wrote:
Thanks.... It is totally confusing which is why I decided posting a question on the AARP forum might get me some clarity. Given your reply how exactly would you define the plans AARP/United Health Care offer:

https://www.aarpmedicaresupplement.com/medicare-insurance/find-a-plan-download.html

It is a supplement by their definition... they say that they allow you to choose your own physician if the accept medicare. Do I need to subscribe to medicare Part B as well as this medicare supplement? I believe that "Medicare Advantage" plans are far more limiting... and may not be portable should one move to another state. Is that not correct?

The plans at the link you provided are private Medigap plans as described by Gail in her response to you in the second comment on this thread.

Medicare Advantage plans are both more limited and less limited. They are mostly HMOs and PPOs so the providers are limited to whomever is in the HMO or PPO. (This has nothing to do with Medicare; that's the way HMOs and PPOs work. Over 100,000,000 people in the U.S. not on Medicare are in HMOs and PPOs.) And you are right they are limited in a way to given counties in the U.S. (but almost every county has some to choose from) just as Medigap plans are limited in a way by state (although some Medigap plans let you take them with you if you legally change your residence). Public Part C Medicare Advantage plans are less limited in that they typically cover more services than and cost less (even though they have co-pays) than the combination of Original Medicare and a Medigap plan and all have an annual out of pocket spend limit (most Medigap plans do not)