Content starts here
CLOSE ×

Search

Look for NEW Benefits is Some Medicare Advantage Plans for 2020 and beyond

Reply
Honored Social Butterfly

Look for NEW Benefits is Some Medicare Advantage Plans for 2020 and beyond

These are benefits NOT offered by traditional or original Medicare.

Let us know what you might find out there on these "special" benefits and if you think you might put them to good use or any use.  Do you think these are good things - some maybe / other not so much.

 

I would suggest that you read any plan thoroughly before committing just to make sure it is what you want/need.

 

Medicare Advantage plans next year are allowed to offer new additional benefits for people with certain chronic diseases, such as dementia, diabetes or heart disease. That’s on top of the non-medical benefits that are not tied to a person’s health problems they were allowed to add this year, such as home-delivered meals after a hospitalization, transportation to medical appointments and minor home improvements, such as grab bars to prevent falls in the bathroom.

 

Next year, the additional services some Advantage plans will offer hardly sound like insurance benefits: pest control, dog food for service animals, home-delivered meals and discounted groceries.

 

A shift from reactive care to preventative care - said a spokesman from Anthem, which will offer those and other new perks to some of its more than a million Medicare Advantage members.

 

Smaller Medicare Advantage plans have also expanded benefits.  Some will have access to free transportation to doctor appointments from Uber or Lyft.

 

To address social isolation, some California members who also have certain chronic diseases can receive visits from “Grandkids On-Demand,” college students who can help with light housekeeping and provide companionship for up to two hours a day. Humana and Aetna will also offer the service in some plans.

 

But most insurers are not embracing the opportunity to add extra benefits.

 

“Of those Medicare Advantage plans affected by the new rules, 10% (or about 500) offered new supplemental benefits in 2020 for people with serious chronic illnesses, such as in-home services, palliative care, respite support for people’s caregivers or adult day care,” said Robert Saunders, research director for payment and delivery reform at Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy. He is still analyzing the other categories of extra benefits

 

UnitedHealthcare, which controls 26% of the Medicare Advantage market, is focused“on providing the core medical benefits, which is why people purchase health insurance in the first place,” said Steve Warner, vice president of the UHC Medicare Advantage product team.”Most consumers don’t want to buy a plan that’s been loaded up with ancillary benefits that they don’t think they’re going to use.”

 

Instead, the insurer is offering more plans that do not restrict members to a network of health care providers and introducing specialized plans for people with diabetes or dementia, among other changes.

 

Because new extra benefits will not be accessible in every county, seniors may need to do some detective work to find out what’s available. Using the plan finder, it’s possible to narrow down the Medicare Advantage choices only to those plans that offer hearing, vision, dental, fitness and transportation coverage.

 

Among the improvements in the new plan finder is the ability to compare estimated costs of Medicare Advantage plans against coverage under traditional Medicare with a separate drug plan and one of 11 kinds of Medigap supplement plans, which cover all or some of the out-of-pocket costs Medicare doesn’t pay for.

 

But the monthly premiums listed for Medigap policies ― at least in some areas ― are wildly off course.

 

Bonnie Burns, a consultant to California Health Advocates, recommends that

 >>>> customers call insurers to confirm details before signing up. <<<<<<

 

https://khn.org/news/as-medicare-enrollment-nears-popular-price-comparison-tool-missing-from-website...

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
3,193 Views
2
Report
Conversationalist

@GailL1 regarding these new "benefits", it is important to note that few, if any service providers will be approved to accept Medicare payments. If an insured has a plan that includes the ancillary benefits and wants to partake, they will most likely have to pay for the service then file for reimbursement from their MA plan.


Bark less. Wag more.
0 Kudos
3,083 Views
1
Report
Honored Social Butterfly


@somarco wrote:

@GailL1 regarding these new "benefits", it is important to note that few, if any service providers will be approved to accept Medicare payments. If an insured has a plan that includes the ancillary benefits and wants to partake, they will most likely have to pay for the service then file for reimbursement from their MA plan.


REALLY - well, that is a bummer but I do understand it based on what the "extended" benefit might be - I am sure there is probably some approval method needed for these "extended" benefits to be covered.

Are they written into the policy and how, meaning is the process outlined in the policy?

Can you use one as an example- unnamed, of course - unless it is AARP-UHC.

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
0 Kudos
3,050 Views
0
Report
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Users
Need to Know

NEW: AARP Games Tournament Tuesdays! This week, achieve a top score in Atari Centipede® and you could win $100! Learn More.

AARP Games Tournament Tuesdays

More From AARP