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Choosing best insurance and insurance at Mayo
Visiting Mayo Clinic | Last Active: Jan 18 12:42pm | Replies (36)Comment receiving replies
All I ever hear is complaints about advantage plans . I can only talk about my experience. I’ve had an advantage plan since 2007. In 2018 I had a kidney transplant at Mayo. My largest bill after the transplant was $750. I even had a 1 year allotment that covered any hotel and parking costs and covered costs for fuel since we lived more than 100 miles from Mayo. We rented an Airbnb in Rochester for one month. It was payed for by my insurance. I pay 79 dollars for a 90 day supply of my immunosuppressants and 0 out of pocket for the rest of my meds. Our premiums have varied over the years. Next year my husband and I will each pay $66 dollars a month for our premiums. My husband has been hospitalized twice in the past few years. He had dementia. The first time the total cost was $100. This past summer he was hospitalized for Covid. The bill was $150. The ambulance bill was$250. I’ve never been unhappy with our advantage plan. Mayo does have an agreement with United Health Care, which is what we have now. We’ve never had cancer so I can’t speak to those costs.
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I don't think everyone is complaining about Advantage Plans. They are good for some and for others. But they also have a network so can prevent being seen at some facilities.
I posted some time ago the letter Mayo Jacksonville puts out each year about Advantage Plans and that they do not accept them with some exceptions so check with their insurance section if considering changing from traditional Medicare to an Advantage Plan.
I have traditional Medicare and a secondary insurance that pays the deductibles and co-payments of Medicare. I can go anywhere Medicare is accepted and my secondary insurance will cover all that Medicare does not.
United Health Care is promoted by AARP and from what I have read a good plan. I had a friend go to Moffitt Cancer Center with the Advantage United Health Care and got great care. What a lot do not understand that when you go with Advantage Plans you are no longer a Medicare Patient you are a patient under the Advantage Plan. So each Advantage Plan have a network, and also what they pay and don't pay. So if you need to go to a Specialty Provider I would be sure to check first to see if your Advantage Plan will cover you going there prior to signing up.
But even with Medicare there can be limits on a Specialty Provider. Mayo Jacksonville limits the number of Medicare Patients even though Medicare classifies Mayo as a specialty provider and allowed to charge more for their services. Some of my friends in my retirement community could not get into Mayo even though it is 30 minutes away.