bsinmich
Holland, MI
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emzee wrote:truepath, I have never heard of that. Maybe someone else can elaborate on this???
Insurance companies are rated by AM Best, S&P, Moodys, etc. If you go with one rated A or better you should be safe.
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bsinmich
Holland, MI
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truepath wrote:Am I correct in thinking that you basically have one chance to sign up for a supplement with no questions asked when you first turn 65 and that after that a company can turn you down? How does that change the nature of the decision about what level of supplemental insurance makes sense?
The reason for this is to eliminate "Adverse selection". That is when a person says I won't buy insurance until I get sick. Insurance is based on a large number of people to establish risk and this would not be possible if you were allowed to not buy insurance until you were sick. Think about if you tried to buy fire insuramce only when your house caught fire.
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truepath
Minnesota
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The "adverse selection" problem makes sense. I guess what is surprising to me is the almost universal opinion that some kind of Medicare Supplement is necessary in the first place. This seems to indicate that Medicare coverage is slipping to our detriment and to the benefit of the private insurance companies. I and I suspect most people reading this topic have paid into Medicare since the beginning (1966) and now when it comes time to sign up we have to keep paying the same private insurers that we have been paying for decades. I mistakenly believed that I was finally done with them.
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PennyPA
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Medicare has only ever paid 80% of what they deem the "reasonable" cost of the doctors' visits or testing or whatever. You don't have to get a supplement policy but if you don't, you'll be responsible for the other 20%, something I don't want to have to worry about. It's okay if you're in good health but just remember, that good health won't be there forever. I don't think Medicare ever paid 100%. I know I've gotten much more out of Medicare than I put in. And yes, you may be paying the same private insurers but you're paying them a lot less, for sure!
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emzee
california
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My brother has $105 (or close) taken out of his SS for medicare part A and B. I didn't know they did that? So we have to get supplemental plus pay over $100 a month too, which he says keeps going up.
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PennyPA
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Well, if he didn't have medicare, he'd probably be paying a lot more than $200 a month for health insurance.
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cbeierl
Nashua, NH
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I would recommend that you go to www.medicare.gov. You should be able to find all of the plans you are eligible for there and be able to compare the costs, etc. for each one.
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bsinmich
Holland, MI
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If you want to question why health costs keep increasing just take a look at what is involved in the higher costs. 20-30 years ago we didn't have MRI or ultrasound available. New drugs are coming out every year that cost money to get past the testing period. We can have replacements of joints that we have worn out by living so much longer than previous generations. When SS came into play in 1936 the average man would live another year after 65. Now the life expectancy is to 81. Do you question why SS is in trouble? The final high cost to health care is all the law suits. Many DRs with specialties will pay up to 1/2 of their income in malpractice insurance. We all pay that cost in their fees.
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truepath
Minnesota
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bsinmich, you make good points about why medical costs keep increasing. The increasing life expectancy is a major issue for medicare that is then multiplied by the growing array of potential medical procedures and treatments available to the aging population.
Your statement about medical malpractice surprised me though since I know that physicians in my state pay nowhere near 1/2 of their income on insurance premiums. I did a little research on the rates and the difference between states is astounding. In MN (my state) a physician in some specialties may pay as much as 20 some thousand a year, but the same specialty physician in FL will pay over 200 thousand which is certainly half their income. Here is a link to an insurance site that allows comparison between states:
http://www.mymedicalmalpracticeinsurance.com/medical-malpractice-insurance-rates.php
It looks to me like malpractice reform is needed in some places, but the system seems to be working well in others.
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PennyPA
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The reason SS is in trouble is because Johnson took it out of its separate fund and put it into the general fund so the debt wouldn't look as bad as it really was then gave SS a bunch of IOU's which, as you know, are worth diddly-sheet. If it was put back into its own fund in the care of SSs trustees, it would be earning the money that would help keep it more solvent.
And I so totally agree about malpractice reform. Here in Las Vegas (and we've seen it in other places we travel as well), lawyers advertise on TV about "if you're getting headaches now, when you're in your 40's and 50's, call us. They could be caused by something the delivering doctor did during your birth" and other such hogwash.
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