It's That Time Again, Are There Changes In Your Medicare Health Plan For The Better Or For Worse?

We can order online, so there is a good chance that you can do that as well, Chrissy, or at least you should be able to call it in on the phone. See if there is not a website in your catalog.
I just talked with our insurance agent, and he says the Humana programs for next year look really great, so we have an appointment to see him on Saturday and decide whether to stay with United Healthcare or switch to Humana.

It would have to be really good for us to change. We have $1,000 (each) per year for the OTC benefit, the vision checkup, and discount for glasses if needed, a $2500 dental benefit, and now it looks like I will also have the CHF benefit. And then the gift cards for when we have checkups, etc. Plus, our fitness memberships; so overall, this is a pretty worthwhile program.

 

That probably depends on where you live and which medical facility you go to. When I first got cancer, I wasn't on Medicare yet, had no insurance, and paying those kinds of costs out-of-pocket was out of the question. However, I found that I still had an option of the types of treatment that were medically viable, and I was not turned away. The hospital, cancer center, laboratory, and other specialists still did what needed to be done, and I am being billed only by the laboratories

Regular medical care if available on a sliding scale, charging anywhere from a 100% discount on up to full costs, depending on income and insurance coverage. People will say, from time to time that nothing like that is available where they live, but I think they just don't know where to look or how to approach it, because I'm not talking about a skid row free clinic or anything.

There are private hospitals that won't even take Medicare or Medicaid, but most hospitals do. For example, if I wanted to to the MD Anderson Medical Center for treatment of cancer, payment arrangements would have to be made in advance.

That's the case in Maine, and that was the case in Texas, where I lived and worked as a paramedic for twenty years. Patients without insurance or money to pay were given the same treatment as everyone else, including heart surgeries, cancer treatment, etc. Most private hospitals even have programs for those who can't pay.

Dental and eye care are another matter, however. While there are clinics that offer these services on a sliding scale, there are fewer of them that offer care for teeth and eyes, and there are some treatments that they won't offer on a sliding scale.

 

This morning we went for the appointment with our insurance agent. He explained the new improvements for Humana, and it is actually even better than what we have now with UHC, so we have changed over, and it will be effective in January.
Instead of $250 free OTC products, Humana offers $300 ($100 monthly), 36 transportation rides to/from doctor appointments, plus they have $2500 dental and $200 vision benefits.
They also have the heart program that UHC just started, and the UHC one gives you a tablet and wifi scales, to track your heart information. I signed up for that with UHC, but have not heard back from them as of yet.

Humana also has what they call the @go365 program, where you can get gift cards for simple things like getting your flu shot, or having the wellness check, and you can get up to $365 for that program. Besides the wellness checks, you can also get points for wearing a fitness tracker, and doing Silver Sneakers workouts; so that will be good for us, and something that you might also want to check out, @Chrissy Cross and @Babs Hunt .

https://www.humana.com/member/manage-your-health/achieving-health-goals/go-365

 

Even though you have a different plan than we are getting, the main benefits that Humana gives should be the same for any of the plans. If you have not spoken with your health insurance agent about the new Humana plans to see which benefits you have, you might want to do that. From what our agent explained, these benefits are good for any of the Humana plans.
You might be missing out on some just because you don’t know you are going to have them.
I looked at the 365 program, and all you have to do to belong is be a Humana customer, and I am sure that the new $100 per month OTC would also have changed for all of the plans.

 

Today, I recieved the phone call back from United Health Care, and the nurse has now enrolled me into their heart failure program. They are sending me a special set of scales and tablet to enter in information every day, and it can also be sent to my heart doctor if I seem to be having some kind of problem with my heart again.
Since we are changing over to Humana the first of next year, this will only be a short term program for me, but it appears that Humana also has a program for people who have heart issues, so I can probably just transfer into that program once we change into Humana in January.
They asked me for background information about my heart condition, as well as what heart medications I am currently taking.
Once the packet with the scales and tablet arrive, then I have to weigh and send in the information first thing each morning.

I think that it is a really great thing that the Medicare Advantage plans are being so pro-active about the health of older patients with programs like this and also the fitness memberships, and OTC allowances.

 

Well, we are switched over to the Humana Advantage plan, and so far, think it is okay. It seems about the same provisions as the UHC plan had, except we can get points for exercise and health pro-active activities, like parking further away, and even for weighing each day.
I have added several new apps that interact with the Humana app, like My Fitness Pal, and one called Health IQ, that does little informative quizzes every day.
So far, I can see that it seems to be picking up the information from my Apple Health app, also; but it is not showing it as being accumulated in the Humana app.
I think that it might take a while for it to all show up in the app maybe. In any case, I am going to do as many of these things as I can, and hopefully get enough points for the gift cards, like @Babs Hunt gets.

I did order my first $100 worth of OTC items, mostly vitamins, and a few things like salves and cold meds, just in case of a cold this winter.
Since we are still on Silver Sneakers, I didn’t have to change anything at the fitness center.
There is a Humana Pharmacy app, too; so I am going to try switching my heart medications over to their mail-out pharmacy. When I did this with Cigna (several years ago), they would give me automated calls, and I had an awful time with it and quit; but it looks to me like I can do everything online with the app this time, and then just get the meds in the mail every 3 months.