Medicare

[W3WN]

Something Luke just mentioned in Dave’s HBD post reminded me...

WTF is going on with all these outfits and yahoos pushing Medicare?

It started last year, and has really intensified the last few weeks, as I‘m now in the 64.5 realm... don’t ask, please, I do not celebrate my annual solar orbit completion, it brings up painful reminders...

Unsolicited phone calls, spam email, junk mail via the postal service... all trying to convince me (and some trying to con me) that they, and only they, have my best interests at heart, and only THEY can properly sign me up.

No one, when I bother to chat on the phone, can tell me exactly WHAT they’re signing me up for. At best, I get “you know, Medicare!” (Or Medicaid or both). Though lately, I just tell them “no thanks” (or stronger) and hang up.

WTF?

Well, I don’t plan on retiring for a while yet, and my current job has great coverage. So is it wise tell them to the shut the front door... if not, who should I talk to?

[WZ7U]

I wonder if its kinda like AARP, in the sense that they know when you turn 50 and you get hounded to join. Except these clowns are waiting for medicare age to hit.

[n6hcm]

This is designed to be confusing.

[kb2vxa]

No, it is THEY that are confused, not I. When you "come of age" just sign up for Social Security, Medicare comes with it and you are allowed up to $10,000 in assets. It's federal and nobody needs a middleman taking a cut. State Medicaid varies by state, you need it or a private plan to make up the difference or you'll bear 25% out of pocket expense. Pronounce AARP as a word, then excuse yourself you pig! (;->)

[K4PIH]

Yeah it's just another version of the AARP scam.

[W3WN]

Yeah it's just another version of the AARP scam.
I joined them (at the Boss' insistence) for one year.

First, I get a note saying that I didn't pay enough, even though I paid what the offer said.
Then, after paying, I didn't get an issue of their rag for about 6 months.
Never did get the "free gift" either.

Never renewed, and all their junk mail now goes straight into the circular file.

If I ever want to be treated like this again, I'll sign up for the print edition of CQ.

[n6hcm]

Eh. There's traditional Medicare, all the different parts, then Medicare advantage, and of course each has eleventy zillion pluses and minuses. Just taking Medicare as-is is problematic for many. It honestly makes me want to take a bottle of potent pills at the prescribed time and be done with it.

I also learned that there is a non-liberal version of the AARP (I would have never pegged the AARP as being particularly liberal, but...)

[K4PIH]

yeah same here.The only benny from AARP was getting relieved of excess money. The medicare thing akin to the car title loan scam.

[PA5COR]

Dunno about your healthcare system.
From 18 mandatory private insured for all costs hospital medication etc, 125 euro a month,, low income or pensioners get subsidized, meaning i only pay 18 euro a month and max own contribution of 385 euro a year for medication.

So that is 580 or so euro an year for all costs including housedoctor hospital tests etc.
Government keeps an eye on insurers and wwhat they have to pay and re imburse.
hospitals and quality govenment controled.
Mostly we're in the top 3 of healthcare systems worldwide.
Kids till 18 are free on the policy of parents.

[kb2vxa]

You don't WANT to know about our health scare system, like the song goes everything is broken. The core problem is we're living with the legacy of the Cold War, the propaganda we're spoon fed from birth, Socialism is BAAAD, it leads to Communism and that's WORSE! Socialism is a good thing, you pay more in taxes, wages are higher to cover the expense, and you get more back in services like cradle to grave Socialized Medicine. You can understand that Cor, it's your way of life. So what's wrong with Communism? NOTHING if it is the right kind like Maoism, that's why China is the strongest country on Earth. They work together rather than fighting each other in the Capitalist shark tank of competition. America wake up and smell the coffee, Everything You Know Is Wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_You_Know_Is_Wrong

[WØTKX]

Medicare advantage plans are often doublespeak.
To their advantage not yours. Check the fine print.

I think I'm going with Kaiser. They know my history.
This really shouldn't be so difficult.