Medicare and Insurance

obgraham wrote:
What you wrote, Avan, is factually correct. And not in conflict with what I wrote.

Practicality is sometimes different. Having dealt in numerous states with Medicare issues, clearly you get less hassle at the point of service with a recognized supplement than you do from Podunk Mutual. And the customer service offered by the carrier is sometimes night and day.

If you haven't run across these matters, consider yourself fortunate. I'll stick to my advice, and others are free to etc. etc.

Not trying to get in a debate here. I just don't think OP or some other casual reader of the thread should remember something a year from now when actually making a decision that 'gee, I think I remember someone on some forum somewhere said I should get BCBS" My point was that the products within each plan are identical and that acceptance is mandatory to any provider that accepts Medicare. Quality of service is a function of a caring provider AND of the willingness of the patient and family to become knowledgeable, to effectively complain when needed and to up the ante when required. Another good reason for OP to inform themselves from knowledgeable sources and Medicare which directly administers/regulates the supplemental/medigap program is (the) one such source. For the record, my now deceased wife had multiple serious issues while insured via Medicare Traditional plus which ever medigap provider that provided the least expensive premium based on the plan we wanted and the zip code we domiciled in during our nearly 15 yrs of full time. Under her plan, she had 22 major surgeries in that 15 years, medical services in 37 of our states, probably something around 100 ER/EMS encounters and 2 air lifts. The last time I totaled her spreadsheet she had in excess of $4million in claims and her last, which I didn't include, ran over another $1million. Never once was the issuer of her medigap insurance an issue. And for the record, the worst quality service and attitude she received, by far, was during a period when her supplemental was issued by BC/BS. I don't blame the insurer for that service. It was a function of the hospital she was EMS'd to and the arrogance of the doctors they hired. She was there nearly 3 months and the hospital was subjected to an on site "Immediate Jeopardy" inspection of her treatment (substantiated allegtions), was deemed in a post death 19 page report issued by Medicare to not have met Medicare's minimum professional standards and the family got sanctions against 5 doctors with one license revocation. NOTHING at all to do with whether her secondary insurer was or was not BC/BS. OP, do your independent homework which of course includes personal opinions but don't forget to consult the available authoritative literature on the basis that it's easier to just ask people what they think.