Buying supplemental insurance a nightmare
Reader Input Online
With the baby boomers being the largest number of Senior Citizens ever entering the health care system as they age; I thought I would share my knowledge of what I have learned about how expensive, time consuming and confusing it is for Senior Citizens (who can afford it) to purchase additional supplemental health insurance because Medicare does not cover all of the needs. My cousin and her husband have been in the business of selling supplemental insurance plans to Seniors in Phoenix, AZ. for 15 years. I’ve visited with them during the peek season when time is of the essence to have policies for Seniors in place before year end. They barely have time to breath from July to year end. Meals are mostly take out or delivered to thier office. They hold educational seminars for Seniors, are advocates for current customers who are caught in confusion of red tape between medical services and insurance companies and they sell supplemental insurance to Seniors. The phones begin ringing at 8AM & continue until 5:30PM & beyond. Often, they work around the schedule of their clients, having them come to the office after the dinner hour. I’ve overheard long conversations over the phone with confused clients and have seen my cousin in action making follow up phone calls to medical service providers, pharmacies & Medicare personnel in her role as an advocate to help and to protect clients. Over the years, my cousin has said countless times, that the health and insurance system is broken and reform needs to be done. This, from someone in the BUSINESS of selling supplemental insurance policies to Seniors. With the downfall of our economy, many Seniors and baby boomer’s entering or about to enter the Senior Health Care system, are doing so with investments and assets for retirement stripped & Social Security running out. That means, they will not be able to afford the supplemental insurance plans under the current system. With health issues that often make just getting through the day a challenge, they will be faced with all the red tape, to get what they need by being their own advocates while not receiving the help they desperately need. This is just ONE of the many true stories regarding the broken Health Care and Insurance System in our country. Lorraine Sexton, Colfax
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-Well Lorraine, here is another true story about Supplemental Insurance. First off, you have to do your homework, just like when you buy a car. Then you go with the plan that offers the most of what you want or need. We have Kaiser and are very satisfied with them.
You point out all the bad things as YOU see them, what are your suggestions. Let's face it, as we age we tend to lose some brain computing power, that is why so many scams are directed towards old folks and we also tend to get confused and/ or forget things, but please don't believe for one minute that your Government is going to take care of you without you having to move a finger.
Just look at what your friends in Congress have done to seniors. While they are getting their scheduled raise, they voted for the first time since the 70s to not give a raise to SS recipients, at the same time, their Medicare premiums will increase. I don't know what you call that, I see it as a net loss of income for seniors. And the folks that are doing this are the same ones that claim to have your best interest at hand. Do you really believe that? Oh yes, they are going to send you a $250.00 check, they hope that if you're still alive by the next election that the money they sent you will buy your vote. My, my, how cheap we sell ourselves.
Have a great day and keep hoping for the insurance fairy to show up.
LR: Things are so complicated.
Wouldn't it be nice if the government just did everything for us?
We could focus on the important things like "What to watch on TV", "Which TV dinner to put in the oven" and "What kind of cat food should I buy" rather than those pesky and complicated things like "which insurance program best fits my needs".
If we had government health care, we would not have to deal with all of the complexities. We could just stand in line and talk to the other people in line about what our favorite TV shows are, and such.
Lorraine, Don't worry if Pelosi has her Health Care bill signed into law, that supplemental insurance that is such a head ache for our seniors will no longer be a head ache. As Gov. will have taken that problem away from them and saved us 400 billion dollars at the same time.
Would one of you really smart people divide the population of the United States into the total money spent on the stimulus plans and let me know how much money every citizen would have received if the government had just written a check to each of us? I think it is a really big number. I bet it would be enough to pay for health insurance.
Green: "how much money every citizen would have received if the government had just written a check to each of us? "
--- that's called distribution of wealth. You should really have some more of your GOP cronies double check your talking points before you start spreading them and make yourself sound like a dumb Liberal.
Jon - I would have taken my stimulus money down to the local health clinic. Since Birch and I are both on mandatory medicine, I have to put my vote on healthcare for all, although I would have anyway :-)
I was just talking about stimulus not health care. JP has calculated that each citizen would receive about $33,000.00. A much better plan than cash for clunkers or an $8,000.00 home buying credit. A lot cheaper to administer. Just send the checks out to everyone rich or poor.
Medicare requires supplemental insurance if you want to have good health coverage that includes medication, vision and dental. All the legislation (5 separate bills) if passed will require proof of insurance and it will provide basic coverage. If you needs are more then basic - Lotsa Luck!
It is going to exceed the costs that we that are insured pay many times over. The only people that even know what is in the bills are those that are writing the legislation that seems to have a lot of "shall's writing into them.