We have Blue Cross Medicare Advantage Plus and it has been literally magnificent.
Basically, we temoporarily signed over our Medicare privilages to Blue Cross and they pick up a huge amount of that not covered by the original Medicare plan. As far as the doctors and hospitals are concerned, we simply show our Blue Cross card and everything works as smooth as silk.
Before we bought a suppliment, I took the time to visit each of the doctors and hospitals we normally use and asked them, "When we switch to Medicare, which suppliment card would you like to see when we arrive in your care." Basically, I wanted to keep the same doctors, hospitals and pharmacy as we'd always had and I wanted THEM to be happy with what we had.
The answer was Blue Cross, Aetna or, believe it or not, Mutual of Omaha.
I would urge you to make a visit to your doctors and local hospitals and ask the same question.
I've been on Blue Cross Medicare Advantage Plus for two years now and Karen has been on it for a little over a year. We see almost no paperwork, pay very little whenever we visit our doctor and we are delighted with the plan.
The cost is, if memory serves, $118.00 a month, plus the Medicare deduction from our Social Security.
We retired at 49 years of age and had to carry our medical plans as individuals until age 65. The last year, our plans cost us over $800 EACH per month ($1,600++ per month), even with a high dedictible. Reducing that to a total of a little over $400 for both of us has been a Godsend.
Steve
