Maintenance meds. to BCBS, ....Can I change to BCBS from MEDICARE?

[Spring25]

Hello:
I'm an elderly female and have both MEDICARE and BCBS.
I'd like to change all of my maintenance meds. to BCBS, .... not rely on MEDICARE seeing and hearing current media/economic situation re: MEDICARE and SSA.
Is there a way for me to change to BCBS?
Thanks for any opinions and inputs in advance.

 

[myinsurebiz]

Hello:
I'm an elderly female and have both MEDICARE and BCBS.
I'd like to change all of my maintenance meds. to BCBS, .... not rely on MEDICARE seeing and hearing current media/economic situation re: MEDICARE and SSA.
Is there a way for me to change to BCBS?
Thanks for any opinions and inputs in advance.

You have 8 days to make a decision.

 

[myinsurebiz]

Hello:
I'm an elderly female and have both MEDICARE and BCBS.
I'd like to change all of my maintenance meds. to BCBS, .... not rely on MEDICARE seeing and hearing current media/economic situation re: MEDICARE and SSA.
Is there a way for me to change to BCBS?
Thanks for any opinions and inputs in advance.

@DonP hook her up

 

[somarco]

Is BCBS a supplement plan, drug plan or Medicare Advantage plan?

 

[Spring25]

Is BCBS a supplement plan, drug plan or Medicare Advantage plan?

Thanks for the response.
BCBS is supplement plan. MEDICARE started to cover my maintenance meds. with a little information.
Prior to this, BCBS(Federal plan) covered/paid all of maintenance meds. without any issues attached. So, I was very surprised not able to pick one of my pain meds. in CVS.
I have no idea whether MEDICARE Advantage plan or not.
MEDICARE: Hospital (PART A)
MEDICAL (part B)

 

[LostDollar]

Thanks for the response.
BCBS is supplement plan. MEDICARE started to cover my maintenance meds. with a little information.
Prior to this, BCBS(Federal plan) covered/paid all of maintenance meds. without any issues attached. So, I was very surprised not able to pick one of my pain meds. in CVS.
I have no idea whether MEDICARE Advantage plan or not.
MEDICARE: Hospital (PART A)
MEDICAL (part B)

Caveat, not an agent.

Do you still have the BCBS Federal plan?

A government BCBS health plan and a BCBS Medicare Supplement plan are entirely different health insurance products.

In addition to Medicare Parts A and B and a BCBS Medicare Supplement Plan, do you have a Medicare Part D drug plan for your prescription drugs which you give the information about to your pharmacy each year?

 

[annon123]

Thanks for the response.
BCBS is supplement plan. MEDICARE started to cover my maintenance meds. with a little information.
Prior to this, BCBS(Federal plan) covered/paid all of maintenance meds. without any issues attached. So, I was very surprised not able to pick one of my pain meds. in CVS.
I have no idea whether MEDICARE Advantage plan or not.
MEDICARE: Hospital (PART A)
MEDICAL (part B)

Medicare A is hospitalization and covers drugs only while in the hospital. It does not pay for drugs that are from a pharmacy or administered in a doctor's office.

Medicare B deals with doctor appointments and pays for drugs that are, for example, injected in the doctor's office. It does not pay for drugs you get from a pharmacy.

To cover drugs bought at a pharmacy you then need to also buy a drug plan.

A supplement plan, that you say BCBS is, covers copays of doctor office visits, including drugs administered there provided Medicare covers them. Depending on the alphabet letter of your supplement (also called Medigap). The alphabet letter of these plans are: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M and N) what your deductible and out of pocket limit varies for that. Supplements are required to pay if Medicare B pays.

If you have both your supplement and drug plan from BCBS your pharmacy should already be using your drug plan to pay for drugs bought there if they are included on the formulary for the specific plan you have. Drug plans can only be changed at the end of the year for the following year so you have missed the change period for that UNLESS you are in your new to Medicare initial sign up period.

If your BCBS is actually an advantage plan and not a supplement then many (but not all of them) including drugs. Again what is paid for depends on the formulary for that advantage plan. You still will have to pay for Medicare B even if you have an advantage plan. If it is an advantage plan you have until the end of March to change it to one that has all your meds on the formulary so, as someone else said, you need to act quickly.

If you were in the military then that works differently than what I stated above (as someone else said already). It would be worth calling the number on your card or cards and ask them your questions as they would know exactly what you have, the rules, etc. and could likely help you.

There are several states that have their own rules (so they are not identical to what I stated above). It would be useful to let us know which state you live in so we know if you are going by the rules most states go by or the "special" state rules.

It sounds like you are confused enough it might be worth talking with an agent about this (you'd get answers faster). If you'd post what state you are in an agent on here licensed to practice in that state could privately message you and then the two of you could talk on the phone. You do not pay an agent for advice or to sign you up for something you want. They get their money from the company in the form of a commission.

 

[somarco]

BCBS is supplement plan. MEDICARE started to cover my maintenance meds. with a little information.

This may slightly overlap what @annon123 posted but hopefully you will follow.

As she said, Part D (drug plan) normally covers meds filled in a retail pharmacy such as CVS. Drug plans have a list of preferred pharmacies and you need to use those if you want to lower your OOP costs.

Normally, drug plans are picked up during the fall open enrollment. In some situations, you may qualify to enroll in a drug plan now.

Depending on your location, there may be a dozen or more drug plans available. You should match up the plan that covers your meds for the lowest OOP.

Drug plan premiums can run anywhere from $0 to over $100 . . . so choose wisely.

If your BCBS is one of the FEHB plans, it MAY be primary and Medicare is secondary.

When an active federal employee has both FEHB and Medicare, FEHB is typically the primary payer, and Medicare is the secondary payer. However, Medicare becomes the primary payer after retirement and enrollment in a Medicare plan.

As you can see, Part D is complicated and there are no simple answers.

You also may be up against an enrollment deadline or it may be there is nothing you can do until the fall.

Many questions, few answers at this point.

I believe forum rules prohibit you from sending a PM to forum agents until you have 20 posts. There are folks here like @annon123, @rmhaire and myself who can offer advice at no charge but connecting might be a challenge.

 

[Spring25]

Many thanks two of the responses above. I really appreciate both of them taking the time to help me out.
First, I live in MD. Second, I inherited BCBS along with his annunity from my late husband.
Prior to the denial of one of pain-meds., I had no problem picked-up all of meds. my Orth. doc. prescribed and sent them to CVS.
However, reading and hearing media recently, SSA and MEDICARE appears to be some issue. So, I want to pay 'Drug-plan' even $100 per month is worthwhile to me.
My late husband worked in one of Federal Goverments for almost 45 years, not military-related.
Since I'm unfamiliar to drug-plan, it might be better to talk to BCBS? I'm very familiar to BCBS. My late husband enrolled with BCBS when he was hired by Federal Gov. at age 25. He passed away at age 75 from cancer in the fall of 2015.

 

[LostDollar]

Many thanks two of the responses above. I really appreciate both of them taking the time to help me out.
First, I live in MD. Second, I inherited BCBS along with his annunity from my late husband.
Prior to the denial of one of pain-meds., I had no problem picked-up all of meds. my Orth. doc. prescribed and sent them to CVS.
However, reading and hearing media recently, SSA and MEDICARE appears to be some issue. So, I want to pay 'Drug-plan' even $100 per month is worthwhile to me.
My late husband worked in one of Federal Goverments for almost 45 years, not military-related.
Since I'm unfamiliar to drug-plan, it might be better to talk to BCBS? I'm very familiar to BCBS. My late husband enrolled with BCBS when he was hired by Federal Gov. at age 25. He passed away at age 75 from cancer in the fall of 2015.

My personal non-agent opinion would be you should not talk with BCBS until you know a bit more.

I say that because my suspicion would be that if you talk with BCBS they will try to steer you to a Medicare Advantage plan. That may, or may not, be to your advantage.

First you should learn more about the coverage options offered by the (retiree?) government BCBS plan and how they work with Medicare.

From posts I see here, Agent's prospects often do not really know whether they have a Medicare Part D plan or a Medicare Advantage plan.

You need to get that figured out.

There are two paths to get Medicare coverage. Both start with Parts A and B. After that, the usual situation is one has either a Medicare Supplement and a Part D plan or a Medicare Advantage plan which usually includes drug coverage.