Type of Medicare Could Influence Cancer Patients' Outcomes

[straightnochaser]

Limiting coverage to those that can afford a supplement/20% coinsurance is american af... Anyone here celebrating that should take a long hard look at themselves.

 

[InsuranceGuy29]

Limiting coverage to those that can afford a supplement/20% coinsurance is american af... Anyone here celebrating that should take a long hard look at themselves.

I genuinely like everyone in these forums, but the supplement-only guys do crack me up sometimes. I completely understand you guys don't want to deal with yearly tests, government red-tape, and other regulatory requirements.....

but if the best you guys have is complaining about easy prior authorizations (my prior authorizations with my personal plan are usually done within a few days) and a VERY flawed study with horrible control mechanisms, and no accounting for an almost endless list of unknown "x" variables that also could have facilitated the person to that negative outcome of the study, then my friends, you have a VERY flawed "study."

Not to even mention, they're being VERY deceptive and even outright lying about the restrictions, saying basically that ALL MAPD plans will restrict you in getting care, which is absolutely not true with PPO's. Yea, must be a great and accurate study when they come out lying right from the get-go.

I mean, is anyone actually dumb enough to believe a prior authorization that, on average, takes 2-14 days for 75% of people (and most of those are done within 3-7 days) is the SOLE cause of cancer patients dying?? According to cancerresearchuk.o r g, cancer in early stages doesn't usually kill anyone. Hell, even diagnosing cancer takes at least 2-3 weeks.

Are all the cancer patients they treated in early stages or late stages? They don't even mention it. In fact, they really don't mention much of anything. Moreover, late stage cancer usually kills most cancer patients, regardless of treatment and insurance plan (that is also taken from that website). Again, they mention nothing of this. They just imply "mApD's aRe gOnNa kiLL yA iF yUh gEt The CancErS!!"

The truth is, some facilities don't like MAPD's because they can't make as much money on certain services. Hospitals LOVE money. They're a private business, not a charity. That's just the truth. We all know supplements are just great for a certain demographic of folks, and yes, we all would love to have medical covered at 100%, but there's a lot of people out there that simply can't afford a "Lamborghini." God forbid they have to "settle" for a Ferrari. Get my drift?

Medicare Advantage used to be a much weaker product, but they have gotten better-and-better throughout the years, to the point that if I was going on Medicare, myself, it would be a genuine no-brainer to go with an Advantage plan. Sure, in some zip codes they aren't as strong, but still a fine product to have that will protect you and cost you no extra money.

When you account for the generally low maximum-out-of-pocket spending protections limits of most MAPD plans nowadays, even in a disaster scenario, you're likely to still end up paying less, equal to, or slightly more (which is not a big deal) than a supplement and not guaranteeing your money to an insurance company with heavy premiums every month, even if you don't use it.

As far as the Mayo Clinic, it's clear that they seem to be trending away from Medicare completely, although I believe they recently struck a deal with United to take their MAPD "in-network." With Mayo, it's basically becoming a rich person's hospital. There are plenty of other extremely good cancer hospitals. Mayo isn't even the best one anymore.

And it also needs to be noted that they are lying again as, if you have a PPO, you absolutely can still go to Mayo, regardless of which company's PPO it is, you just pay the slightly more out-of-network charge. This is fear-mongering at its finest, and my guess is it all comes down to $$$$$$$. All of the half-truths, and outright lies should raise red flags to all.

And for the record, I offer both supplements and Medicare Advantage.

 

[somarco]

PPO does not mean u can go anywhere.

Technically, they can GO anywhere they want . . . but if it is a non-par hospital, and it is not an emergency situation, they will not be admitted . . . even though they "went" there