Mrs. Ichabod is in the hospital again tonight, for observation and tests. She looks healthy and energetic, but she may have another bout of Valley Fever, which can be dangerous.
I decided to use the opportunity to mention Medicare Advantage, since many people do not know about it. Once Medicare D began, we were squeezed into a corner, paying huge amounts for prescriptions, kicked out of two plans in two years. The health plan she had for 12 years encouraged her to shop for something else. So we did.
As I understand it, Medicare Advantage gives a fat sum of money to an organization to take care of all doctor, hospital, prescription, eyecare, and dental care. There are small deductibles for each prescription and some other items, but no charge for the plan itself (saving us $3600 a year). So we are paying nothing for the plan, less for out-of-pocket costs, and getting organized care where all the medical people work together well. We use Cigna, which has generic coverage for the prescription doughnut ($2500 total in prescriptions, which we reached in May).
I wanted to mention this because neither one of us knew how much better Medicare Advantage could be, and I have a health insurance license. Pastors who read this should inform themselves about this alternative in case they can help their members by pointing them to a plan in their area. One way is to Google "Medicare Advantage" and put the zip code in the window. Several plans and their outlines, plus a phone number, will appear.
I will join the same plan when I am 65. Mrs. Ichabod is in Medicare because she is disabled.
We no longer have a file folder with 100 recent Medicare and supplemental forms in it. Almost all the billing is done inside Cigna.
