10-12-2016, 01:54 PM
I have a feeling there's a little confusion here over what an Advantage plan is. ALL it is is Medicare that you choose to have administered by an insurance company other than the feds. I thought they all had to conform to $0/yr for basic Medicare plan, but it looks like starting in 2017 they are allowed to not provide a basic plan, and therefore are only offering Advantage plans with more coverage. I personally think this is a good thing bc basic medicare pretty much sucks. How Kaiser has gotten away with basic Medicare Advantage plan on the Big Island for more than $0 is beyond me - there must be provisions for places that are remote, etc. Not sure, never looked into it. HMSA has seminars every open enrollment to teach you how this works. My husband is on HMSA Advantage plan that's the $170/month or whatever it is, not the basic $0 plan. I assume that'll be $190/mo in 2017 but we haven't gotten the letter yet. We opted for the better plan when we saw what was covered.
"Supplemental" plans are something different. They are plans that "fill the donut hole" - the gap betw. what's covered and what's not.
i.e. Supplemental insurance and Advantage plans are two different animals.
At the end of every year, insurers are now cancelling policies and replacing them with other policies.
"Supplemental" plans are something different. They are plans that "fill the donut hole" - the gap betw. what's covered and what's not.
i.e. Supplemental insurance and Advantage plans are two different animals.
At the end of every year, insurers are now cancelling policies and replacing them with other policies.