Has Anyone Tried Health Insurance Through AARP?

[birdseye]

Does anyone reading this have experience with using the health insurance offered by AARP (American Assoc. of Retired Persons)on the Big Island? (Not that we're retired ... but age seems to be the qualifier)

Mahalo

[lquade]

i looked into it and found the "benefits" almost non-existent.. it has been too long to give specific examples but i felt it pretty useless and was so surprized i even wrote AARP ( of which i am quite fond). I am retired Health Care Administrator so am pretty good at reading these contracts by the way....

[birdseye]

Thanks for that input. I also found it to be surprisingly "basic" to have received AARP's endorsement. But since it is my husband's current policy, I thought I would find out if serves any useful purpose on the island.

From reading past forums, it seems that the weapon of choice is Kaiser ... would you care to express an opinion about that? We are both self-employed.

[missydog1]

that's what I thought too.
AARP seems to provide a very slight adjunct to folks with Medicare, not a stand alone coverage.

[lquade]

well there is kaiser and HSMA. if you choose the latter go with the PPO not the HMO. problem with both is the same.... there arent enough dr.s on the island. period. but the ppo lets you use most you find here and on the mainland. it is esentially bluecross. kaiser has a second benefit in that if they want to send you to a specialist on oahu they pay your way over. hsma doesnt unless you are low income. health care is in crisis here. sometimes i do routine stuff on the mainland but as we are "connected" i have an in here, although i wait in line like everyone else... hope that helps...