Was looking to get a supplement insurance plan to cover the 20%

[KS Toronado]

Medicare doesn't. Just finished my telephone interview with a "Medical Underwriting Agent" my local
Area Council on Aging set up for me. She said there was nothing she could help me with because I'm
undergoing cancer treatment.

Thought insurance companies couldn't discriminate anymore for preexisting conditions, plus this is the
open enrollment period for insurance. Did Rs get the laws changed again? Suggestions anyone?

[Freddie]

1. Do you have a Medicare Advantage plan now?

It can be very difficult (and unfortunately pre-existing conditions can apply) to change out of one.

[KS Toronado]

3. No those advantage plans are a rip off

I have parts A & B Medicare through our Government.

[Freddie]

5. Good

My daughter is an RN Case Manager and strongly advised against the Advantage plans. She said they constantly second-guess the judgement of medical professionals.

[rampartd]

9. i use traditional "real" medicare

with a blue ross supplement for the co pay/deductible.

pre existing conditions are only protected by the a c a. assuming they want to squash that.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. I have basic Medicare

and so far have refused to get a supplemental insurance plan because they are ridiculously expensive. Some doctors' offices have looked at me like "WHAT?" but the only one that's given me grief was a dental surgeon who wasn't covered anyway.

[KS Toronado]

6. That 20% they don't pay is eating me alive

and could completely drain my life's savings.

[Walleye]

8. Same here I don't even have prescription drugs

[Freddie]

4. I have traditional with an AARP supplement

I pay about $110 for the supplement, $120 for Part D pharmacy coverage and $40 for a dental plan that I buy through the retired teachers association. When I went on Medicare 3 years ago I called AARP and got a human and he was very helpful and thorough.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. I think the supplemental is called Medigap

but they vary in coverage, cost, co-pays too.

[SheltieLover]

10. Try Farm Bureau Health & call your senior center & council on aging!

Farm Bureau was several hundred less per mongh than other options & all providers must offer same coverage in each plan category.

I've had my Farm Bureau plan for 3 or 4 years. No problems with it.

Good luck!

[anciano]

11. FWIW....I recently learned that all medical billing is negotiable.

Last edited Mon Dec 8, 2025, 02:18 PM - Edit history (1)

There is an excellent book available on Amazon entitled "Crush Medical Debt" by Virgie Bright Ellington, MD that explains step by step how to settle medical bills for only a percentage of the amount billed.
Good luck and best wishes! 🙏

[whathehell]

12. I asked my husband, who knows quite a bit about

this subject, and he says that If you had private insurance when you enrolled in Medicare, you should be able to get a supplement plan regardless of preexisting conditions. If you had period of time before you signed for the gap insurance when you did not have insurance. or had Medicare without supplemental insurance, they then can discriminate on the basis of preexisting conditions.
I myself was surprised by this, thinking the ban on preexisting conditions in private insurance to be w absolute, but this "exception", according to my husband, was what the insurance companies were able to get for themselves in the original negotiations. I hope this helps.

[Freddie]

14. Unfortunately you are correct

From what I read, if you don’t get a supplement at the same time as you go on Medicare or go off an employer plan, you’re SOL and can be subject to underwriting. Same if you try to switch from an Advantage plan to traditional with a supplement. This can vary by state. This little caveat should be way better known!

[slightlv]

13. I got 'put on' MA when I first contacted someone to come explain the differences

between it and Medicare. I didn't know it until the next day when I went to pick up scripts. As soon as I made it back home, I called Medicare, explained what had been done and how can I undo it, and there wasn't any way possible that I could afford. So, we've been on MA now for 4 years.

It was okay... pretty good, actually, compared to my DoD healthcare plan I had before I retired... for all but the last year. I had a CTScan, and an MRI on my back and never had to pay a penny. This was about the time the ACA started. It stated that for diagnostics, these had no copays. I'd also never paid a copay for an x-ray on my chest or a broken bone.

This year, hubby had to have an x-ray on his chest and it cost $85 copay. I hit the roof! He had the same plan as me, and I didn't have to pay anything! What changed? The R's have been stripping ACA all along without our knowing about it.

I just got off the benefits department because my husband needs a CTScan for his chest, and an MRI on his brain. If we do it at the hospital where his PCP is located, it'll be a total of $700-800 copay for both. If we can find a free standing radiology bldg, it'll cut the cost all the way down to $600-700, plus the gas and the white knuckling through big city traffic. I'm so mad I've just seen red since then. Once again, we're back to paying for insurance that pays a pittance and puts the rest on our shoulders. This is NOT right! And especially not when SS isn't keeping up with inflation, at all. $10/pound hamburger... the cheapest cut of meat you can get... and I can't buy enough to make a decent meal that lasts for a couple of days. Worse, we're sitting here with $100 in the bank, and terrified to spend ANY money until the SS checks (hopefully) come in on Wednesday. This isn't right. I spent my entire life working, from the time I was 12yo.. and paid into SS that whole time. THIS is the retirement I get from that, reckoning. And they damned better well hope they're either dead by that time, or we are. Because their will be a LOT of us "Mangiones" by that time!

[Lulu KC]

15. Don't kill the messenger

But the cutoff was 12//7. I don't know anything about pre-existing conditions, but that I do know. So sorry.

[Lulu KC]

19. Oh--but not if you're young enough!

If you're new to MC, there must be a way. This is the place we used when we originally enrolled. They gave us really good advice, came highly recommended by a friend of my husband's, and have been there to answer questions for the few years since we started.

They're in Overland Park and can help people anywhere. https://medicareschool.com

(Yesterday was the deadline for making modifications if you've already been on MC.)

[Nigrum Cattus]

16. check this out

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/financial-insurance-matters/managing-health-insurance/programs-and-resources-to-help-with-cancer-related-expenses.html

[wolfie001]

17. I have Plan "N" supplement here in Maryland

I got some great advice on which plan to choose and am so glad I chose that one. Humana is the company that runs it. By far the best monthly rate. I pay a co-pay of $20 for most visits and that's it. That being said, I hope the rePUKES and their fat, orange imbecilic cult leader don't totally dynamite the system.

[IbogaProject]

18. If one turned 65 within the last year the rules are different

It is important to get that coverage but I'm not sure that is part of the open enrollment process. Maybe you need to apply for Midigap coverage directly from Medicare, though the carrier will be private. There will be monthly premiums too.
Sorry if you are one of the first to have coverage messed up after that GOP tax givaway boondogle last summer.

[ShazzieB]

20. I got caught by that pre-existing conditions thing, too, the first time I applied for a Medicare supplement

One of the underwriter's questions was "Do you have any surgeries scheduled or planned for the coming year?" I said, "Yes, I'm planning to have cataract surgery on my right eye." (I'd already had the left one done.) They flat turned me down just for that. I was shocked that they would do that for something as routine as cataract surgery, on only one eye, but the letter from the insurance co. made it clear that's what it was!

I think it's bonkers that the aca rule about not disqualifying people for pre-existing conditions doesn't apply to Medicare supplements, but the reason I was turned down seemed doubly bonkers to me. I went ahead and had the surgery with only my Medicare parts A & B coverage, and the amount I had to pay out of pocket fortunately was an amount I could handle. Applied for a supplement again the following year and was approved with no problem. Nothing else had changed except that!

I can't remember the details, but I know the reason we had to go through underwriting was because we waited too long to apply after my husband "retired" (quotes because he was actually laid off, but it ended up turning into his retirement). I was told that if we had applied for a supplement within a certain amount of time after the coverage from his employer ended, it would have been an automatic thing.

I know none of that info helps you, and I hate that you've gotten caught in this bind. But maybe it will be of use to someone else!

[sl8]

21. Are you referring to the *Medigap* Open Enrollment Period or the *Medicare* Open Enrollment Period?

If you're in the one-time, 6 month Medigap Open Enrollment period, pre-existing conditions shouldn't matter. After that period, the insurance companies can deny you or charge higher premiums. That's Federal, a few states have their own rules for Medigap policies that may protect you regarding pre-existing conditions.

The annual Medicare Open Enrollment Period is something else entirely.

https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/medigap/ready-to-buy#:

Get ready to buy
Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period