The doctors/front billing depts I’ve consulted would far rather deal with an Advantage Plan than with Medicare direct.

As a doctor, I completely disagree. I’d MUCH rather see a straight Medicare patient than one on an Advantage plan.

It’s one submission after another to get a bill paid through Medicare, but surprise surprise, it may take 4 or 5 weeks for an Advantage Plan to pay, but they do pay.

Again, I completely disagree. When I see a straight Medicare patient, Medicare direct-deposits the money in my bank account in 13 days. I have to fight for months to get paid by Advantage plans, and they constantly want me to take less than Medicare pays for the same services.

They have other benefits to their service as well. Most provide payment for a health club membership (provided you attend at least a few times a month),

Should Medicare really be paying for health club memberships?

eye exams with an opthomologist

-

Straight Medicare has always paid for eye exams with an ophthalmologist,as long as there is a documented reason to see one. Same with chiropractic care.

To my limited knowledge Medicare does not provide those services.

See above.

Plus…far more doctors will see a patient with an Advantage plan than will treat a Medicare patient.

Absolutely incorrect. In most Medicare Advantage plans, you have to see doctors who are contracted with the plan, or the visit is not covered at all.

This whole issue of healthcare could be solved with nothing more than an extended Advantage Plan.

The whole point is, Medicare is paying the Advantage plans 7-14% MORE than they pay for straight Medicare patients, costing hundreds of billions of dollars extra. Eliminating Medicare Advantage would, indeed, save money for the government, and basically free up all seniors to see any Medicare participating doctor, rather than just the ones on their Advantage plan panel. The real shame is that it was REPUBLICANS that fought for the Advantage plan, to give the Medicare HMO’s a ‘leg up’ on getting started, to provide “more competition”, but they never realized the “savings” that were supposed to materialize, and have just continued the excess payments, subsidizing the insurance companies that offer Advantage plans.

23k votes per district. Acorn, SEIU, New Black Panthers, Americor say that is nothing they can provide that many votes out of a trunk.

HoustonRight on August 27, 2009 at 5:52 PM

Or out of a cemetery.

The average difference between Democrats and Republicans in House races in 2008…was 22,979.

It’s early and I’m just starting my coffee, but…

wouldn’t it only require a switch of 11,500 votes to reverse that outcome?

Remember that most precious of hard-left social policy, abortion-camouflaging civil liberties, “the right to privacy”?  Evidently that isn’t meant to apply to such trivial, unimportant items as your tax records: One of the problems with any pro…

This is a long term thing…socialized medicine will take a decade or so before people realize how screwed up it is. It will seem great in the beginning.

Someone please tell me that this is all a bad dream, Ronald Reagan is still President and there never was a Michael Vick (sorry-still grieving that I have no football team. That hurts too.)

the Advantage program (which requires monthly premiums above those of Medicare Part B and D)

This generalization, on the basis of one plan, is incorrect. While there are Medicare Advantage plans that charge premiums beyond Medicare parts B and D, these are generally plans that offer tons of extra benefits. Most Advantage Plans, like the one my wife and I have, require no payment beyond the Medicare Part B deduction from monthly social security payments. Though our plan, a PPO that offers many benefits including prescriptions, eye care and health club memberships, that straight Medicare doesn’t, the feds pay the insurance company just 95% of the monthly Medicare Part B payment, so everyone comes out ahead. No wonder Obama wants to kill it.

CAUTION! MODS TAKE NOTE!

The link posted at…

History Chaser on August 27, 2009 at 6:23 PM
…just sent my computer into a tailspin of endless opening of new browser windows. Maybe it’s just me on this old Win2K box, but click the link at your own peril!

ornery_independent on August 27, 2009 at 6:52 PM

FYI, it worked fine on my PC….

Barry’s obviously hoping that by getting out of the Advantage program, some of those seniors will die off, thereby posing no threat to the Democrats. In addition, that will be less seniors to waste money on. A win-win as far as Barry can see.

GarandFan on August 27, 2009 at 7:05 PM

And he can then claim, “Hey, I told you there were no death panels”

Is your computer a Dell? It knows that’s a right wing blog so it throws up when you go to it.

angryed on August 27, 2009 at 6:54 PM

Dude, it IS a Dell. I didn’t know Dell was a lefty company.

TXUS:
I beg to differ. These old people face death every damn day, they are not as afraid of some punk as most people half their age.

Terrye on August 27, 2009 at 6:34 PM

Well, T, we all face death every day… and if Obamacare passes, it’ll come a lot quicker.

But, to your point, very few on Medicare have the Reaper on the doorstep, but might think twice with a Panther in their face.

Also, I’m sure you appreciate my exaggeration to make perhaps a larger point.

The link posted at…

History Chaser on August 27, 2009 at 6:23 PM

…just sent my computer into a tailspin of endless opening of new browser windows. Maybe it’s just me on this old Win2K box, but click the link at your own peril!

Plus…far more doctors will see a patient with an Advantage plan than will treat a Medicare patient. All those benefits for an additional $350 to $500 a year. This whole issue of healthcare could be solved with nothing more than an extended Advantage Plan.