Medicare Gap

I have Mutual of Omaha and am very pleased. It's much less expensive than AARP.

There is a game to this. The Medicare Part D premium is based on the regular prescriptions you take. The game is to not submit any expensive medicines to your Medicare Part D provider. That way you keep your premium to a minimum and avoid reaching the gap, so you don't need gap insurance.

Anything that's generic is fine. Those are the things that are typically $4/month at the more progressive pharmacies. Fill all those you want and submit them to Medicare Part D. If you have a question on the cost of a medication you can login to medicare.gov and look at what the premium increase might be if you add the medication. I'm keeping my friend's Medicare Part D premium down to around $35/month, and total medication charges under $500 for the year.

My friend takes a fairly expensive medication called Evista to treat osteoporosis. It costs about $100/month and there is no generic for it in the USA. If she got her Evista through her Medicare Part D provider she would need to pay a $30 copay, but it would also increase her premium by about $35/month (doubling her premium), so the Evista would really cost her about $65/month. It would also add another $1200/year to her annual medication costs, taking her into the gap.

What I do is to just not mention the Evista to her Medicare Part D provider. The doctor doesn't prescribe Evista either, so I'm not concealing any prescribed treatments from her Part D provider. Instead, I buy generic Evista from India for $27/month (in quantities of 6 months at a time), and no prescription is required.

http://www.inhousepharmacy.com/women...vista-hrt.html

Look at www.inhousepharmacy.com for the expensive prescriptions that are pushing you into the gap and see if you can change the way you obtain your medications.

In direct answer to your question, my friend gets Medicare Part D through WellCare. But you shouldn't go with a recommendation, you should go to the medicare.gov interactive website. You will enter the meds you take and it will show you the companies that operate in your area and what the premiums will be. Go with the plan that works best for you.

My advice is to forget gap insurance, and instead take steps to avoid the gap. I know that isn't always possible, but do what you can.

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Nevada has your friend tried generic Fosamax?? It cost less then $20 per month. The store I work at has 500 drugs for $5. I've noticed in the last couple of years people are more willing to TELL the doctor they want cheaper alternatives. Its just a big game.

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Its not my job to feed,house, and insure the lazy and the illegal.

She was on Fosamax at one time but it didn't help. There are also serious cardiac risks with Fosamax. She never has had any luck with building bone mass, but Forteo & Miacalcin are better bets for that.

To be honest, we've pretty much given up on the bone mass problem, except for the Evista. Her practitioner says it's better than nothing, and I suppose she's right, but I doubt that it does a lot of good at this point.

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if you are a military veteran you can get your prescriptions either at $8 each or for free depending on your income and your miliatary release status..all veterans are eligible

Wow thanks again for all the great info that keeps coming. My grandfather is very sick. He's also a WWII veteran. How do I find out about this?

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Our website promoting the use of Missouri Herbs. www.MissouriHerbs.com

Most clounties have a veterans service officer. You can contact the courthouse and find out about your county. If you happen to not have one, contacting the local VFW hall can get you some help on who you need to contact. He may be eligible for monthly compensation or monthly pension payment from the VA as well depending on what his disabilities and illnesses and and if they can be linked to his military service. If not, he can still receive help from the VA. All my medical care and prescriptions are covered 100% through the VA.

CVS has an online comparison thing you can do, not sure if this is exactly what the OP is looking for.

Click "Calculate Your Savings"

http://www.cvs.com/medicare/?WT.mc_i...edicare_Part_D

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I get lost in all the facts and figures when trying to figure this out. I spent 2 hours with a Humana agent this afternoon. I love their plan F supplement but their prescription drug plan is not worth anything for my DH. I am going to walgreens tomorrow and hope I can get some help there. Can someone explain the gap to me please.

One thing to remember is that all plans - i.e. Plan F - have to cover the exact same things no matter what insurance company is selling it. When I researched Medigap plans earlier this year, I found that the price could be twice as much. I selected Mutual of Omaha's Plan F for about $95 a month. AARP and Sterling were much more for the exact same coverage.

I work at a local Skilled Nursing Facility that offers both short term rehab and long term care. From my experience working there, I can tell you that if you ever need a SNF, traditional Medicare is better, and easier to deal with than any of the Medicare Replacements. Nearly all of the Medicare Replacements make it very difficult to get a SNF stay approved and then they try to push you out the door before you're ready for home. Everyone should keep that in mind -- something that provides great coverage as long as you're living at home may be a HUGE headache if you need in-patient rehab.

As for the Medicare Supplements, most of our patients seem to have the best experience with AARP and Sterling. Until a few weeks ago I would have included Humana in that, but one of our patients is apparently having a terrible time with getting things approved on their Humana Supplement.

I will also say that I STRONGLY recommend having some kind of supplement. If you were to need that in-patient rehab and have to stay longer than 20 days, you either have to pay a very large co-pay each day, or you have to consider Medicaid, which involves your income, property, etc.