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Lighthearted Medicare advice and opinions from longtime expert Douglas B. Jones, CLU, RHU. Drawn from his book: Medicare for the Lazy Man (an Amazon best seller), Doug's advice provides a simple road map to the best Medicare insurance protection available on the market today!
Episodes
Monday Dec 30, 2024
Monday Dec 30, 2024
In the "Medicare Advantage Minute" segment, the headline is:
"Hospitals Sick of Fighting for Medicare Advantage Dollars!"
This article lists a few more hospitals giving up the struggle[e and resigning from Medicare Advantage networks (notably United Healthcare).
Also, spend some time learning about abdominal aortic aneurisms, the problems they cause and the way Medicare covers the diagnostic testing for them.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Thursday Dec 26, 2024
Thursday Dec 26, 2024
It's the "Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period" when you may escape from that MA trap and return to original Medicare if you like!
Smart government authorities would authorize enrollment into Medicare MSA plans during this period. Maybe under the next administration!
In The Medicare Advantage Minute: star ratings are taking a big hit as the scores are revised downward. One source is quoted as saying, "The quality of Medicare Advantage Plans ain't what it used to be"!
Humana is bleeding providers to such an extent that the government is allowing some of their members to escape to new plans without a formal SEP! Two recent Humana heartbreakers are Sanford Health and Avra Health.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Tuesday Dec 24, 2024
Tuesday Dec 24, 2024
In the "Medicare Advantage Minute" segment, we hear that the government plans to establish new guardrails on MA prior authorizations and marketing.
New government best selling thriller: Your Medicare Benefits!
In other health news, 200 Voodoo practitioners were slaughtered in Port-Au-Prince by a gang whose leader assumed they caused his son's illness.
Rick, husband of a blackjack dealer, has worked out a complex health insurance plan for the first year of retirement. Fingers are crossed that neither of us overlooked any important details.
Finally, client Paul is very pleased with the coverages selected for him but let an important deadline slip past. He mistook AEP rules with a Pearl Harbor Day deadline for ACA rules that have a December 15th deadline.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A++) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
Have you ever eaten at Bud Harkert's in Omaha? Let us know!
The numbers are growing: more participants are being lured and/or forced into Medicare Advantage plans and more participants are falling victim to "care rationing".
Forty-six million episodes of denial in 2022 alone!
The pervasive effects of our current inflationary trends are illustrated in a review of the Medicare supplement rate increases imposed on participants during recent months.
A soon-to-be client refers to me as a "very busy national figure" who may not have time to attend to his concerns in the future.
I reassured him that:
After he buys the best available insurance from me,
like General Eisenhower on D-Day,
I would soon become the least important man in his life.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
- Official website: .https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Thursday Dec 19, 2024
Thursday Dec 19, 2024
Hard to believe in these inflationary times:
My recommended plan HDG (known as G+ in New York) is the only plan in its family not being forced to endure a rate increase.
Shocking: Financial analyst describes the damage to Humana caused by a government rating reduction. The company is described as "reeling"!
M has her choice of Part D prescription drug plans:
After a scientific search, her agent advises a Wellcare plan that will cost $60 all year. Her dopey friend suggests a Humana plan at $4000.
Finally, a valued client moves to Washington State. She finds a cheaper company we don't have a contract with so she sadly leaves the fold.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Tuesday Dec 17, 2024
Tuesday Dec 17, 2024
Medicare MSA is alive and well in Wisconsin, just waiting for the right people to come along:
Those who will fail Medicare supplement underwriting, those who want a $0 Medicare plan that will pay them cash each year, frequent travelers willing to trade a high deductible for $0 premium....only in Wisconsin!
MA Minute: Providers are fed up with Medicare Advantage!
When you acquire a Medicare supplement from, let's say Bob's Storm Door and Supplement Company, don't ask the office clerk "Do you accept Bob's Insurance"? She'll say, No, we don't" without even thinking.
Aetna Medicare Advantage plans are struggling with last minute negotiations to keep Trinity Health (with 92 hospitals) in their networks.
If my docs go away right after I could have selected a different plan during AEP, I would be really perturbed!
Alicia & the Mister want to know, "Where is your 2025 edition???"
I wish I had a good answer to that question!
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
FYI, if you take expensive prescription meds, 2025 will bring a $2000 limit on out-of-pocket cost sharing for covered drugs.
This failed attempt to buy votes in the recent election has left behind a trail of unintended consequences and unanticipated turmoil.
Mr. Young pays another visit to the podcast to ask how this new limit is likely to work with his prescriptions for Otezla and Skyrizi.
My speculation is that the Feds will find a way to mess it up.
In the Medicare Advantage Minute: "The sickest patients are fleeing private Medicare plans, costing taxpayers billions!" MA plans do not like spending money on after-hospital care, no matter how great the need.
How is your Medicare supplement rated: Attained age, issue age or community? You shouldn't listen to so-called "unbiased" advisors!
A southern MD with a lengthy drug list waited too long to attempt the move to Medicare supplement. His Advantage plan's pharmacy benefit is just too good to leave for a stand alone Part D drug plan.
Steve invited himself to our Christmas party but we have to ask the sponsors their opinion, since they are the ones picking up the tab.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A++) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Thursday Dec 12, 2024
It is absolutely moronic to pick a Part D prescription drug plan by recommendation from friends, neighbors or Facebook prowlers.
There is only one way to identify the "best" (cheapest) plan: A scientific search by an experienced expert.
OTHER QUESTIONS ADDRESSED IN THIS EPISODE:
MA Minute:
What might Trump's 2nd term mean for Medicare Advantage plans?
Diane is new to Medicare: she has six rapid-fire questions!
Joel wants to know if he is crazy: He wants to use Form SSA-44 to appeal the imposition of IRMAA on a recent retiree. No he is not!!
Finally, know that Medicare supplements are happily accepted by billing departments everywhere. If you feel compelled to ask first, learn the proper way to pose the question so you don't get a blank stare!
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A++) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Tuesday Dec 10, 2024
Tuesday Dec 10, 2024
In out "Medicare Advantage Minute" the question is posed.
"Is Medicare Advantage a good deal for enrollees?"
We are nudged to spend some time on correspondence from clients and potential clients. For instance
A wife charged with guiding her husband through Medicare enrollment has questions. For instance, exactly what does the term "creditable" signify?
Finally, we salute original listener and friend of the podcast Dominick Regina who sent his brother-in-law to MLM for professional Medicare guidance.
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.
Sunday Dec 08, 2024
Sunday Dec 08, 2024
1,000,000+ Patients are likely to lose their Advantage plan providers!
As more doctors and hospitals refuse to accept patients with Medicare Advantage insurance, those victims will have increasing difficulty finding convenient and reasonably priced treatment options.
The Medicare Advantage Minute: "Lessons from the 1990s".
As pressure on MA plans builds, the author of this article suggests that there are things to be learned from the early days of managed care Medicare plans.
Client correspondence: a New Yorker writes in to ask how he might cut down on his Medicare supplement expenses. Plan N costs him $233 while the New York equivalent of HDG would only cost $72 per month.
An Arizona wife wants to have her husband disenroll from Part B of Medicare for a few years.
Finally, listen to a new reader book review from a couple who requested High Deductible Plan G and were told it did not exist in Connecticut.
You might have seen this lie predicted in Medicare for the Lazy Man!
Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com
(Most severe critic: A+) Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG
Inspired by:
"MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers.
Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.