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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
Sunday Jan 26, 2025
Sunday Jan 26, 2025
Cigna Insurance, on the verge of being acquired by a BC/BS holding company, joins the stampede to scale back its Medicare Advantage footprint in eight states.
Would you prefer a blood test to a colonoscopy? I sure would!
Find out how Medicare will pay for such a test...if you qualify.
How about cataract surgery? Clear up your vision and let Medicare pay the cost plus buy you a pair of glasses to boot!
Check out the Medicare payment rules and how you might benefit.
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 Jan 26, 2025
Sunday Jan 26, 2025
In today's MA Minute, we hear about the downside of managed care. That is the part where insurance company accountants manage your care rather than you or your doctors!
There is power in those green eyeshades!
In "Your Medicare Benefits 2024" we learn about blood, or rather how Medicare will pay for procedures involving blood.
Finally, the Social Security Administration is in charge of signing people up for Medicare. In some places, it doesn't seem too interested in doing its job!
One soon-to-be client had to call his senator in order to shake loose some action on his application. Another found out they lost his original application, found it, mishandled it and eventually, maybe accidentally, managed to get it together just in time.
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.
Monday Jan 20, 2025
Monday Jan 20, 2025
Unlike more traditional escorts, these will see to it that you arrive home safely after a rough day at the clinic.
Headline in the Medicare Advantage Minute:
Insurers collect billions in dubious Medicare Advantage payments. "Dubious" because many members were reported as having grievous conditions. After payments, MA plans reported no follow-up visits. Fraudulent? You make the call!
According to "Your Medicare Benefits 2024", If you need behavioral health integration services, Medicare will use the Psychiatric Collaborative Care model. Don't ask me, I am perfectly well adjusted.
Finally, the current state of medical inflation is suggested by many of the rate increases sought by Medicare supplement carriers in their various jurisdictions.
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.
Friday Jan 17, 2025
Friday Jan 17, 2025
The more gold stars a Medicare Advantage plan is gifted by the government, the deeper it is allowed to reach into the US Treasury!
On the other hand, a Barium enema can lead to early diagnosis of cancer, so I will take the Barium every time!
Finally, we present a short tutorial on how arbitrary and petty Medicare supplement rate setters can be.
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.
Wednesday Jan 15, 2025
Wednesday Jan 15, 2025
In The MA Minute:
Medicare Advantage Plans Need More Oversight; Less Overpayment!
Do you dream of bariatric surgery? Wonder whether Medicare will pay for it? Apparently it depends on the extent of your obesity. We pay a visit to "Your Medicare Benefits 2024" to find out.
ACCENDO, an Aetna subsidiary providing Medicare advantage plans, appears to be drastically reducing the number of states in which it will do business in 2025. What might the consequences be?
One client needs Evenity injections for a year. Her thought is that she will be writing big cost-sharing checks due to her Plan HDG. My thought is that her savings over the past few years, if stashed away, will help to defray this extra expense.
Finally, another client discovers that he under-reported income which might have resulted in a modestly larger IRMAA penalty. He wonders if it would be best to turn himself in to the IRS or should he wait for them to hunt him down like the cur that he is.?
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.
Friday Jan 10, 2025
Friday Jan 10, 2025
We lead off with the Medicare Advantage Minute article:
"Senate Report Slams MA Insurers for Using Tech to Deny Claims"
Three apparent culprits are: United Healthcare, Humana & CVS!
In the "Your Medicare Benefits 2024" segment we delve into the exciting world of anesthesia. How is it covered and how much of it is paid for?
One of the most confusing and difficult elements of this subject concerns the ability of a disabled person who is under age 65 to deal with the system if they lack knowledgeable advice.
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 Jan 05, 2025
Sunday Jan 05, 2025
Ambulance services and, under certain circumstances, even helicopter rides can be provided by Part B of Medicare. This according to the latest government publication: Your Medicare Benefits 2024.
In the Medicare Advantage Minute we hear sickening reports of the billions of $$ that have been siphoned off by this program as well as the pathetic efforts used to collect overpayments from the miscreants.
How about some special enrollment opportunities? Listen to a lengthy, albeit confusing, array of periods in which certain rules of enrollment welcome certain segments of the Medicare eligible population to snatch their opportunity!
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 Jan 02, 2025
Thursday Jan 02, 2025
The story on the state of the Canadian system made reference to one Greg Price. He was a 31 year-old pilot from Alberta who was allowed to die in 2018 from testicular cancer due to the ineptitude inherent in their single payer Communist health system.
Take a peek back in the crystal ball at AEP 2024. Pundits predicted turmoil and they were right!
In the new book "Your Medicare Benefits, we read about alcohol misuse evaluations.
In a related story, I describe an encounter with an Arizona doctor who has a blind spot where one particular affliction is concerned.
One would-be client wonders if he has missed the fall "open enrollment" deadline or can he still purchase a Part D drug plan.
Thanks to my scientific search process, a client is able to purchase a drug plan that will be completely free of charge all year as opposed to the more expensive plans with which a less dedicated agent might have stuck her.
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 31, 2024
Tuesday Dec 31, 2024
Medicare Advantage Minute headline:
HCA Medical System sees way too many prior authorization denials!
This Nashville based health system (with 186 hospitals and 2400 care sites in 20 states and the UK) is fighting back against the intense Medicare Advantage pressure of prior authorization service denials: trying to beat them at their own game!
From the government publication "Your Medicare Benefits" comes a description of how Medicare covers Advanced Care Planning.
Finally, the plaintive plea for help from our new client arrives. This sets in motion a plan to use the "Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period" to disenroll from the problematic Medicare Advantage plans the husband had been sweet-talked into joining.
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.
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.