When can I get Medicare?

[vegascouple]

I think this has gotten beyond the scope why some of us have to live a few years before Medicare without health insurance to a political discussion. I don't mind the debate as I think there are a lot of lies that have been told on health care reform. However, I don't want to be responsible for spreading this kind of hate to a peaceful information board, so this will be my last post on this issue.

The only high deductable policy I looked at was one that had a $5,000 deductable, $7,500 co pay with $40 doctor visits and $60 specialists for one visit per year. Everything else, blood tests, was part of the deductable. Most of the policies I've looked at have had similar deductables which means if all goes the way it has the last 62 years my insurance company will pay nothing. I'm OK with that as there is no other alternative and where I need coverage is for the big things like cancer. I've never heard of a $10,000 deductable but we'll likely see more policies like that in the future.

While I was making application for that policy the agent I told him about my previous denials. He said there was no way underwriting would approve me. It does make sense. The risk for the insurance company is much higher for people who are over 60. He suggested an accident policy and said he would get back to me which he never did.

I've been working on this for three months now with 6 insurance agents who specialize in health insurance. I knew that nothing in the reform bill would help me other than buying into Medicare that was included in one of the versions. However, I thought that just maybe the insurance companies would see the light and start loosening up a little and offering insurance to everyone. I've come to the conclusion that there is no answer for me, and I've also found out I'm not alone. Yes I could move to another state like Massachusetts, which has universal health care, or maybe I could find a fly by night company with no reserves who may or may not be there when I needed them. That is why I have no choice but to protect my assets, keep going to the gym and eating right, paying cash for the doctor, and keeping a cash reserve so that I can fly to a country with quality, affordable medical care if I needed, and in an emergency you all get to help out! Don't complain I've been there for you for 62 years! There was a time when this really upset me, but you have to deal with reality and find peace with it.

This experience has taught me several things. I think most Americans are in denial about just how bad heath care is in this country. It's great for the wealthy and the poor, it's the middle class that get left out. I don't think most Americans have any idea what their insurance covers. I'm not just talking about medical insurance. Just for kicks sometime read your policies and look at all the exclusions. Yet another reason to have your assets protected!

When Americans finally realize they have a problem, it's going to be catastrophic. However, by then I'll be on Medicare and won't care! It is obvious that our country will be gridlocked for the next year and possibly much longer! I've completely lost any hope that we'll start working together for the good of the people.

Hope you all have a nice day.

Michael

2005 Dutch Star 40'

[Lindsay Richards]

Having been in your position myself for 3 years and paying about $65,000 to health insurance companies, I know exactly how you feel. It is a killer financially. The simple fact is that the older you get, the greater the chance of illness and the more insurance costs. This fact delays retirement and it certainly did in my case. I was in the hospital for 8 days with pneumonia and it cost $31,000. (Blue Cross/Blue Shield beat them down a whole lot I am sure.). Polling has indicated that about 85% of Americans are satisfied with their health insurance. The whole thing about preexisting conditions to me is like charging a person with a lot of accidents more for their auto insurance. If you have had a lot of wrecks in the past, chances are you will in the future. If you have a medical conditions, chances are greater you will in the future. These insurance companies have tremendous amounts of medial history to build their statistics and we as individuals get lost in the shuffle. One simple thing that would help you is allowing insurance to be bought across state lines. You could get the high deductible catastrophic and pay for the day to day stuff yourself. I am in the middle of prostate cancer treatment myself and had the radioactive seeds put in on Dec 23. This is a very expensive procedure and had it happened before our getting old enough for Medicare, BC/BS would have not made money on us even with the huge premiums. Insurance is just a crap shoot. Good Luck ad I hope you can figure something out. Being in good shape and working out helps with many disease, but things like cancer come out of the blue.

[Route 66]

Vegascouple makes a good point about too much political commentary that is .

Let's keep on topic.

Thanks!

[Marty too]

Fellows, in reading all the posts, the thought came to me and/or wondering if any one that is have insurance problems, have looked into AARPs medical insurance? Seems to me that they claim no one can be denied but at what price I have no idea.

Just a thought as I toured through the posting about this subject.

Marty

[tedward1555]

Really Marty? Do they claim that? Gotta check that out

[Lindsay Richards]

It is my understanding having AARP Medigap and AARP Part D drug program that AARP does not sell insurance. They just lend their name to insurance companies. I know United Healthcare handles their Medicare and their drug insurance. I also think they do similar stuff on their auto insurance, their travel plans, and many other things. Their main advantage is they can deliever 30 million customers and that is a huge advantage. They were huge supporters of both the senate and house pans (which cut out half a trillion dollars from Medicare). I suspect that since each state has it's own insurance regulations and huge politics in each different state, that it wouldn't be too much different than what is already there. Good Luck and give them a call. It can certainly not hurt and can maybe help.

[vegascouple]

I did check with AARP. They do have a plan with United Health care but I was told by the agent that I would not qualify. They had another plan with Aetna that was very much catastrophic. Basically until you had over $7,500 there were no real benefits. I've never come close to spending that much in my life let alone a year. Aetna also has the highest denial rate of any insurance company. I was not excited about the policy but at least I could say I was insured! However, while taking the application the agent said I'd never get through underwriting without major exclusions if they approved me. Major exclusions on a policy that covers nothing to begin with is a donation! What I've come to understand is that as someone else mentioned if you have a perscription for cialis they think you have heart problems! Soooo if you want to try the recreational drug cialis order it illegally from India then it won't be on your medical records.

I've learned a lot through this process. I think a lot of people think they have insurance that covers far more than what it acutally does. That's why when something happens you hear people complaining about being denied. If you don't know very much about insurance you should really have someone who does, read your policy. I have a couple of commercial liability policies. I've read them and I'm pretty sure I'm covered in Nevada if someone is bitten by an allegator while roller skating, but I'm pretty sure almost everything else is excluded.

Michael

2005 Dutch Star 40'

[Lindsay Richards]

You know, when approaching the "old fart" age like me, your goals have to change a little. At least that was my thinking. I was thinking about that one big illness that could wipe out everything we have ever saved. If you can pay, it is so expensive, You can build up several hundred thousand in a heart beat. We finally opted for the expensive BC/BS plan because we were both cnacer survivors. They had to do it in Florida, our state. If you look at it like you are betting $20,000 against everything you have. Seems like a good bet if the exclusions are not too bad. They have all the stats and an advantage over you, but you are betting only on your health where they are betting on averages. We spent about $60,000 on insurance in the three years from 62 to 65. Being on Medicare and Part D isn't cheap either. It frost me that young people think it is free and like welfare. Medicare is an insurance deal and we paid into it for 40 plus years. Good Luck and my advise is make your decison and don't look back. Enjoy that RV and don't worry about it.

[cb5300]

Originally Posted by vegascouple

I did check with AARP. They do have a plan with United Health care but I was told by the agent that I would not qualify. They had another plan with Aetna that was very much catastrophic. Basically until you had over $7,500 there were no real benefits. I've never come close to spending that much in my life let alone a year. Aetna also has the highest denial rate of any insurance company. I was not excited about the policy but at least I could say I was insured! However, while taking the application the agent said I'd never get through underwriting without major exclusions if they approved me. Major exclusions on a policy that covers nothing to begin with is a donation! What I've come to understand is that as someone else mentioned if you have a prescription for cialis they think you have heart problems! Soooo if you want to try the recreational drug cialis order it illegally from India then it won't be on your medical records.

I've learned a lot through this process. I think a lot of people think they have insurance that covers far more than what it actually does. That's why when something happens you hear people complaining about being denied. If you don't know very much about insurance you should really have someone who does, read your policy. I have a couple of commercial liability policies. I've read them and I'm pretty sure I'm covered in Nevada if someone is bitten by an alligator while roller skating, but I'm pretty sure almost everything else is excluded.

Michael

2005 Dutch Star 40'

Michael, I'm having a problem here...You stated in one post that you have never had a health problem, yet here you state that you would have had "major exclusions" on your policy. This tells me that sometime in your life you must have had some type of health condition or conditions that would cause this to happen. Now, maybe you feel like the condition(s) are not serious, or that you are over it, however, maybe your medical records are showing something different... Bottom line here, if you are in excellent health (ie no on going health problems, or history of) your height and weight are within company guide lines, and not taking any meds for any condition, you should be able to find health insurance.

Also, having ED in of itself is not a problem, it's the underlying condition that causes the ED that may be the reason that you are turned down... Diabetes, heart condition, etc. If there isn't some other reason, then you would most likely just get a rate up because you are taking a prescription drug.

In the past 22 years I've written numerous 60+ people health insurance, if, it won't be at the same price that a 21 yr old pays, but it's there.

[jdfishing]

I am 62 with prior conditions; prostate cancer diagnosed in 2000. I can only get insurance from my previous employer and cannot move out of the area I'm in, or I lose coverage, like what happened to you. $1900/month for me and the wife. As others have stated, you are eligible for medicare at 65, as long as you have 40 quarters in Social Security. If you don't, you can buy Part A for about $330/month. Part B is about $90/month. Also, for those who may not know, if you don't have the 40 quarters, like me, even though I was a professional for 30 + years, you can qualify for medicare under your wife or ex-wife, as long as you were married for 10 yrs and they are age 65. You might want to call your local SSC office as I found them to be very helpful, much to my surprize. Good luck.

[tedward1555]

Hey JDFishing;
What does it mean "40 quarters"? Is that 10 years of paying into the system? Must not be if you don't have it after 39 years of Professional work.

[vegascouple]

cb, Yes it's always a little more complicated than what you want to lay out on a public board however, as long as we've come this far here at the details.

A couple of years ago I began seeing a urologist. I had done some reading about benefits of increased testerone for older men. It's not just sexual it also helps keeps muscle mass from decreasing as much. I take a very light dosage of a testerone gel. When I saw the urologiest she also gave me a perscription for cialas that I ever filled as the testerone gel made it unnecessary.

By the way the teserone gel is somewhat expensive and it's not covered under insurance. However, it has made quite a difference. My body is still solid.

When I lost my insurance the company did not offer cobra I'm not sure why? I could have gotten a polcy under Hippa, but it was $950 a month. I had been paying $750 a month for a policy with Assurant and I was constantly fighting with them. For example they would not pay for an anacesiologist when I had a colonoscopy as it was not necessary. I don't know about you, but thats necessary! They would not cover the costs of tests for Hepatis C and AIDS because I was exposed by the Endoscopy center reusing needles! I decided paying almost $12,000 a year for insurance just for me was obsene especially since the policy was no better than the one I had.

What I did do was apply for a policy that I thought was decent about the same benefits and same price as what I was paying. They denied me for BPH. Most men over 50 have an enlarged prostrate. My PSA is always around one and I have no associated health problem. They also denied me for low testerone which was false mine was normal for my age and ED because of the perscription for cialis. I took that letter to my urologist. She was shocked. She said she didn't understand as there were no health problems and I was doing everything as I should be doing it.

I always thought cialis was a recreational drug. However, what I did learn was that when insurance companies see ED they think heart problems. I still think the issue has more to do with age than anything else. I was working with the AARP agent. He said I could not qualify for their decent policy however, Aetna had a catastropic policy that I might qualify for however, he said if they qualified me it would come with exclusions for my heart. He thought that after a couple of years I might be able to get a decent policy when it was obvious I didn't have any problems. I'll be on Medicare in 3 years!

I do over an hour of cardio at least 5 days a week keeping my heart rate at 85% to 90%. I don't think I have a heart problem.

I really thought the policy was worthless. You could see the doctor for the exact same price I could paying cash. Testing was covered under the deductable. My doctor will give me blood tests for a fraction of what it costs under insurance. So if everything remains as it has for the past 62 years, I would pay thousands of dollars and the insurance company would pay nothing! The other issue that really bothered me was that Aetna has the highest denial rate. I really had to question if they would be there if I got cancer of if they would simply find some way to deny me coverage. In my experience when insurance companies deny a claim you just as well save your breath they are not listening!

So yes I could probably get an catastropic insurance with major exclusions. I'm not sure excluding the heart is major but to me it qualifies. Yes I passed up an opportunity but I still think I would make the same decision.

I've spend many hours working on this problem. It's really impossible to know if you are making the right decision. It's truly a gamble. I've put together my survival plan. I've had to find peace with myself, and I'm confident in my decision. However, if you have a suggestion I'm listening. I'd love to have a good quality health insurance policy, but I won't say at any price. I dont' think I'm willing to pay a $1000.00 a month. That might be the mistake that ends my life but that's just something you have to live with.

I think it's insane that in the wealthiest country in the world we can't have adequate health care for everyone!

Michael

2005 Dutch Star 40'

[a k]

I think it's insane that in the wealthiest country in the world we can't have adequate health care for everyone!

We do. You just have to pay for it

[vegascouple]

Originally Posted by a k

I think it's insane that in the wealthiest country in the world we can't have adequate health care for everyone!

We do. You just have to pay for it

You are correct. We have the best and worst health care in the world. If you are wealthy it's the best. If you are poor it's free and adequate. It's the middle class that suffers.