I have AvMed's Medicare Advantage plan.
It costs me a few cents less than $100-a-month (we have not had "pennies" since the Brits went home in 1776).
My Primary Care Physician (PCP) co-pay is $0 - zip, nada, effis. I pay $5 for visits to specialists. My medicines are free to me.
How is it then that if I had "original" Medicare I would have to pay more - a great deal more?
On one of my visits to a specialist in January I asked how much would I have to pay if I was using my Medicare card. The Sweet Young Thing did the math and came up with a figure close to $150. I paid $5.
Each month I get three prescriptions refilled at a nearby Target. Cost to me: $0. A one time prescription for special eye drops at CVS was, likewise, $0. My monthly bill at Target for 90-day supplies was, pre-AvMed, $30.
The question is: If AvMed and other private insurers can get me into the PCP for no dollars from my pocket, and if AvMed and other private insurers can get me my prescriptions for zero dollars, why can't Medicare do the same thing?
Medicare gets my $100-a-month and pays it out to AvMed.
Somehow AvMed managed to turn a profit. It did so well it managed (in the face of competition) to lower it's specialist co-pay from $25 to $5.
Back to the prescriptions. In order to have prescription coverage - which I found out is a requirement - there is an ADDITIONAL change by Medicare . . . and if you fail to sign up for (I think) Part D prescription coverage when first eligible, Medicare penalizes you - forever.
The current CEO of the U.S. proposes an omnibus health plan that will "control costs." If Medicare is any example of how the government will control costs, please - I can't afford it.
We DO need universal health care and we DO need to care for those who truly cannot care for themselves.
FOR THE RECORD: I have no interest in AvMed other than being an AvMed Medicare Advantage customer. I cite AvMed only because I know how it works for me.
