I get full medi-cal (medicaid) @no cost. It covers ALL-co-pays, deductibles, hospital, everything. Meaning I don't pay a cent for anything. Inpatient, outpatient hospital, drugs, xrays, anything you can think up. I pay out of pocket ZERO. We make $1815 per month as a Couple. Why sign up for Medicare at all when Medicaid covers everything, INCLUDING what medicare doesn't pay? Again, I pay no money for anything at all, no matter what happens to me. Thanks ahead of time for any advice.
Payment for Medicare comes automatically out of your social security check.
Honestly, I've never heard of such nonsense.
BTW, can you get psychiatric services through the Indian Clinic?
Also if you do not sign up for Medicare in the very first initial period, you will have to pay a significantky higher monthly rate when you do sign up. And I think the higher rate is till forever IF you didn't enroll within the initial period
Medicaid since its state run can change the eligibility rules.....it could require a co-sharing of costs for those who can get another insurance Payor. So if you could be on Medicare to totally cover your hospitalization under the Part A, and don't, Medicaid could decline to pay. Also Medicaid could change the income & asset rates, and you could disqualify from Medicaid.
Most hospitals take Medicare - as Part A covers hospitalization and reimburse pretty quickly - but many do not take Medicaid at all.
Also you have been paying into Medicare via FICA during your work life.
One issue with waivers is that policy can change from year to year, so often some providers will not participate or not renew in Medicaid waiver funded programs as its hard to do long term planning due to this. One trend right now is for states to establish PACE programs and phase out other older & established Medicaid paid for programs. Laws didn't have to be passed to do this as it's within the purview of Medicaid to allow for flexibility with funding by the states.
Medicare is pretty well set to have funding (even if reinbursement rates decrease) guaranteed.
As far as "loopholes" with Medicare, to me, that's really about finding the right secondary or medigap policy to take care of that. My mom had Medicare and federal employee BCBS as her secondary policy for years before she entered a NH, and she had zero copay. Between the two, everything was covered and it didn't matter whether she was in TX or visiting family in LA or on vacation in FL. My aunt had a really crappy secondary policy which limited payments 100% only to providers within a somewhat small health system and of course most of her old docs were NOT in the system, so she had out of pocket costs. You have to do the research to find what works best for your needs but you can get total coverage to happen within Medicare.
freqflyer has brought up an important point.....you need to find out if your state will require Medicare to become your primary and Meducaid your secondary once you are eligible to get Medicare.
Medicare is "self-directed" so you can pick which doctors (that accept Medicare) to see.
Sounds like you've evaluated all the options and made your choices; go with them, and I hope everything works out well for you.
It's special status situation & policy derived from that status.
Like what the special status is for Cubans in that they immediately qualify for food stamps, medicaid & SSI up to $ 733 a mo (SSI if over 65) and good for 7 years whether or not they apply for US citizenship and then forever once you become naturalized. Plus subsidized housing as well in some areas too.
But for most on this site, none of this will matter as their not Native American, Cuban or a RRR family.
While I could could offer you lots of information here, I am going to suggest instead to seek a State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) within your county. The easiest way to find a counselor, free by the way, is through your local Area Agency on Aging. Just call and say you need a Medicare counselor and you will be directed or referred to one. You can sit one on one with someone by appointment, ask dozens of questions, and get recommendations for help with Medicare.
As an extra side note, you likely will continue on Medicaid and receive almost the same type of benefits; it's just that you will have a Meicare/Medicaid plan vs. solely a Medicaid plan. Also, it is likely that you will qualify for a program that will pay your Medicare Part B premium, and also the Federal Extra Help program that will keep your prescription prices low. that Medicare counselor can do those applications for you or help you with them. I'd suggest starting this process as soon as you receive your Medicare card in the mail and not waiting until later. This will avoid you seeing that deduction for Part B and then having to wait months to be reimbursed.
If your state is California, you can look up your SHIP here also:
https://www.aging.ca.gov/hicap/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Jen
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