Are Medicare Advantage {HMO} Plans a Scam?

Insurance in itself is a scam and always has been. This is what the mafia was selling to its victims (protection insurance). Nothing has changed other than you need insurance for just about everything and mandatory in many. a reply to: AlienView

a reply to: [post=22908740]AlienView and everyone,

I agree with several others on this thread that Medicare Advantage (MA) is a supplement to Medicare, not a replacement. What President Obama said, however, is that there is no data to show that US members of MA live longer or have a better health status than US Medicare members.

a reply to: Uphill

AGAIN TO CLARIFY:

From Medicare.gov [the official USA Medicare agency]:

What’s a Medicare Advantage Plan?

"You can get your Medicare benefits through Original Medicare, or a Medicare Advantage Plan (like an HMO or PPO). If you have Original Medicare, the government pays for Medicare benefits when you get them.Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called “Part C” or “MA Plans,” are offered by private companies approved by Medicare. Medicare pays these companies to cover your Medicare benefits.

If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, the plan will provide all of your Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) coverage. This is different than a Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policy (discussed on page 3)".

Quote source:
www.medicare.gov...

If you don't understand what a 'private company' is I can't help you

True, these private insurance companies are supposed to be bound by government Medicare regulations - But still they are private, for profit, insurance companies.

And the problem, as I see it, is that after they sign you up - It is to their advantage to pay out as little as possible!

So they begin by offering you a plan that sounds a lot better than original Medicare ......

But what they may acutally give might be less - And with more grief than you might imagine when it comes time to paying .......
Especially if it is a big bill, for say an extended stay in a hospital.

Under one of these plans I was studying the first few days you might be in a hopital is a lot cheaper than Medicare,
and on Medicare you must first meet a $1,300 dedutible before Medicare covers the rest.........but when it comes for the
insurance company acutally paying what they are supposed to - There, there is where I ran into a problem.

Yes, I did get them to pay eventually - But was it worth the nightmare I had to put up with for almost a year
while they looked for any excuse they could find to avoid payinng ?!?!