[cyberace]

Should my dad continue to pay $280+/month for Medicare B, when he is now covered and only sees doctors at the Veterans Affairs hospital. All he has to pay the VA is $8 co-pays for prescriptions and like $50 for other stuff. Medicare B only covers doctors visits and equipment from non government places. Medicare B helped very little for the cost of him being in a hospital for a few weeks after a severe heart attack four months ago (heart only pumping at 10%). He now owes the hospital near $30,000+.

He was dropped from his previous insurance shortly after he retired from the Fire Department in 2003 after 35+ years of service. He doesn't have enough work credits for social security as he only worked a couple jobs before joining the fire department which doesn't pay into social security. He is two years short on work credits and can't work now because he is now disabled.

His retirement pay seems to be just over the limit of most thresholds for any help he can receive. I am looking into getting him help with some of his debt from the hospital and other places but haven't found much yet.

As far as I can tell he is just giving $280+/month to Medicare B and isn't getting any use out of it and really has no use for it in the future. This money would help greatly with what he does have to pay the VA and allow him to start chipping away at his bills.

Besides his heart he also takes insulin for diabetes so he has a lot of prescriptions.

Thanks,
John (KS)

[Fr_Chuck]

First no, for him to owe 30,000 his medical bill would have had to be at least 150,000 dollars, since medicare A and B ( part A pays for the hospital part) and after its deductables, it pays 80 percent and they can not balance bill ( bill you more than the medicared allowed payment amount. There are managed care plans, that would use a fee for service type plans, that cost normally not much more than his medicare part B, it basically turns the medciare part B over to a private carrier, And they have open enrollments so he can not be turned down. So for the same money or close to it, often he can have not only similar coverage to part B but also have additional coverage including drug coverage.

But for example if he is in a VA nursing home, and they have to rush him to the hospital, ( it is often a non VA hospital) and the have to have the other coverage.

[cyberace]

He only has Medicare B, that is all that he was accepted for when he applied. He couldn't get A or D. All that Medicare B paid for was around $5,000, his original bill was around $40,000.

So would it be bad for him to stop paying for Medicare until he decides if he wants to find a private carrier? As of now I think he and my mom want to stop paying for Medicare B. I am just wondering what the VA won't cover. He lives near one of the main VA facilities and also near a couple VA affiliate hospitals.

His condition is quite good considering all that his body has been through. He can walk and do everything he needs to do by himself. He just gets tired more quickly and can't do a whole lot more than the minimum. By disabled I meant more along the lines of working a normal job and doing any real work.

[Fr_Chuck]

The issue on Part B, is if you are eligible, if you don't stay insured, you lose benefits for every year you don't have it, ( really sucks)

If you tell me your state, I may be able to recommend a good private carrier, and since we don't know who is who, tell us some of his medical problems, I may have some carrier suggestions.

But if he can stay in all the VA, he may not need it. I just hate to see him without it, But there are a lot of new high risk private carriers that may offer him some better coverage.

[cyberace]

He lives in Kansas and is 66 with diabetes and heart failure. Thanks for the help.

[Fr_Chuck]

If he is 66 I don't understand why he can't get part A,

[cyberace]

I think he isn't eligible because he didn't earn enough work credits before he joined the fire department and the fire department didn't pay into medicare or social security.