About a month ago, I wrote about a Medicare mistake that created a big problem for a Tucsonan.  Here’s an update on that situtation.

The mistake was actually made at Social Security since this is the agency that processes enrollments for Medicare. In Donna’s case, she was determined to be disabled by Social Security and somebody there decided her disability occurred well before she submitted her application.  This happens on occasion, and the disabled person is very happy to learn they don’t have to wait two years for Medicare coverage. Most people must wait 24 months to get Medicare after they win their Social Security Disability case.

Apparently, the backdating of Donna’s disability status should not have happened, and Social Security did not realize it until Donna had already been on Medicare for three months.

Donna’s Medicare was canceled, but someone at Social Security wrote a letter for Donna saying her COBRA coverage should be re-instated so she would not have a gap in health insurance coverage.  Donna sent the letter to her last employer and had no problem getting back her COBRA plan.

Now Donna has to deal with the medical bills she incurred between April 1st and July 1. Her Medicare Advantage plan paid those bills and will now ask the doctors and labs for their money back. Then Donna will have to make sure the bills get re-submitted to her COBRA plan.

Donna is relieved that she has her expensive COBRA policy back, but she is overwhelmed by the complications she has faced over the last month.  All of this has intensified her health problems, and Donna is suffering as a result of the “mistake”. Of course, you can’t sue the government for “pain and suffering”.

Donna was helped by Dan Frey in Congressman Ron Barber’s office who took quick action to get answers for her.  Dan could not fix the Social Security mistake, but he made sure they acted quickly so Donna would not have a gap in her coverage. Dan is the “go-to-guy” if you have problems with Medicare or Social Security.

So Donna is back to square one and is covered again by her expensive COBRA plan. That’s not as good as having Medicare, but it’s not a bad as having no health insurance.

If you want to do your own research into Medicare Advantage plans or Part D drug plans, you can use the Medicare.gov website – but you’d better have some patience. The Medicare Plan Finder on Medicare.gov has been re-designed and it’s supposed to be more user-friendly, but it has some problems.

As an insurance agent I have often used the Medicare Plan Finder to look up and compare Part D drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans, so I am familiar with the seven steps required to get me to the list of drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans offered in my county.

My opinion of the revised Medicare Plan Finder is that it is clumsy and confusing – and it is broken because it currently does not bring up all the Medicare Advantage plans in Pima County.  When I put in my zip code today, I found that at least three plans were missing from the Medicare Plan Finder list.

Missing from Medicare Plan Finder list: Health Net Ruby 1;  AARP Medicare Complete Plan 1;  Humana Local and Regional PPOs with Part D

As an insurance agent I have used the Medicare Plan Finder to compare Advantage plans side-by-side for clients. The new plan comparison does not provide all of the information on the side-by-side page to allow for a comparison of every plan benefit and co-pay.  For example, in order to get the hospital co-pay figures, you must click on a link that will take you to a summary of benefits – but you must then scroll far down that page in order to get to the “hospital co-pay” information.

The Medicare Plan Finder can be of help if a person takes several prescription drugs and needs to find the stand-alone Part D plan that works best for them.  The Plan Finder let’s you put in your prescriptions and dosage and it will identify the Part D plan that will cover your prescriptions at the lowest cost to you.  I spoke to a man last year who was able to find a Part D plan that covered his expensive generic pain medication through the donut hole.  This saved him thousands of dollars.

Having used the Medicare Plan Finder hundreds of times, I found myself getting impatient with the the new version. But at least I knew what I was looking for.  I can imagine a person using the site for the first time would get very frustrated and confused by all the clicks and tabs that must be used to find the details of plans.  In conclusion, I think the old version was better.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES CLICK HERE.