The list of craziness grew longer today. My wife and I both had an appointment with our doctor this morning, followed by lab work at the hospital next door. While doing the paperwork to allow me to go to the lab for a blood draw and urine sample, the clerk kept having issues for some reason. She finally explained to me that "THE SYSTEM" says I do not have Medicare Part B although she is holding ,y card proving that I do. She met with someone else for a bit, beat on the keyboard for a bit longer and finally it comes up that I really do have Medicare Part B as my primary coverage. However, a PSA test would not be approved by Medicare. Said my medication list didn't show I needed it badly enough. So, I said skip it. I'm not paying somewhere between $500 and $1000 out of pocket for this. Go to the lab and everything works out great.
Get home to find two calls from my doctor's office. They, too, had discovered that Medicare still thought the coverage under my wife's employer's insurance provider should be considered the primary and Medicare only as a secondary. That policy ended on August 31. I have a card from Medicare that clearly shows Medicare Part B to be the primary and other things such as dental, eye care, cancer, etc. are covered by supplemental insurance. I was told by the worker in my doctor's office that if they submit the bill to Medicare today, it will be rejected. She told me to call the number on the back of my Medicare card to get this straightened out.
As I stated at the top of this thread, my wife has been handling all of this, partly because she can remain calm while dealing with no-nothings on the other end of the phone. Three times she had to hand the phone to me to verify that I really am who I am and that she is to be allowed permanently to handle such matters on my behalf. Then hand the phone back to her to go on. It only took her about 45 minutes to get Medicare to realize they had not entered the NEW information yet that started on September 1. Then she called back our doctor's office to let them know the results and to suggest they wait another 10 to 14 days before submitting today's charges.
One cannot take care of WORK and deal with the no-nothings at the same time. I tried doing that for about five minutes at one point today.
You realize that will never happen if you include interest?
I ran the numbers in a spreadsheet that accounts for the accrued and compounded interest, and for the me the crossover point is age 81, i.e. if I make it to 81, thereafter I net more by starting to collect at 70 than at 66.
There are many online "break even" calculators already built for these calculations.
And your financial advisor would be the first person I would consult before building your own spreadsheet.
Update PSA (public service announcement) on yesterday's PSA test payment rejection.
My doctor called me wanting to know exactly who it was at the hospital check-in center had told me the PSA test she had requested for me would not be covered by my insurance and the stated reason.
I'm betting someone at the hospital is gonna get a serious butt-chewing from my doctor. She's a good old farm girl from the plains of Northeastern Colorado. She knows the difference between bovine excrement and BS and she is the kind to call a cabbage a cabbage. I am expecting a notice back that the PSA test will be run at no cost to me.
This goes back to the THE SYSTEM not showing that my primary provider since September 1 is Medicare, not the old coverage that ended on August 31. They have had over four weeks to make note of the change. They being whomever makes insurance coverage data avail;able to whoever else needs to know (say, any random hospital or other care provider).
if your genes can hold up to a long life and you do not do anything stupid, then taking SS when required is the best way to go.
Will go to my friends 90th bday next week and then his daughter is shipping him to mill valley to be institutionalized (not in her house but close by). Hope I am crazy enough to not end up in a nurse home.
Every day is a new adventure once you hit roughly 50. I was about 45 when a little gal at the Taco Bell applied a Senior Discount to my take-out meal. She didn't ask. She merely ASSumed I was eligible.
AARP starts sending you all of their propaganda (what they call vaulable information) shortly before you hit 50.
The email spam and telemarketers never ends once you pass the low end of their target market age range. Men start getting spam from pill factories that specialize in keeping a fellow upright when he wants to be upright. The adult diaper marketing is insane. (We ship it to you in box with aa plain brown wrapper so no one knows what you are receiving)
Instead of being a shill for pantyhose, Joe Namath is now into insurance supplements for Medicare. CALL TODAY. ASK IF THERE ARE SPECIAL MONEY-BACK DEALS IN YOUR ZIP CODE.