I am 55. Two and 1/2 years ago, I became permanently disabled. This meant that I lost all medical insurance, and didn't qualify for Medicare until later this year.
My question is about Part B. For my budget, it is extremely expensive, and I don't know how I can cut back more. For those of you who have it, is Part B worth the cost?
I will explain my circumstances a bit more: when I lost my medical insurance, I was very blessed to find a medical clinic that gives excellent care. I pay a very low fee to see my nurse practitioner (who I love!) and get routine tests, and x-rays for free. When I ended up in the hospital for a few days, I got rated at the county, teaching hospital, and get hospital care and non-routine tests almost free. The clinic I go to helped me apply to drug companies, and I get some of my medications for free. Like I said, I am blessed!
My interest in Part B would be to see that the clinic I go to gets paid more than I can pay, for home health services, for durable medical equipment, and because I am told they will pay for glucose test strips and meters, an expense that is very difficult for me to pay.
If you have Part B and could enlighten me a little, I would really appreciate it. I want to make it clear that I am not complaining about my situation. It could be a whole lot worse, as I well know, and I have had many, many blessings. I have nothing to complain about, just a lot of questions. Thank you.
By Free2B from North Royalton, OH
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You are lucky that being you have medicare that you can still get help with medical assistance from local sources. When I was old enough to get medicare the free clinic told me I would have to quit going there, Which at that clinic a patient saw third year residents that rotated every three months. There was also a supervising physician and 2-3 nurses. Where I live there is no free hospital care available.
I forgot when you get to where you qualify for medicare part D, the pharmeceutical companies will probably tell you that even if you don't apply for part D, they will drop you from the free program. This happened to me when part D went into effect, now instead of getting my meds completely free, I have to make a co-pay, which comes to about $10.00 a month, so far.
My husband is on disability and I work as much as I can, but with three kids money is tight. We applied through the county job and family services for benefits, and we qualified for the state of Ohio to pay for Medicare Part B for us.
Copasetic, I am being transfered from Medicaid to Medicare as of September 1st so you and I must have become disabled right around the same time. From what I understand if you receive SS disability you will receive part B. There are also programs for discounted part D. I am 57 and currently asking oodles of questions about Medicare from others who are disabled and via my local SS office before going on to Medicare (so as not to have any unexpected surprises) and have received quite a bit of info so far but still more questions to ask.
My husband and I are both disabled and we pay for Part B. We get billed for the remainder 20% of the bill but there is a plan that all hospitals are required to offer (even though they don't) called Hcap. Some places call it Human Arc. You provide your income and other information to them and they tell you what you are qualified for. If you refuse to sign up for Plan B, it gets more expensive when you change your mind later. A lot more expensive.
You should be able to get help paying it from your state...contact Social Security they will be able to answer all of your questions. God bless!
Just remember that if you don't sign up for Part B when you first get Medicare it would cost you more if you decide later to get it. The longer you wait the more it will cost you. Personally I've never think about dropping Part B.
My Dad came down with bacterial pneumonia not long after retiring. Wisely for him, he had taken the part B. The first bill was for $90,000.00 and they just kept pouring in from there. A long hospital stay or critical care stay can take your whole life savings in no time at all. Thank God he had taken part B.
I was just reading the newest update alerts here and see you've received some truly good advice and examples regarding Part B since my original post. I had already planned on accepting to pay for this because of possible future doctor, tests, hospitilization so, yes, the $115.00 a month for part B is definitely worth it! You should also sign up for Part D and choose the prescription plan that will work best for you. I am also on a really super tight budget but it would be even tighter if I tried to pinch pennies and something unexpected ended up happening whether because of general medical, hospitilization or medications.
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