Medicare & Traveling. Adoption Day.

There is a lot to consider when you have to choose a Medicare HMO, or any health plan for that matter. It depends which state you are domiciled, too, as not all plans are available everywhere.  Some plans require that you are in your home state for some of the time, so you have to look for that in the fine print.  If you go to the Medicare.gov site you can look at them.  If you sign in, it asks you specific questions about yourself, you will find that it narrows down your choices quite a bit.  I had a hard enough time finding one, and I don’t travel much.

This is supposed to be done by the end of the year, but I was told that if you are unhappy with your choice, that you can still make one more change in January.

Excerpts from": http://fulltimerver.com/fulltiming-and-medicare-insurance/
“What to look for: First, you’ll need to evaluate your own priorities. If money is an issue, find out how much the plan costs, both in terms of an up-front monthly payment to the insurance company, and how much individual co-pays are for each type of service. When you check out plans on the Medicare website, you’ll be asked the general state of your health, and the site will provide estimates of your annual cost for each plan. It’s a pretty broad estimate, but at least you can compare plan for plan to see which would likely cost less.

You’ll also need to know what happens if you go out of the network–if the plan has one. Some plans are very tight and only allow you to obtain non-emergency services in the network. Others will allow you to go out of the network for a higher cost. Still others may allow you to see any doctor, anywhere, who’ll accept Medicare assignment.

Be sure to check out how much it will cost you for prescription drugs. Each plan has its own “formulary” of what drugs it allows, and how much you’ll pay for them. If you’re on a lot of drugs, or some expensive ones, it will pay to shop around.

One RVer, who has the “go anywhere” plan, found there is another hitch to look for: He can’t be out of his “home” state for more than six months. As a result, in his travels he always plans on being “home” twice a year to meet the plan requirement.

Learning more about Medicare plans: Log on to www.medicare.gov.  Look for the option on the left side of the screen labeled, “Plan Choices” (this will also help you sort out Medigap plans) and click on it. Chose the “Medicare Advantage Plans” option. Now look for the choice, “Medicare Options Compare,” and next find “Find and Compare Health Plans.” (Whew! Told you this could be frustrating!). If you click on “General Plan Search” you can enter a zip code for any town in the country you might call “home,” and you’ll find what plans are available and the details.”
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Ray and I did a little work around here, and then he helped me load the cats into the van in their traveling cages, and I went to Petco for Adoption Day.  Prime and Patches, didn’t like it much, and huddled together asleep in a cat bed.  They don’t show well.  How will they ever get adopted?

A couple of young teenage girls had organized a school project of collecting dog and cat food, towels, litter, treats and other pet items for the homeless pets.  They did a lovely Christmas song and dance for us, and donated about three shopping cats of pet supplies to the SPCA.    How thoughtful of these two young girls to spend time to do this.  It brought tears to our eyes.  Then another young lady came in with a big pet carrier full of pet items.  How wonderful that folks think of giving to the homeless animals as well as their familes.  It did remind me of a quote though, "Every day is a feast day in the eyes of the Lord", and that giving should be an everyday occurrence, not just at certain times of the year.

We borrowed a cord off another monitor that I had bought, while I am waiting for the seller to send the proper cord.   But the monitor that I like the best, is so faint that I can hardly read the writing.  I have tried to adjust it, but it hasn’t worked so far.

 I am just tired of messing with it today!