It’s that time of year again… time to start thinking about health insurance for 2015. Open enrollment starts November 15th and runs until February 15th.
We can hardly wait for this year’s Healthcare-dot-gov follies. Last year’s not ready for prime time debut was the stuff of legends.
Let’s see if they can top it this year… without actually abandoning the site. We know they’ve paid their internet renewal fees, so abandonment is unlikely. At least for the website. For you? Who knows.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been nosing around the various private bureaucracy sites and found most of them as confusing and contradictory as ever.
To make matters even more fun, Medicare’s annual guide has arrived in the mail, chock full of advice for those of us with enough remaining marbles to delude ourselves into thinking we can figure things out.
Alphabet soup is the opening act for this extravaganza. HMO, PPO, POS. For Medicare, Part A, B and D. And (shudder) The Formulary, that list of gibberish that tells you which drugs you need and can’t have.
If you’re good at letters, don’t fret. There are some numbers to figure out, too. Especially in part D or any related pharmacy plan.
Level one generics, 2, 3, etc. Level two and three and four and then it’s on to the name brands.
Your Fizoxofan was covered this year, why not next? Well, because there is a generic version Mono-Sodium Fizafflagin. And “real” Fizoxofan has been elevated to level nine which means you need preauthorization, you are limited to one pill every other month, but there’s a donut hole in June and July.
Good thing Fizo doesn’t do much to begin with. Fizoxofan is not for everyone. Ask your doctor… side effects include… blah blah blah and suicidal thoughts or actions.
Ever stop and think about what a “suicidal action” is?
Compare the plans. Don’t compare the plans by talking to an insurance agent. They’ll sell you what produces the greatest commission. You would in their shoes too. Compare them on the websites.
Another question: once you choose a plan, you’re a partner in a divorce- proof marriage for at least one year.
But your doctor isn’t. She can opt out any time during the year. So you say your vows but doc is free to live in sin?
Does that seem fair?
When you combine the government bureaucracy with the private bureaucracy, is that addition or multiplication?
How many of us will just throw our hands up in frustration and pick the first plan from the first website that pops up on our computer screen?
The bottom line is now what it always has been: don’t get sick.
Shrapnel:
--Over the weekend, a cop is shot and wounded in Ferguson, Missouri, the President says when we don’t trust the cops we’re “corroding America,” and two parents and three of their kids were found dead in a house near Provo, Utah. Are we more prone to sudden death nowadays? Or are we just better at reporting what happens?
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address sales pitches to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2014
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