My father has Medicare. Why do they keep asking for medical insurance? Do they mean Medicaid?

one thing you need to pay attention to-one plan is called medical select-it runs a few dollars cheaper but there is a network of hosptials. Most plans now all include all doctors-well doctors that accept medicare and especially those that have a supplemental policy

I have AARP as did my husband-they probably lost money on him -but I do not visit docs as much as he did-often just for attention and I feel AARP is worth it-some of the cheaper plans go out of business or change which medicial facilities are covered and people are left scrambing to find another provider real quick-I have had people tell me I am crazy to pay so much more than they do-then later I find them doc shopping because their primary doc is no longer covered or the company are not doing business in this state or other problems.

this is can be a compicared search. Medicare Part A cost nothing and pays a portion of your hospital only-I saw portion cause there are things it does not pay. Part B has a premium taken out of your social security. I believe it runs around $98 a month. It covers everything that Part A does not including dr, lab work etc. However it also pay not cover everything 100% and it has a deductible. I believe $140. This is where supplementa insurance comes in. There several plans and the F is the best but the most expensive. All supplemental plans are the same no matter who you are insured with. The difference is the premiums and that will vary from companies and states. Its best to search all options. Typically an affordable one can be found for everyone. I recommend contacting a broker, who will have a wide variety of options and companies for you. One of the best is AARP

My mother has a supplemental policy for medicare and my father did not. We were asked for insurance, however, each time we admitted him to the hospital. I am looking at supplemental policies even though I am 57 and not ready for medicare. It seems to help my mother a great deal.

Medicare is most peoples primary health insurer when you hit 65.

But Medicare doesn't pay 100% of the costs, so most people have 2nd insurance. For example, my mom's 2nd was Blue Cross which was a federal employee program through my dad's work and her premium was paid by being taken out from her retirement annuity every month automatically. Now my late MIL was on a Humana secondary payor that she had to write a check for every month and before that was on another one that was limited to health services within a specific health care group in order for them to pay for anything.

The doctors office, hospital, etc. need to know to whom else they are to send the bill to for whatever Medicare doesn't pay for. If you don't have a secondary policy, then you may be asked to pay in full, up front for the anticipated co-pay. This could be quite a bit of $. Some doc's will not take patients who only have Medicare - this is what was the case for my mom's ophthalmologist and orthopedic doc's - because she had fed BCBS then she could continue as a patient. Medicare reimbursement is super low and not worth the paperwork and other logistics for many practices unless payment is balance by another insurer.

T here was a time that most docs would not take medicare pts. and they need to know if you have supplement besides medicare for billing purposes -medicare pays differently if you have more than one insurance.

Many people on Medicare have additional insurance. My husband and mother, for example, have insurance policies that administer their Medicaid. I have a supplemental policy I pay for out of pocket, over and above Medicare.

So "they" always have to ask exactly what the insurance situation is, even for people on Medicare.

(And, by the way, this chaotic hodge podge of seemingly unlimited possibilities is one of the costs in our healthcare system. "They" have to have administrative people to deal with all this.)

My mom has medicare, but she also has insurance from my dads retirement. The supplemental insurance is supposed to cover the charges that medicare doesn't. I sometimes think its an excuse to run more tests, cause she has double insurance. Hopes this helps.

Does your father have supplemental health insurance in addition to Medicare? If not, he could qualify for Medicaid depending on income - have to meet the guidelines.