I feel overinsured and it’s costing me money. I am wondering from other users of the forum whether it is common to ever break that enormous level of copays and what situations cause them to actually have such copays?
In the United States: For 8 years since getting Social Security Disability and Medicare, I’ve had both good old Medicare parts A+B+D. And by good old Medicare, I mean GOOD, AWESOME OLD MEDICARE. I can see any specialist I want without referral. I didn’t get trapped in a terrible disadvantageous medicare plan that in the U.S. is given the doublespeak name of “medicare advantage plan” wherein a general practitioner is incentivized by money bonuses at the end of the year if they don’t refer you to see a specialist.
I have also paid to have a Medicare Supplement plan. If you haven’t had one yourself, then you cannot provide a knowledgeable reply that contributes to this discussion. But in case someone is reading and wants to know what that is, it’s a plan that covers the 20% copays for doctor visits. Mine is they type with a huge deductible, called a “High Deductible F Plan”. I would have to spend approximately $2500 just on copays in 1 year before my plan would start covering my copays.
I haven’t come close to breaking my deductible in 8 years, and the cost of maintaining the secondary insurance is feeling like a long waste of money that could have been much better utilized. I am wondering from other users of the forum whether it is common to ever break that enormous level of copays and what situations cause them to actually have such copays?
I initially thought that autoimmune diseases run in herds and I would have expensive copays for disasterous autoimmune diseases that followed the psoriatic arthritis. While there have been additional autoimmune diseases that spontaneously appeared out of nowhere and piled on the psoriatic arthritis, they have been mostly short-lived or have minor symptoms. None of the additional autoimmune diseases caused a substantial increase in my copays for a given year. I do seem to get about 1 new short-lived autoimmune disease a year. As of today none of the additional ones have produced any symptoms in the past 9 months.
I have never been hospitalized in my life, ever. With good old medicare, that’s usually one of the expensive things that can cause approximately $1200 in copays.
For me, the extra insurance seems like a waste of money, though it probably was diligent of me to have it for the first few years just as protection since I was new to having autoimmune problems.
Do people here have supplement plans? What would cause someone much younger than 65 to need a supplement plan? (At 65 if good Medicare is still around, you can elect to buy a supplement plan again.) How much are typical totaled out-of-pocket copays for all doctor appointments for all health conditions in those with the awesome good old Medicare having PsA (and whatever additional diseases you have)?