MORE questions than answers

[Dave's Not Here Man]

I have probably mentioned it but... because of how SSDI works, I will be getting Medicare on the 1st. I have made at least 8-10 phone calls trying to figure out how all of it works and literally no one knows. So far every time I call Medicare, I get an ESL person that can't understand my questions and their answers are nonsensical to me especially given my lack of understanding wtf is going on to start with. 

My final call yesterday was with my social worker in the city. She is pretty great about getting right back to me when I leave a message and about as helpful as you could expect from a public employee in LYNVA. But yesterday her computer froze or wouldn't load or whatever, and still couldn't provide me with the specific info I was looking for. While we were waiting to see if it would come back online (they are working from home to boot) I mentioned to her that this was all extremely confusing and frustrating to not be able to navigate the various state and federal programs, and to realize that those entities don't seem to merge each others' information. She said that was a problem for everyone including people in her position and then just imagine the "older" folks that a lot of times just give up trying.

So as of now I'm going to get Medicare Part A (no premium), Part B ($150/mo), and Part D (also no premium and no copays/deductibles). A letter I got from VMS (Medicaid) said I will have "Limited" Medicaid beginning on 5/1. So the questions are, in no particlar order-

1) What does "Limited" Medicaid mean?
2) Do I need Part B or Part D with "Limited" Medicaid?
3) Will I get assistance with the Part B if I still have to have it?
4) Does it make sense to get a Medicare Advantage Plan?
5) Does the Advantage plan supercede the other benefits of Medicaid, Part B, and Part D (it has copays
    and deductibles even though there's no premium for the plan)? *The Advantage Plans have extended benefits like dental and vision, for example, so that's one thing that I would want from it, and why I'm inclined to get one.
 

[minx]

Limited means they will only pay Medicare balances from what I know.
I think you still need B & D
Not sure about premiums and don't know shit about MA

I'll see what I can find out

[Dave's Not Here Man]

From what I can tell, MA is an HMO type health plan to supplement/enhance your Medicare parts. You have a policy through MegathirdpartyCorp similar to how medicaid works with some extended coverages. I apparently qualify for a MA plan with no premiums, but have no way to compare it with Part B in terms of out of pocket costs.

No answers today. Just beers.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Based on the phone call from my social, they (medicaid) aren't going to help with the Part B premiums because my income is too high. This is why old and poor people stay old and poor. It's a feature, not a bug.

Anyway, because of Covid rules, I'll still have 100% Medicaid coverage until the rules go back to norman. When they do, then I'll get the "limited" which she said the "spend-down" meaning if I spend x on out of pocket medical costs, then the medicaid kicks in again for the rest of the year only.

So starting tomorrow I'll be on Medicare Part A (no cost to me) Part B (150/mo), Part D (no cost to me) and full Medicaid (also no cost to me, but will likely soon go byebye). The only question I really have left is whether I should wait to get a Medicare Advantage Plan until the rona-rules expire. There's no premium for the Optima and AARP plan, and it has extended benefits like dental, vision, nutrition, gym membership, etc.

[minx]

I don't know a lot about MA - do you have to get it now, or is there an open enrollment window?
If you still have full Medicaid, might be worth waiting. OTOH, dental and vision is nothing to sneeze at either.

And since you'll be off Kaiser, does that mean you can see a real psych rather than Mr. I Hate Benzos?

[k9krap]

Isn’t there a limited window for those plans?

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Open enrollment period same as everything else. I think the Medicare person told me I had until May 30 (60 days) to choose a plan one since it's a new Medicare account.

We noticed that SS deposited the exact same amount of my Part B premium, $148.50 into our checking account this morning. I will get my SSDI deposit tomorrow, hopefully. Then we'll either see what's going on or be 10 times more confused than when I started.

This is why I'm not jumping on a MA plan until the rest of it plays out for a while.