Getting Spammed to death by calls for medicare Advantage

[TwoTankAmin]

I am 77, I have medicare, the top of the line Medicare supplemental policy not availale to most folks and the same for my drug policy. These are fine for me and I willinginly pay $600+/month for these 3 policies. I am way ahead in terms of how much these save me. I pay no deductible or copay for any medical care and do not need a referral to see a specialist. I can see any doctor in America I want to without any red tape. My drug costs are high as I need several inhalers which cost many 100s each for a 90 day supply. As of 2025 I have 0 copays for them. My medical expense are pretty high.

I am guessing I am getting about 8-10 calls a day trying to sell me on a Medicare Advantage Policy. I am not even sure I could quality for Medicare Advantage based on income and net worth. But I do not want Medicare Advantage. The disadavantages of these policies over what I have and want would make them a down grade for me. I am now screening calls letting my answering machine handle them. The caller IDs are spoofing numbers and caller IDs. One even used a hospital name. When the machine answers, I wait to see if the caller leaves a message. If they start to do so I will pick up and let them know why I did no pick up intil I heard them speaking to leave a message. The spam calls do not ever speak when they know it is a machine answering. So far I have not had to pick up.

I have been on the do-not-call ist for a lot of years, but this no longer matters to the insurance companies selling these policies which are actually harming Medicare. There is a ton of fraud involving them which degreades medicare coverage in general but enriches the insurance companies.

*SIGH*

 

[GaryE]

Spam callers are very persistent, for all sorts of shady businesses. No one ever phones me but the doctors, as everything is texting now. So I ignore them.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I do not text and never have. I do not own/use a smart phone. If you want to reach me either do so by Email or voice via phone. I have a pay by the minute flip phone where I had ATT disable the texting function. I kept getting spam texts for which I was charged. I never opened any, I just deleted them.

 

[Fishmanic]

Change your phone number. Worked for me a few years ago.
What bugs me are all the tv commercials for medicare advantage. Sometime 2 commercials in a row. They make it sound like there are so many benefits to Medicare advantage but it’s not good coverage if you have chronic conditions necessitating many tests and Drvisits and procedures.

Like you, I have supplemental plan which pays all medical expenses. I pay quite a bit but feel it’s worth as i age.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

My flip phone is for when I am away from home. Otherwise, it is turned off. I have had my current land line number since about 1985. I am not inclined to change it.

@Fishmanic

I have he F plan which is only offered to people:

To get Medicare Plan F, a person must have been first eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020, which means they must have been born on or before December 31, 1954, to turn 65 before that date.

I was born in 1948.

Key features of Plan F (for those grandfathered in)

• Broadest coverage: It was the only plan to cover all gaps in Original Medicare, including the Part B deductible.
• No out-of-pocket costs: For any services covered by Medicare Parts A and B, Plan F has no out-of-pocket expenses.
• Provider choice: You can use any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare across the country.
• Guaranteed renewable: As long as you pay the premiums, your coverage cannot be canceled.
• No referrals needed: You do not need a referral to see a specialist.

 

[GaryE]

The world of private healthcare like yours is alien to me, and I'm glad of it. I have a national program I've contributed to all my life, and that is extremely effective. We risk discussing politics when the outside world looks at US healthcare, so I will now turn back to my regularly scheduled fishtalk.

 

[fishorama]

We have a newer, not quite so good Medicare supplemental & drug plans as you have. But, it's always something. Now there's a $2k deductible for drugs. My husband hits that the 1st month & pays nothing else. I take only a few older meds so will never hit that. I pay much less now than I did before.
But for several years we had free Medicaid & paid nothing for anything. That was great! I tried to tell them we have assets but here they only count some forms of income. WTH? Then we were "grandfathered" in for some covid reason.

I think every year will be something new to get used to.

We screen all our calls, most are spam. We now have cell phones but haven't given our #s out.