RETIREE MEDICAL BENEFIT OF LUMP SUM OF $25,000 GONE!

[anonymous]

You’re welcome. Yes, recently retired and now starting medicare.
In past posts there were complaints about AZ’s medicare supplements plan, especially the 25k cap. Some expensive meds and a hospital stay could use that up quickly. But you had to buy it for the other benefits.So all in all this is actually good news. Can now buy a better, less costly plan and still keep the AZ benefits of insuring dependents and receive AZ meds free.

Re-read letter.... retiree dependent under age 65 gone also. They will be able to receive the 7 year free Az drugs when they turn 65.

 

[anonymous]

Re-read letter.... retiree dependent under age 65 gone also. They will be able to receive the 7 year free Az drugs when they turn 65.

#1. Wow, if this is accurate, it is very disconcerting for a future AZ retiree whose spouse is significantly younger than themselves and won't hit Medicare age at the same time they do.

#2. Thinking about it further, if accurate, would it also mean even a 60 year old AZ retiree could no longer have their spouse covered by their AZ retiree healthcare plan?

In other words, you would HAVE to be an active AZ employee to have any kind of dependent health insurance coverage?? That doesn't seem right but I put nothing past AZ, or in fact, any large corporation these days.

If anyone can answer accurately the above 2 scenarios I laid out it would be greatly appreciated.........I will check with AZ HR department for answers but am under no illusions that I will get any reliable guidance.

 

[anonymous]

Re-read letter.... retiree dependent under age 65 gone also. They will be able to receive the 7 year free Az drugs when they turn 65.

ok... ok... I re-read the letter. I was wrong.
Sorry!

 

[anonymous]

Yeah, I read it very carefully. With the AZ medicare supplement plan there is a 25k max lifetime payout for costs not covered by medicare. It has been this way for years. Where is your lump sum payout is what i was asking.

There was never a lump sum payout of $25k. It’s a lifetime benefit that pays for drugs and what Medicare doesn’t pay. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Looks like it’s gone on 1/1/21.

 

[anonymous]

Re-read letter.... retiree dependent under age 65 gone also. They will be able to receive the 7 year free Az drugs when they turn 65.

I have been retired since 2012, and have been on Medicare 3 years, and my wife has been on it 1 year. I have not received my letter yet about them doing away with the $25k lifetime payout. I SINCERELY HOPE YOU MISREAD THE PART ABOUT THEM ALSO DOING AWAY WITH RETIREE DEPENDENT COVERAGE!!! If this is true,I simply can’t believe how they are screwing the employees left behind! This will be a huge deal for many of you. AZ is doing great financially, so their is no reason other than greed to screw their people!

 

[anonymous]

The question no one has asked is how does AZ handle these benefits in other countries that have socialized medicine like the EU as well as Britain?

 

[anonymous]

Some are referring to the $25k as a lifetime benefit. Guess it depends on how you define “benefit”, but to me it was just a health insurance policy that you had the option to buy. And unlike the health insurance for current employees it was not subsidized in that it costs as much or more than other medicare supplement policies available on the open market. Which is actually the reason given as to why it is being discontinued. Current laws state a policy has to meet a certain accreditation in price and coverage that meets a minimum standard. The policy was not meeting that standard, and with the choce to improve the policy or discontinue it, chose to discontinue.

 

[anonymous]

Excellent explanation.... spot on!

 

[Woody]

Some are referring to the $25k as a lifetime benefit. Guess it depends on how you define “benefit”, but to me it was just a health insurance policy that you had the option to buy. And unlike the health insurance for current employees it was not subsidized in that it costs as much or more than other medicare supplement policies available on the open market. Which is actually the reason given as to why it is being discontinued. Current laws state a policy has to meet a certain accreditation in price and coverage that meets a minimum standard. The policy was not meeting that standard, and with the choce to improve the policy or discontinue it, chose to discontinue.

Wrong...Dumpster Breath.....It is all about money, and they could have kept the program, and made the retiree co payment higher. Remember, this amount also includes RX coverage.
In Medicare, you cannot have Supp. that has both medical insurance and Rx into one. That is against the law.
AZ, saw all the money going into a BIG ugly Corporate Headquarters in England that was 3X over budget. Plus the future of all pharma companies will be to have a much smaller sales force, which means more on the Retirement....INSURANCE...OK..Hello McFly!!!

 

[anonymous]

AZ definitely screwed it retirees, but we still need to make a choice as to selecting a medicare back up plan. What's the best choice? Medigap policy? Medicare advantage plan? Has anyone done any research they can share as what's the best option or pros/cons of picking one over the other?

 

[anonymous]

AZ definitely screwed it retirees, but we still need to make a choice as to selecting a medicare back up plan. What's the best choice? Medigap policy? Medicare advantage plan? Has anyone done any research they can share as what's the best option or pros/cons of picking one over the other?

I called "Select Quote" very good deal. Plan G is the best. My starts 1/1/2021. Mutual of Omaha for me $100/month. Call them. Rx plan...I do not take any rx meds...~$20/month...

I also have my term life ins. with them with good rates.

 

[anonymous]

I called "Select Quote" very good deal. Plan G is the best. My starts 1/1/2021. Mutual of Omaha for me $100/month. Call them. Rx plan...I do not take any rx meds...~$20/month...

I also have my term life ins. with them with good rates.

Plans dog shit. You’re dog shit Fatso.

 

[anonymous]

AZ definitely screwed it retirees, but we still need to make a choice as to selecting a medicare back up plan. What's the best choice? Medigap policy? Medicare advantage plan? Has anyone done any research they can share as what's the best option or pros/cons of picking one over the other?

I retired from AZ and hit Medicare 3 years ago. First I tried a supplement policy with Mutual of Omaha for the first 2 years and it’s not cheap. For 2020, I went with a $0 premium Humana PPO Medicare Advantage Plan. Drug coverage for a 90 day mail order supply Was $0 co-pay for most generics. Dental plan is horrible, and the vision plan is not much better. The AZ Retiree Health Plan that you keep until Medicare age is better. I think I will stick to the same plan for 2021, The supplement plan with Mutual of Omaha was just to expensive.

if you go with a supplement plan, pick Plan G, which is the best of all of them. REMEMBER. THE COST OF THE PLANS WILL VARY FROM COMPANY TO COMPANY, BUT PLAN G COVERAGE IS EXACTLY THE SAME NO MATTER WHAT COMPANY YOU GET IT FROM!

Doing away with the $25,000 lifetime AZ MEDICARE INDEMNITY PLAN was very low on their part. Very low! It really came in handy. Hope this helps a little.

 

[Woody]

Plans dog shit. You’re dog shit Fatso.

Nice potty mouth. I bet your mom is proud. Tell me why Plan G not good.
For your info I'm not fat. I'm 5'10" ...170 lbs. Grow up!

 

[anonymous]

I retired from AZ and hit Medicare 3 years ago. First I tried a supplement policy with Mutual of Omaha for the first 2 years and it’s not cheap. For 2020, I went with a $0 premium Humana PPO Medicare Advantage Plan. Drug coverage for a 90 day mail order supply Was $0 co-pay for most generics. Dental plan is horrible, and the vision plan is not much better. The AZ Retiree Health Plan that you keep until Medicare age is better. I think I will stick to the same plan for 2021, The supplement plan with Mutual of Omaha was just to expensive.

if you go with a supplement plan, pick Plan G, which is the best of all of them. REMEMBER. THE COST OF THE PLANS WILL VARY FROM COMPANY TO COMPANY, BUT PLAN G COVERAGE IS EXACTLY THE SAME NO MATTER WHAT COMPANY YOU GET IT FROM!

Doing away with the $25,000 lifetime AZ MEDICARE INDEMNITY PLAN was very low on their part. Very low! It really came in handy. Hope this helps a little.

 

[anonymous]

I contacted VIA Benefits, the folks AZ hired to assist us in picking secondary health coverage. When you call you get a customer service rep who basically just helps you get set up on their system. After you enter your details, then you can shop and compare plans. When I looked at the Medicare Advantage PPO plans, their info said my doctors weren't covered. I knew this couldn't be right. I called customer service, the rep couldn't help me verify if my doctors truly werent covered. You really need to speak with a Benefits Counselor to get into the nitty gritty detail. You can wait forever on the phone to get one or you can schedule an appointment. Hopefully not an issue for anyone else but just wanted to give a "heads up". So far not impressed with VIA Benefits. Their on-line compare & shop functionality is a "circle of death slow go" for me. Good Luck.

 

[anonymous]

I resigned four years ago. A couple of my counterparts who were in my age group (+/-) were miserable like me, but chose to stay with AZ because of this guaranteed retirement benefit. Needless to say that we in our age group are close to retirement. Tsk tsk. I’m feeling bad for my counterparts who had to suck it up thinking all along that it was worth the retirement benefit they were so looking forward to.

 

[anonymous]

QUOTE="anonymous, post: 6086016"]My spouse was hospitalized and AZ cut off her supplemental after 2 days when $11K put her at the $25K maximum. We got stuck for the remainder of $38K that Medicare didn't cover. We could not get our own independent plan that would cover it since the charges occurred while AZ was figuring out the numbers.[/QUOTE]

A lot of complaining about losing something that wasn’t good to begin with. The Medicare supplement plan option from AZ was generally more expensive and had serious drawbacks as a previous poster stated above. The only reasons to choose it was if you were on AZ branded meds you could continue to get them free, and if you had a younger spouse or dependent you had to have this plan to keep them on the AZ health plan until they were also on medicare.
With the ending of this option you can now still get the AZ meds for free, keep your pre 65 year old spouse on the AZ plan, and get a less expensive plan without the $25 k cap on it. Its a win.

 

[anonymous]

You shouldn’t have beat the shit out of him Ffhagg

 

[anonymous]

QUOTE="anonymous, post: 6086016"]My spouse was hospitalized and AZ cut off her supplemental after 2 days when $11K put her at the $25K maximum. We got stuck for the remainder of $38K that Medicare didn't cover. We could not get our own independent plan that would cover it since the charges occurred while AZ was figuring out the numbers.

A lot of complaining about losing something that wasn’t good to begin with. The Medicare supplement plan option from AZ was generally more expensive and had serious drawbacks as a previous poster stated above. The only reasons to choose it was if you were on AZ branded meds you could continue to get them free, and if you had a younger spouse or dependent you had to have this plan to keep them on the AZ health plan until they were also on medicare.
With the ending of this option you can now still get the AZ meds for free, keep your pre 65 year old spouse on the AZ plan, and get a less expensive plan without the $25 k cap on it. Its a win.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info. I just turned Medicare age, and I worked for AZ. My wife is will be 64 later this year. So, you are saying, if I read it right, my wife will continue to have AZ medical/Dental/Rx until she reaches 65 at the end of 2021. I called AZ benefits, and they could not give me a straight answer. AZ, pharms this out to a call center, that is not to smart. Also about VIA benefits, i looked online and the customer reviews are el-stinko.
thanks for your help. Stay safe!