How I got involved: a relative in her 70s asked for help with accounts while switching banks. The bank websites are hard for her to use. She had some recurring charges going to the old bank still and was feeling confused and overwhelmed because she couldn't keep track of what was where. She also cancelled an email address last year and has found herself missing information about bills (and unable to access websites) with companies that had her old email address on file. While helping her with this, a potential issue with her health coverage has arisen. In case it is relevant, she has no savings (not an issue to address on this post) and does not own a home. She lives off $20K/year from social security and $35-40K/year from nanny work. What to do when she can't work anymore is an obvious issue, but it is not the question for today.
Her understanding is that she has Medicare through United Health Insurance. She carries a United Health Insurance card and gives it to her doctors. She has $181.60 deducted from her monthly social security for medicare premiums and she thinks this is the payment for the United Health Insurance coverage.
We noticed a $173/month charge from Anthem on her old bank. She wasn't aware of any policies with Anthem. She doesn't carry any Anthem cards and does not remember ever giving Anthem info to any of her doctors in her current city. She is unable to login to the Anthem website because the account recovery options have her old email address and an old phone number.
I asked her to call Anthem to re-establish website access and to understand what policy she has with them. She just reported that she called them but cancelled the coverage because "it was a duplicate of the coverage I have with United Health Insurance." She thinks she was using Anthem 5+ years ago before she moved cities and switched to United Health Insurance.
In her mind, she has successfully resolved the issue and is happy to save $173/month. She thinks Anthem was her "old" insurance and United Health Care is her "new" insurance. However, I am not sure that makes sense. The Anthem charge states "MED SUPP Anthem Blue" and a quick web search makes that sound like a "Medigap" plan which may be different.
Is her cancelling this possibly a big mistake? Do I need to push back on her about it, investigate further, and educate myself on the complexities of Medicare? Or maybe the "Medigap" plan was useless to her since she didn't know how to use it so I shouldn't worry about her having cancelled it?
Her understanding is that she has Medicare through United Health Insurance. She carries a United Health Insurance card and gives it to her doctors. She has $181.60 deducted from her monthly social security for medicare premiums and she thinks this is the payment for the United Health Insurance coverage.
We noticed a $173/month charge from Anthem on her old bank. She wasn't aware of any policies with Anthem. She doesn't carry any Anthem cards and does not remember ever giving Anthem info to any of her doctors in her current city. She is unable to login to the Anthem website because the account recovery options have her old email address and an old phone number.
I asked her to call Anthem to re-establish website access and to understand what policy she has with them. She just reported that she called them but cancelled the coverage because "it was a duplicate of the coverage I have with United Health Insurance." She thinks she was using Anthem 5+ years ago before she moved cities and switched to United Health Insurance.
In her mind, she has successfully resolved the issue and is happy to save $173/month. She thinks Anthem was her "old" insurance and United Health Care is her "new" insurance. However, I am not sure that makes sense. The Anthem charge states "MED SUPP Anthem Blue" and a quick web search makes that sound like a "Medigap" plan which may be different.
Is her cancelling this possibly a big mistake? Do I need to push back on her about it, investigate further, and educate myself on the complexities of Medicare? Or maybe the "Medigap" plan was useless to her since she didn't know how to use it so I shouldn't worry about her having cancelled it?
Statistics: Posted by leeks — Fri Sep 06, 2024 11:56 am — Replies 2 — Views 94