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My wife and I are on Traditional A&B with a plan G supp. My wife has a pretty severe case of fibromyalgia, and is under care of a pain management practice. Because her pain meds are controlled, she’s required to see them for an office visit once a month. This evening, we received the following letter in the mail (dated 11/20 but envelope not postmarked until 12/6!):
We are writing you to let you know our NEW Office Policy for 2024 that will be going into effect as of January 1st, 2024. To all our patients who are currently Traditional Medicare Members (Red, White & Blue Card) as of December 31 2023 we will NOT be renewing our contract in 2024 with Traditional Medicare. That means that you will either have to get a Medicare Replacement Card or become a Self Pay/Cash payer to remain with us.
If you decide to be a self pay patient you will be responsible for $150.00 per visit that is due at time of service. For those of you who decide to switch to a Medicare Replacement Card for 2024 we are in contract with most Medicare Replacement Plans. Should you have questions….yada yada….
As ticked off as we both are about this, my wife would rather not have to find another clinic. So we’re in a bit of a dilemma. I’m assuming “Medicare Replacement plans” means Med Advantage, correct? AEP just ended on 12/7, correct? SO… we might have considered switching to MA if AEP had not just ended THE DAY BEFORE WE GOT THE LETTER!
If they had mailed it out within a day or two of the date on the letter itself, we wouldn’t be having this problem!!!
I never wrote much MA, and it’s been long enough ago that there was no AEP at that time. So I don’t know if there’s a way around the deadline. Would there be an exception in a case like this or are we just stuck until next AEP?
We are writing you to let you know our NEW Office Policy for 2024 that will be going into effect as of January 1st, 2024. To all our patients who are currently Traditional Medicare Members (Red, White & Blue Card) as of December 31 2023 we will NOT be renewing our contract in 2024 with Traditional Medicare. That means that you will either have to get a Medicare Replacement Card or become a Self Pay/Cash payer to remain with us.
If you decide to be a self pay patient you will be responsible for $150.00 per visit that is due at time of service. For those of you who decide to switch to a Medicare Replacement Card for 2024 we are in contract with most Medicare Replacement Plans. Should you have questions….yada yada….
As ticked off as we both are about this, my wife would rather not have to find another clinic. So we’re in a bit of a dilemma. I’m assuming “Medicare Replacement plans” means Med Advantage, correct? AEP just ended on 12/7, correct? SO… we might have considered switching to MA if AEP had not just ended THE DAY BEFORE WE GOT THE LETTER!
If they had mailed it out within a day or two of the date on the letter itself, we wouldn’t be having this problem!!!
I never wrote much MA, and it’s been long enough ago that there was no AEP at that time. So I don’t know if there’s a way around the deadline. Would there be an exception in a case like this or are we just stuck until next AEP?