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As you've probably gathered, one of the big attractions of a traditional Med Supp is the idea that you pay a fixed premium and have little to no out of pocket costs. Typically this was a Plan F, but more are going with Plan G now if they end up with an agent who has the client's best interests in mind.
Most people expect a Medigap to cover all of the gaps, probably because someone they trust told them that they shouldn't accept anything other than traditional Plan F. HDF cuts against the grain of the "pay it and rest easy" ethos of Med Supp in which people are outraged to have to pay a nickel when they go to the doctor, much less the hospital.
I think HDF can be a good plan IF the member understands what it is. It gives you some of the cost savings of a MA plus the access to care afforded by Original Medicare. Ditto for Plan N, to a lesser degree. But these haven't proved to be the "MA killers" that some thought they'd be in 2010. I think part of that is that in many cases they are too expensive (especially once you add in Part D) and because they don't quite do what many expect a Supp to do.
It seems that HDF in particular hasn't really taken off because people are either already in poor health at 65 (in this part of the country, that is very common) or because they fear a decline in health in the future and don't want to be stuck paying the deductible every year. But someone "stuck" with having to do that can still be a lot better off than some who are in other situations that I've come across.
With regard to Veterans, I think the thread starter's thinking is to have the Supp as a fall back option in case he needs to use other providers in the future, but he'd need to log back on and give us a few more details to be sure, including addressing the questions Todd raised.
The idea behind HDF and N to begin with was trying to balance affordability with good coverage when and if it is needed and not paying "extra" for first dollar coverage. I'm not prepared to say that's definitely wrong, although I'd probably go with Plan G in most cases, as others here have recommended. (But I haven't seen rates in every state. Plan N may be much more attractive elsewhere. In a lot of cases, it is only about $20 a month cheaper than Plan G.) I have known a good many veterans take a MA plan instead in similar circumstances. The bottom line is having an out of pocket limitation on Medicare costs.
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Todd,
I thought you were in insurance sales. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, wouldn't you agree?
Perhaps our veteran friend had that drilled into his head 500 times during his sales training back in the day. I don't think I've ever sold a Supp to someone who uses the VA. I've sold a MA a few times to people that use the VA, but in almost every case it was to someone who already had one with a different plan. These are cases where the drive to the VA Hospital might be an hour or so and they want to be able to use (or do use) a local doctor, pharmacy, hospital, etc.
As I mentioned earlier, this isn't the first time that I've heard a veteran express concern about losing access to the VA. In at least some cases, I think this fear is due to a misunderstanding.
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