Covid’s Harmful Effects on the Brain Reverberate Years Later

[Chalkie]

3 hours ago, RV_ said:

Vaccines are covered by TFL and no copays so far.

And if you ever do have one for a vaccine covered by Medicare, tell them to run the insurance again as they did something wrong. 😀

[RV_]

We know. Apria supplied my O2 concentrator and tried to bill me for a copay. I called them and they tried again so I followed up with a letter to them cc Tricare and cc Medicare fraud division and they never tried again. I also asked that since so many retirees are here if they need to investigate what's could be millions in fraudulent billing. We are on our toes with our earned benefits and how TFL works. We got really good when we traveled fulltime traveling with just Tricare before we were Medicare eligible. We retired at 45 and were just Tricare. A real pain so we used base and VA and Standard until we turned 65.  We only stayed on family, later our land, a couple of months a year to see our kids and grandkids. We built a full hookup concrete patio EV site there. Our fulltime peers and friends were 20 years older than us and we've lost many of them.

Back to topic there's little help for long term care so we're glad we have kids to do for us what we did for our folks. Long term COVID may take its toll on many who had it. We are learning more every year.

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, Chalkie said:

And if you ever do have one for a vaccine covered by Medicare, tell them to run the insurance again as they did something wrong.

If you visit the medicare site you will find that it states: You pay nothing for vaccines covered by Part B – flu, pneumonia and Hepatitis B – as long as your provider accepts Medicare. Your cost for vaccines covered by Part D will depend on your specific plan.

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

If you visit the medicare site you will find that it states: You pay nothing for vaccines covered by Part B – flu, pneumonia and Hepatitis B – as long as your provider accepts Medicare. Your cost for vaccines covered by Part D will depend on your specific plan.

Kirk, Derek and I were specifically talking  about TFL or Tricare For Life. TFL in the case of vaccines acts like Part B and D. A basic rule of thumb is that anything covered by Medicare is covered by TFL and TFL will pay what Medicare won't like co-pays or the excess billing over the amount the Medicare allows. 

[RV_]

6 hours ago, Chalkie said:

Kirk, Derek and I were specifically talking  about TFL or Tricare For Life. TFL in the case of vaccines acts like Part B and D. A basic rule of thumb is that anything covered by Medicare is covered by TFL and TFL will pay what Medicare won't like co-pays or the excess billing over the amount the Medicare allows. 

Simply put between retirement (avg age 38-45) and Medicare, (age 65) yes, retirees still have Tricare as their primary insurance, selecting Tricare Prime or what we used to call Tricare Standard. All with annual co-pays and co-pays for treatment in some cases.

After age 65 and enrollment in Medicare, Tricare ceases to be the primary medical insurance, we pay Medicare annual co-pays only - no more Tricare annual co-pays. Tricare then drops back to become the supplemental insurance to Medicare, paying whatever Medicare does not for covered procedures. We are also able to use military on-base pharmacies with no co-pays and can also use the VA and go to the front of the line when we are rated as disabled by the VA. Most providers and specialists accept TFL, and file with both Medicare and Tricare separately. My three days of hospitalization last year from the PEs had $0 co-pay or other charges. Same with my MRIs and CT scans.

Hope that helps.

[Chalkie]

3 hours ago, RV_ said:

Simply put between retirement (avg age 38-45) and Medicare, (age 65) yes, retirees still have Tricare as their primary insurance, selecting Tricare Prime or what we used to call Tricare Standard. All with annual co-pays and co-pays for treatment in some cases.

After age 65 and enrollment in Medicare, Tricare ceases to be the primary medical insurance, we pay Medicare annual co-pays only - no more Tricare annual co-pays. Tricare then drops back to become the supplemental insurance to Medicare, paying whatever Medicare does not for covered procedures. We are also able to use military on-base pharmacies with no co-pays and can also use the VA and go to the front of the line when we are rated as disabled by the VA. Most providers and specialists accept TFL, and file with both Medicare and Tricare separately. My three days of hospitalization last year from the PEs had $0 co-pay or other charges. Same with my MRIs and CT scans.

Hope that helps.

Just a couple of clarifications that have been at least my experience. I have never paid a Medicare co-pay, annual or otherwise, as TFL covers them. Also providers do not bill TFL. If they have correctly entered TFL as secondary when they bill Medicare then Medicare pays what they are going to allow and then they automatically forward the claim to TFL so it can pay what it is going to allow. Also providers are not allowed to bill extra to the patient. Even though we now have to pay drug co-pays when using a civilian pharmacy or Express Scripts it is still one heck of a good insurance.