Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage for 2011

Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of the most widely recognized names in health care.  They are a huge provider of health coverage for a lot of group plans, and this helps them when it comes to their Medicare enrollments.  Unfortunately, the name doesn't always translate to coverage.  One important note is that BCBS is different from state to state.  They are completely separate entities, and operate independent of each other.  So BCBS of Alabama is completely separate from BCBS of Tennessee. 


Start be making sure you are looking at the correct plans for your state and county.  BCBS offers several types of Medicare Advantage  and Prescription Drug Pans depending on your location.  For example, in Alabama BCBS offers a PPO, PFFS, and a SNP while Arkansas only has a PFFS plan available.  Both California and Florida offer a Regional PPO.  A quick review of the Florida Regional PPO shows a premium of $63/month, co-pays of $50 for specialists, $300 a day for hospital stays, and a lovely $150 Part D Drug deductible!  Click here to see another well known company that has started including a deductible for their drug coverage.  These companies should be ashamed of themselves for this kind of robbery.  In this county alone there are three plans that have a zero premium, lower co-pays then those described above, and no deductible on the drug portion of the coverage!

So why would anyone sign up for this type of coverage?  Well, the answer is simple.  People have BCBS when they turn 65 so they migrate to their Medicare coverage, not taking the necessary time to research the best plans for them in their area.  The lesson here is to not always assume that a company with a well known name is going to always provide you with the best coverage.