I posted an entry earlier this week of a email I sent to Dr. Rhee complaining about being forced to buy a medical policy through Extend Health to get my subsidy. How could I have not realized that IBM was doing this for my own good because I would not have been able to figure out what insurance to buy all by myself. How wonderful that IBM still cares about me and that makes it so worthwhile for me to have to pay about $50/month more for my medigap insurance than if I could buy a plan in the open market. I feel so loved.
Here is Dr. Rhee's answer:
I want to respond to your letter regarding IBM’s announcement that Extend Health will provide you with new health plan options for 2014.
IBM decided to require retirees to enroll through the Medicare Exchange because we consider the benefit advisor important to helping retirees through this transition. For most retirees, a plan is available on the Medicare Exchange that delivers equal or better value than under the current IBM group plan options, at a lower cost. You may have chosen a plan that costs more, or you may be in one of the few areas of the country where plans are more costly. Previously, IBM used a “national” pricing strategy, meaning regardless of where a retiree lived, he or she paid the same amount for their IBM plan option.
Since you are not satisfied with the cost of the plans you've reviewed on the Extend Health website, I encourage you schedule an appointment with an Extend Health benefits advisor at 1-855-359-7380 to explore these options and to ensure there are no other plans or other suggestions that they may have for you that may meet your needs.
Thank you for your past contributions to IBM, and for writing.
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The EH advisor I spoke to today seemed to indicate that I should ask the person I talk to during my interview Nov 2 about plans that are available. I asked if she meant that it was possible that there were other plans that could be offered other than the ones that came up on the EH site. She said yes. Not sure if she's right but that's what she said.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is what several people have been told. Some insurance companies (AARP United Healthcare) did not want to publish prices so you have to ask for them to get the information. The presenter in the POK briefing did say that not all policies would be available to buy through EH in your zip code that are available to buy on the open market and then gave some BS about how they were companies EH didn't want to represent. The operative word in this equation is commissions. If EH doesn't get a commission EH isn't going to sell it.
ReplyDeleteNo commission for EH, no plan available to retirees. Strange way of IBM "looking after us retirees".
DeletePlato, I don't see how to send you a note so I'll ask you here. Are you in Poughkeepsie? I spent the first 11 years of my career there. Product Test and Systems Assurance from 1966-77.
No - not POK. I spent my entire career in the field and/or HQ. It is a pity how the basic underpinning of IBM's success - respect for the individual - has rusted away. People morphed from valuable assets to disposable commodities. The days of a socially responsible corporate culture are long gone. IBM has now stooped to squeezing old people for money. And not a lot will be gleaned from the squeezing so it is such a pathetic move. It's really sad.
Delete“PLATO,” Looks like you received a boilerplate filled answer to your well crafted email to Dr. Kyu Rhee. The response underscores IBM is “passing the buck” to Extend Health for Medicare-eligible retirees and dependents.
DeleteDr. Rhee is again confirming what we have known: while the transition may be good for some, at least in the near term, for others it may not work out as well. A big part of the variance undoubtedly comes from the switch from plans based upon national actuarial pools to “individual” plans based upon widely varying “local” - state / Zip Code / county - pools and costs, which unfortunately the ACA does little to address, but that is another topic.
It will indeed be very informative how EH addresses your valid concerns and issues when you have your enrollment call. Hopefully you will share a summary of your strategy and result with your ever increasing blog followers and many casual readers.
“PLATO,” I too was told in a September call with a EH senior supervisor/manager that AARP UnitedHealthcare Medicare plans are available even though they are not listed in the search results on the public EH/IBM Web site due to marketing restrictions in the UnitedHealthcare-AARP contract. Remember, you do not need an account to search the EH/IBM Web site. For the record, I do NOT have a AARP UnitedHealthcare plan.
DeleteWhen comparing EH and medicare.gov search results for some Zip Codes / counties mostly in FL, NC, and TX, usually there were more plans on the medicare.gov Web site. Some of the companies/plans missing from the EH search were so-called second or third tier companies, but top tier companies/plans were also missing.
Thus I would encourage people during their call with EH to specifically ask the EH representative about any plan(s) they are interested in, even if not listed in an EH search. Another approach may be to ask the EH representative to list/mention ALL of the plans available through EH for a plan category of interest, for example, Medicare Supplement, Prescription Plan, or Medicare Advantage, and go from there. As commented on before, if something of interest comes up during the call, take a time-out, do your research, and enroll later.
The best plan for the IBM retiree/dependent may not be the “best” one for EH to “sell” from EH's perspective.
Extend health is gettng even more scary; 2 days ago, i looked at the available plans in my Zip and there were 7 plans; yesterday, there were only 5 ! (they eliminated a low cost F+ plan); i called their tel#, and was told they're experiencing problems! ..what?
ReplyDeleteThree weeks ago I scheduled my call with EH for today. At the appointed time I got right through and had prepared a number of questions about the various options and plans. I started my discussion with the call agent.Then I noticed that the EH site with all the plans was unavailable. Tried numerous times to get back in while the call agent waited. She admitted that the large volume was impacting their systems. I gave up and ended my scheduled call. What a waste of time that their system is not built to handle the load .
ReplyDeletePlato, would you please post Dr. Rhee's email address. I would like to send him a similar note, Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI posted it on October 1st: http://ibmmedicare.blogspot.com/2013/10/ibm-medicare-extend-health-medigap.html
DeleteSorry - I just realized I didn't include the email address for Rhee in that post. Dr. Rhee is at kyurhee@us.ibm.com and I also copied Ginni who is at grometty@us.ibm.com
DeleteIf IBM selected subcontractors for business proposals the way they selected Extend Health, better run for the exits and sell your IBM stock! This outfit had to be low-bidder. Their frontline personnel are pleasant but when I moved beyond that individual to get into the nitty gritty, I found people unprepared to answer questions. Or in one case was told I didn't ask the question correctly. No one to date has been able to tell me just how current prescriptions will be available to me after January 1, 2014. In fact when I asked how my current prescription medications will be transferred to the new system, I've received three different and conflicting answers. Now that's real quality assurance. I suspect when those Proxy ballots arrive prior to the Annual Meeting this year, retirees may not roll over and rubber stamp whatever the Board of Directors recommend.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question but it is no surprise Extend Health has no clue how prescriptions will be transferred. I think the only way you might find out (notice, I say might) is by calling the IBM Service Center. They are the ones who have the relationship with the current prescription plan provider - not EH. You should also call the customer service people for the plan you are using in 2014 and ask them how they do prescription transfers. Hope that helps.
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