IBM Medicare Via Benefits IBM announcement of splitting into two companies

 In October 2019 IBM announced it would be splitting into two public companies.  

This is a link to the SEC filing:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000110465920113260/tm2032661d1_ex99-1.htm

In this filing there is a "TBD" regarding what happens with the pension plan.  It will have to belong to one of the companies if both of them are public companies.

This is an excerpt from the BBC and is a lot easier to read:

International Business Machines (IBM) has announced it will split into two public companies.

The move is an attempt to shift its focus to higher-margin businesses like cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

A new company focusing on legacy IT infrastructure will be named and spun off next year.

It marks the latest shift by the world's first big computing firm to diversify away from its traditional businesses.

IBM Medicare Via Benefits Medicare Advantage advertising during fall open enrollment 2020

This year I thought about smashing my TV to bits rather than wait for yet another commercial about Medicare Advantage plans to end. AND, I don't watch that much "free TV".  It was insane. I cannot imagine what it was like for social media users.  

Here's why I found it so upsetting.  The commercials were incredibly misleading and bordered on being outright lies.  In the past, these kinds of commercials were slapped down by the FCC for being duplicitous. Where is the FCC? Why was the head of HHS not in a rage over how the ads were trying to trick people into signing up for subpar insurance? Where was AARP as a defender of seniors?  There seems to be no "watchdog" who is willing to slap down the insurance industry. I am all for honest capitalism but this is corruption.

I am writing this post knowing the readers of this blog are highly unlikely to be swayed by the drivel in Medicare Advantage advertising.  However, if you know people who are vulnerable, please help them "see the light" about the Medicare Advantage ads.  There is no such thing as "free".  Everything has a price.  Even when people don't have to pay for healthcare, the price is being so poor they cannot afford it and the places where they can go to get care are incredibly limited. Help your friends, please help them understand those Medicare commercials are a pile of BS. 

IBM Medicare Via Benefits Medicare Recipient Insurance Cost Analysis from 2007 - 2021

 This information is updated to include 2021 cost information. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rfKZhgninJGJqgcvAYcc8txskhLGnVpK/view?usp=sharing

It was originally posted in a blog entry on March 2020 at:

 http://ibmmedicare.blogspot.com/2020/03/ibm-medicare-via-benefits-medicare-cost.html

IBM Medicare Via Benefits HRA FSA Reimbursement for part B 2021 Process

 Maybe you are like me.  I received a postcard from Via Benefits maybe a month ago and barely looked at it.  At least I didn't throw it away.  It was about automatic premium reimbursement.  I've been doing that for my part D and medigap so I tossed the postcard in the Medicare mail pile and wondered when I was going to get my form in the mail to setup the automated monthly reimbursement for part B in 2021 like I did in 2018 and 2019.  

A friend called yesterday and was asking me questions about how to fill out his 2021 form because he has an IRMAA (he is a retired executive). IRMAA is a premium differential higher income people pay to be in Medicare (but don't call it a tax!)  We talked through the form he received and I realized I had not received my part B form. I called him back to ask when he received it and he said he called Via to request it be mailed.

Smart me, I decided I would just print mine off the Via Benefits website. I knew how to print forms off the Via website! Fat chance. Such began my decent into insanity. It took a couple of tries but I did succeed in logging on.  It had been a while since I'd been on the site. I tried to find "forms" but the website had been redesigned.  I crawled all over the main site and the reimbursement site and no forms were anywhere.  Then I tried to do a search.  The "HELP" function circulated but never loaded so I couldn't do a search.  I went back through every menu item again and couldn't find forms.  

It was time to composed a hate filled message to submit as a "ticket" and I decided to further work out my aggression by sweeping leaves off the back deck.  Then I looked at that damn post card. It was about how to get part B reimbursement but they never say on the card that it is only for people who don't have IRMAA so he couldn't have used it.  I went back to the website, determined to learn how I could do it (the postcard said I could do it online) and how he could have done it because of  his IRMAA.

Here's what I learned.  If you don't have an IRMAA and still have the postcard, you can mail in the response card and they will turn on automatic reimbursement for part B.  If you threw out the postcard, you can call or turn it on in your Via Benefit reimbursement profile. If you have an IRMAA, call Via to get the form like he did OR do a recurring premium reimbursement function and fill out the questions in the function fields using "Medicare" as the insurance company.  You then have the option of printing out the "form" created by the application to mail with a copy of you SSA letter or submit it online and upload an image of your SSA letter.  

Of course, I bitterly complained to Via Benefits in their survey.  It seems to me they do not field test their redesigns on seniors. At the very least, there should be a stellar "Help" function that will actually load. I think it is elder abuse!