My wife's GP Dr just told her she is becoming a concierge practice

[Scottie Mom]

31. I get phone calls 24/7 for Medicare Advantage

What a lot of people do not realize is that MA is PRIVATE INSURANCE. Original Medicare is government insurance and there is NO cap on the cost of medical treatment with Original Medicare. I have been very ill..still am ill... and I found that without knowing it, I had joined MA. Well, calling new referrals from my PCP resulted in one of the first questions being asked was do you have MA? I answered, "Yes..." and was told that they no longer were accepting MA patients. I asked why and finally one of the offices gave me the answer: The cap put on total medical treatment by MA. I immediately as fast as I could switched to Original Medicare and have not had one bit of a problem being accepted by new medical offices. I had not meant to switch to MA and did so by accident and then immediately changed back. Boy, am I glad I did this. I now have wonderful new doctors in the specialties I need without any muss or fuss.

IMO, MA is a scam...they start their calls with BS about Flex cards and other benefits and ask if I have gotten mine yet. So I let them BS through the whole scenario laid out for them and tell them I just switched from MA to OM because MDs in my area were not accepting new patients with MA. The responses are often stunned silence. I gave them a few names of the MD offices and told them to try to make an appointment as a new patient and see what happens when you say you have MA.

Bottom line: We need socialized medicine. PERIOD. There is no excuse for the BS we have in the USA for what is laughingly called medical insurance. It's medical treatment maybe...if you can afford it.