I am new to all this medicare stuff, but here is something that I don't understand. I received a call from my supplementary insurance. They wanted to send someone out to my house to assess my health situation.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because they want to make sure that all my health needs are being addressed," I was told.
Now...wouldn't that be between me and my doctor? HIPPA and all of that? Why would I want to discuss things like that with a stranger coming to my home? So I asked that.
I was assured that they would share all this important information with my doctor.
I said, "I guess I still don't understand why I need a third party to assess me when I have a doctor to assess me..."
They said, "Well, we can do this via zoom, if you'd rather."
I said, "I'm not comfortable with any of this. I don't understand the point." I turned them down, and I don't think they knew what to make of it.
I've been pondering this ever since the call, and what I've come up with is this: They are matching my health information up with other agencies, i.e., if a person is diabetic, they can sell that information to agencies selling diabetic supplies. Or if a person has mobility issues, they can sell that information to businesses who are marketing medical equipment.
I will bet that businesses would pay a lot of money for targeted business opportunities.
Dunno.
Anyone else heard of this?
Hi Debby, This is Jackie (in Georgia) and our power has been off for over a week so my social media reading is very limited. However, I just heard about the same thing happening to my sister who has Advantage. My husband and I have Original Medicare and have not been contacted. I don't know if this is just the insurance companies that provide Advantage or not. I hope to make it back to read the comments here within the next few days. Thanks for bringing up this subject. Jackie.
ReplyDeleteJackie, I saw your comment over at John Gray's. It was the first that it even occurred to me that you might have been caught up in this. It is definitely the Supplementary insurance doing this. We have had Medicare for a year now. The supplementary insurance is a new add on for us. The call came from Humana, so it is not Medicare doing this.
DeleteI hope that things start returning to normal there soon. Did you have to evacuate?
Thanks Debby. No we stayed home. We have a generator which has made all the difference in allowing us to stay. That is interesting about Humana because that is the same group that contacted my sister. She allowed them to visit her which I had advised against. Jackie.
DeleteYeah, no.
ReplyDeleteI have the Humana Medicare Advantage Plan (Gold Plus) and they do call to set up an in-home assessment. I refused the visit, however, others in the residence I live in have had the visiting nurse come do their assessment and very happy to have it done in-home!
ReplyDeleteFolks who may have trouble getting in to see a doctor find it quite private and convenient. I don't believe they are trying to pull anything!
I would be cautious, too. Everyone wants to sell something.
ReplyDeleteThey contacted me over and over, wanting to come out here to do the assessment, and I kept refusing, finally blocking their number and email. I wonder if they are really looking for health/safety hazards in our homes, so that someday they can say, well we told her to get rid of rugs and she didn't, and then refuse to cover a fall. I don't know, maybe I am just too suspicious, but I have a doc I trust who can do zoom visits, so why this extra thing?
ReplyDelete