Don’t have a ride to your next doctor's appointment? Not allowed to drive after a big procedure or taking a new medication? Find out how some Medicare Advantage plans can help, this week on 65 and Counting!
Welcome back, everyone! It’s time to talk about another important benefit we see mentioned all the time in those commercials you see on television! Today, we’re gonna talk about transportation as it relates to Medicare! Find out if your plan has it, all the different aspects of transportation it may cover, and if the benefit is really worth it to you?
So, what is a transportation benefit? The term is a little vague and depending on what plan you have, can mean a few different things. The best way to discuss this is going to be, as always, by breaking it down to Original Medicare and a Medicare Supplement with a Prescription Drug Plan versus Medicare Advantage!
So what kind of transportation does Original Medicare (Parts A and B) Cover? Well, not a whole lot on its own. Medicare’s Part B will cover ground ambulance transportation when you need to be transported to a hospital or skilled nursing facility for medically necessary services, and transportation in any other vehicle could endanger your health. Medicare also may pay for emergency ambulance transportation in an airplane or helicopter if you need immediate and rapid ambulance transportation that a ground vehicle couldn’t provide. Although, in some cases, Medicare might pay for limited and medically necessary, non-emergency transportation if you have a written order from your doctor stating that it's necessary.
Now remember, with Original Medicare on its own, you’re still going to be paying 20% of the bill on this after you meet your Part B deductible! If you’ve got a Medicare Supplement to go with it, depending on which one you may only be responsible for the deductible or nothing at all!
You might be saying, “Adam, that’s great news but hopefully, I won’t need to use that benefit, I’m just trying to hitch a ride to my dermatologist to look at this mole!”
Well, there’s good news there too! Most Medicare Advantage plans will offer transportation benefits for something like this. These plans, if they cover this, will offer non-emergency transportation such as trips to the doctor's office or clinic. Some of the plans even cover Lyft and Uber rides to and from your doctor's office or fitness center!
Why do plans offer a benefit like this? Well, they want to do whatever it takes to keep you healthy! It’s the same reason most of your preventative procedures and screenings don’t cost you anything! If their plan members are able to make it to the doctor's office, then they’re staying healthy and costing the carrier less to take care of you!
I just want to put this disclaimer in here before I continue: almost all of these plans with transportation benefits have limits on how much you can use them and what you can use them for! You can’t use your transportation benefit to get a ride to poker at your buddy's house or to catch a flight you’re running late to!! Most of the time they’re going to need to be used for medically beneficial reasons.
So, does your plan have a transportation benefit? It might! And if it doesn’t, AEP is just around the corner… Certified Medicare Planners are standing by the phone waiting to help you find out if you have one already and help you look at your options if you don’t! I’ll include the phone number to call and find out in the description of the episode as well as my email address!
I hope you learned a little bit more about that transportation you hear them talk about on television and feel a little more confident in how to use it! Thank you so much for watching everyone! Don’t forget to like the video, subscribe to our page so you get notified when new episodes come out and share with all your friends! Most importantly friends, have a great week!