Why Bright House's Bay News 9 Won't Tell You the News About AARP's Medicare Advantage Plan

My wife saw the report first on Bay News 9. It informed that AARP was dropping about a thousand doctors from one of its medicare plans. She told me about it and right away I said, "It must be their Medicare Advantage Plan." She said that's not what the report said. A short while later while I was watching the report aired again. As she said, Medicare Advantage was not mentioned. I then went to my PC and Googled "AARP Drops Doctors" and found a headline which read "Patients scramble after AARP Medicare Advantage plans drop providers." In short, it doesn't effect me. After being advised against such a plan by a doctor and previously seeing the part such a plan had played in the death of a friend of mine, I had sworn off Medicare Advantage plans. But, inadvisable or not, that doesn't stop Bright House from collecting revenue from several companies, each of which is selling their Medicare Advantage Plan through infomercials. Just yesterday afternoon, I noticed such infomercials airing on both NBC and FOX at the same time. I wouldn't watch them but I'm guessing they promote their products as a way to simplify your dealings with Medicare and not as a way for them to increase their profits. Do you really expect insurance companies to be honest?

Anyway, how can you possibly call yourself a news channel when you let your parent company's monetary concerns interfere with your reporting of the news? You can't. In addition, I went to the Bay News 9 website and couldn't find the story listed anywhere. What they won't do for their advertisers.

From Your Friends At Humana-Medicare

I usually manage to tune out or fast forward past TV commercials, but a promo for Humana-Medicare popped up during the Emmy Award broadcast the other night and, since I hadn’t noticed it before, I watched it with interest. I don’t recall the particular content, but suffice it to say they were trying to get people to sign up for their program. A blurb on their website makes this promise: “At age 65, you may qualify for Medicare. Enroll in a Humana Medicare plan with additional benefits and more coverage than Original Medicare.”

Thing is, a friend of mine is in their program - specifically, their Medicare Advantage plan. Recently, he had a heart attack. The ambulance took him to the closest hospital in New Port Richey, Morgan Plant North Bay Hospital. I visited him several times there and, quite frankly, he wasn’t looking to good. That’s why I was surprised when he told me one day that a doctor, not his cardiologist, who had just been in his room had told him he was being sent to a rehab facility.

Well, though he participated in rehab at Orchard Ridge Rehab, also in NPR, his condition continued to decline. He felt miserable. Finally, I said to him, “Bobby, these people don’t give a shit about you. You’ve got to see your own doctor over at the VA. They don’t even know what’s been going on with you.” So, since he had a regular appointment at the VA coming up, I made arrangements to take him there.

Well, on the fateful day, the VA ran some blood work on my buddy and found, among other things, that his potassium was at a dangerously high level. This condition was no doubt exacerbated by the potassium supplements the folks at Orchard Ridge had been feeding him. The people at the VA encouraged him not to return to the rehab site and made arrangements for him to be admitted to the Cardiac Unit at Bayonet Point Hospital.

He was there a few days when the very same doctor who had released him from Morgan Plant to Orchard Ridge Rehab appeared in his room. Having become familiar with the doctors who were tending to him, he asked the doctor what he was doing there. That’s when the doctor informed him “I work for Humana.”

That explains a lot about my friend’s deteriorating condition and the basics of Humana-Medicare. This doctor had only one interest – keeping down charges to Humana. He wasn’t interested at all in my friend’s welfare.

I hope that the next time you see the ad for Humana Medicare, this story comes to mind. We know that insurance companies are sleazy outfits, but some are sleazier than others.