Don't Get Sick

That's what former Representative Alan Grayson (D - Fl) once claimed was the healthcare plan of the Republican party.  Recent events reinforced that idea for me.

If you think you've planned ahead because you've taken out Medicare supplemental insurance, think again.  Many such policies, and in particular those dealing with drugs (Medicare Part D), are structured largely to slake the greed of the companies offering them.

For instance, Magellan RX recently, and without prior notification to its Part D policy holders, nearly doubled monthly premiums - in one case, from $44.00 to over $70.00 per month.  With a deductible of $400.00.  At the same time, Magellan also changed their accounting procedures so as to allow them to, in effect, bill in advance of the delivery of services.

Can you say double-dipping, boys and girls?

Magellan's display of brass kahones came ion mid-December 2017.  That scheduling allowed them to take advantage of the law governing Medicare.  That law states that changes to Medicare supplemental insurance coverage, like changes to Medicare itself, must take place during what's called an open enrollment period.  Such a restriction  thereby prevents Magellan policy holders from changing or dropping their drug coverage until at least another 10 months have passed.

I started putting together a list of adjectives I thought adequately described the greed and insensitivity of companies like Magellan.  I quit when I got to 20 and was still within the first 15% (A through D inclusive) of the alphabet.  But for what it's worth, here they are.

aberrant	abhorrent	abusive	abysmal	acrimonious
barbaric	benighted	bigoted	brutal	brutish
callous	caustic	corrupt	criminal	cruel
degrading	despicable	degenerate	destructive	disdainful