Champva Supplemental Insurance. Not A Good Investment.

[georgiapapa 737]

Perhaps I am overlooking something but I really do not understand why any vets, regardless of whether their dependents are under 65 or regardless of whether their dependents only have Champva coverage, would purchase Champva supplemental insurance. Just sent my fellow Hadit member Britton my thoughts on this subject because he is contemplating spending $250.00 per month for a Champva supplemental policy to cover his wife which will pay her copays along with the Champva payments to her healthcare providers.

Keep in mind Champva will pay 100% of all of a covered dependent's medical costs after the dependent has paid $3000.00 out of pocket (copays and $50.00 deductible) in a calendar year. Champva's maximum out of pocket costs are exactly the same amount Britton would pay for his wife's premiums in a calendar year and her supplemental policy will not pay anything for the first six months for pre-existing conditions.

However, if Britton's wife only has $500.00 in out of pocket expenses in a calendar year, Britton is still out of pocket for $2500.00 for supplemental policy premiums for the calendar year.

My suggestion to Britton was not to buy a Champva supplemental policy, but just put $250.00 per month in a savings account which after 12 months will cover all of his wife's out of pocket expenses for the calendar year. In the event his wife has less than $3000.00 out of pocket expense in a calendar year the money saved would belong to Britton and his wife, not the insurance company.

My suggestion to any vet who receives a 100% P & T award which makes the vet's family members become eligible for Champva: Place $3000.00 of their retro award in a savings account to cover the maximum out of pocket expenses for a calendar year and continue to put $250.00 a month in the savings account until the covered dependent(s) reach the age of 65 and become eligible for medicare. This will provide the covered dependent(s) 100% health care coverage. Of course, once they reach the age of 65 they have to enroll in medicare part B (approx. $109.00 per month premium) which along with Champva will give them 100% coverage.

Again, I may be way off base with my thoughts regarding Champva supplemental insurance. Please let me know if you disagree with my thoughts on this subject. JMO

[Koo1it 0]

About the Champva supplement plan offered by Selmanco. We paid for a long time and had normal medical visits for wife and son. To this day selmanco has not paid one dollar but we are paying $188/quarter. This supplement must be for people with serious medical conditions requiring numerous visits. So after paying about$750/year we will cancel it. Selmanco leaves us on hold for lengthy periods every time we call so we decide to leave a recorded message for a callback. It is overdue. They make you pay a government employee membership fee along with the premiums. Some doctors offices will not file it, so we ended up filing most claim paperwork ourselves. Buyer beware.

 

 

 

[john999 976]

I think you should be able to get supplement to ChampVA for less than $250 a month. I think Retired NCO Association offers much cheaper rate. I don't know how good it is.

[georgiapapa 737]

John,

I hope you are right about the availability of lower premium costs. My thoughts and concern was for someone like Britton who would be paying supplemental insurance premiums that were equivalent to his Champva maximum out of pocket expenses. This just did not make sense to me.

Georgiapapa

[Buck52 3,235]

Thank you Georgiapapa & John999.

We have not found an insurance company as yet still researching them...I understand what georgiapapa mention and we sure will put some thought to it...I'll let her read these post and get back with you....have a funeral to go to Monday her aunt passed away today.

Thanks we Appreciate you very much georgiapapa.

[broncovet 4,247]

Georgiapapa...I like how you think, and agree. Its an example of paying $10 to insure a dollar. Having been in the insurance business for several years, let me tell you the "Yes Virginia there is no Santa" version.

Insurance company's dont care if you are "in good hands", or, "if you have a piece the rock". They care about their bottom line profits, and they will weasel out of paying whenever they have a remote chance of doing so. All of them do. When you buy insurance YOU ARE HIRING A MIDDLE MAN to hold your money until you have a claim. The "middle man" ALWAYS gets his cut, and no exceptions. Policy holders will always get only a fraction of the premiums paid.

You are paying this middle man to "take the risk of loss" for you. He will do so, but not for free, reminding you he is getting paid to take the risk for you. Insurance really only "works" with catastrophic losses. Insurance companies "hate" small claims and avoid them like the plague.
For example, your car insurance has a "deductable" usually around $250 (or more). This is so you dont come to them every time someone lets their shopping cart go, and it scratches your car. You have to pay the first $250. Use insurance to help you with a "catastrophic" loss, and dont even think of trying to insure that "$250", because it will cost you probably about $500 per year. Why? When the insurance company has a $250 dollar claim, it costs them $250, plus another $150 to pay the "insurance adjuster" whose job it is to keep the insurance company from getting ripped off. Guess who pays for him? You do. The insurance company "always" gets a cut so, you wind up paying $500 per year for $250 worth of coverage. This is a good deal for insurance companies (called "full coverage"). Most policies are not "full coverage" but Comp and collision with a deductable. "Full coverage" is a misnomer used by people not in the insurance industry. We call them "fool coverage" because that's what it is. Only a fool would pay $500 to protect $250.

Since I my wife has Champva, I dont think you need any additional coverage. (Champva supplement) to pay the deductable, for the reasons georgiapapa so succintly explained. If you insist on throwing your money away, you could just call VA and cancel your benefits instead, they amount to the same thing, only youd be donating to VA instead of your insurance company.

[Buck52 3,235]

Well I didn't hear my wife right she said she found a insurance that the premiums would be around 77.00 month and the deductible is 250.00!

sorry bout that! We have not decided yet but this seems fairly reasonable? they still have won't cover pre-existing conditions for 6 months but covers any new conditions & after 6 months then she is covered for everything pre-existing conditions and all don't make any sense to me about waiting 6 months but that's there policy.

Do you have to be age 65 to get Medicare? wife is 60.

I am 62 TDIU /P/T And receiving SSA Retirement on the years I worked before I became disabled just the minimum 937.00.

Question? can I get Medicare at my age? use it as secondary insurance for my spouse?

I think getting old is for the birds Think I am going to stop ageing haha!

Thanks Everyone you guys are a great help...we don't really have anyone to talk to about this issue & all our neighbors are young...we feel like the Grandparents on our block! & our boys live off in other city's busy raising there family's. However we get our little 4 year old granddaughter this whole next week she is the light of our lives! She makes us both forget about our problems so much Joy for us.

[john999 976]

You have to be on SSD to get medicare and then it takes two years. There might be some loophole for your wife if you are low income. I have secondary insurance that is primary for my wife and secondary for me since I get Medicare. If I was still working and eligible for medicare then Blue Cross would be primary. Since I am retired my primary is Medicare. My wife has Blue Cross as primary and ChampVA as secondary. I pay way too much for the Blue Cross for myself. However it is a good deal for my wife. Neither one of us don't have co-pays or deductibles because of having good insurance. I get my monies worth since I have so much wrong with me. My wife goes to the ER when she is sick as a dog or thinking she is having a heart attack (anxiety, indigestion, etc). If you have ever had a $100,000 hospital bill then you will want that extra insurance.

I had homeowner's with AllState for 15 years and never made a claim. I was cancelled due to living one mile from Tampa Bay. Now I pay 1% of the actual value of my house for homeowner's insurance. I have all kinds of insurance: $1,000,000 umbrella, LTC insurance, Life insurance, medical, Home, Car and two annuities. Have you ever been sued? I have. I will pay for the umbrella insurance. Hit some kid on a bike and you will be sued even if you are only .1% responsible or negligent. I have disability insurance. I have collected at least $100,000 over the last 13 years from a policy that costs about $650 a year at that time. My annuity acts almost like a 500,000 dollar life insurance except the money would be taxed. There are some good riders you can add to immediate variable or fixed annuities. For instance, you get one rider using your IRA money and the payouts based on that amout can never go down and are guaranteed to increase 5% a year if you don't take distributions. Now if I were living just on my own I would probably not buy an annuity, but what about your spouse? You want them to have no cash flow while they wait for pension survivor benefits or DIC. I know where GAPapa is coming from and I think I could self insure, but not the wife. She is not oriented to future. Future is lunch or dinner now that it is past 1pm.

John

[Philip Rogers 437]

Well I didn't hear my wife right she said she found a insurance that the premiums would be around 77.00 month and the deductible is 250.00!

sorry bout that! We have not decided yet but this seems fairly reasonable? they still have won't cover pre-existing conditions for 6 months but covers any new conditions & after 6 months then she is covered for everything pre-existing conditions and all don't make any sense to me about waiting 6 months but that's there policy.

Do you have to be age 65 to get Medicare? wife is 60.

I am 62 TDIU /P/T And receiving SSA Retirement on the years I worked before I became disabled just the minimum 937.00.

Question? can I get Medicare at my age? use it as secondary insurance for my spouse?

I think getting old is for the birds Think I am going to stop ageing haha!

Thanks Everyone you guys are a great help...we don't really have anyone to talk to about this issue & all our neighbors are young...we feel like the Grandparents on our block! & our boys live off in other city's busy raising there family's. However we get our little 4 year old granddaughter this whole next week she is the light of our lives! She makes us both forget about our problems so much Joy for us.

You need to be on SSDI for two yrs or be 65 yo, to receive Medicare coverage. SS pays based on your earnings over your lifetime and the last 10 yrs you worked. Some people only receive $300 a month, so $937 isn't the minimum. Just sayin'.

pr

[Buck52 3,235]

Well that's just what the girl told us at the SS window I don't have the last ten years 99 is when I stopped work or had to stop.

[georgiapapa 737]

britton,

By the last ten years, he meant the last ten years you actually worked.

[Buck52 3,235]

oh ok yeah......well I am thankful for what I do get.

[CarlinaGrl 0]

In response to the last Koo1it, I agree.  It has been a complete disaster with them.  We've only had them as a ChampVA supplemental insurance for a year.  I've mailed, emailed and faxed the same claims several times and I've never had a response to one.  The only they got was one sent by a doctor's office, one of the few who will submit claims.  I've called over and over and the customer reps even say that they know of the-problems and there's really nothing they can do but have you re-send them.  One said he feels numb to the problem but has sympathy for customers.  I've had reps give me their emails, emailed said claims and nothing.  It's so infuriating.  I'm ready to call it quits with them and just wing it with no supplemental.  They are useless.

[100%NuttyVet 0]

 

Check out Since not sure if I can post a link address I will say google AMS Champva      (transamerica) after looking forever for a good company with good rates I finally found this one it has about half the cost of others and makes financial sense.