As roarah says, all states are not equal. I live in a state whose gov. has done everything he could to stymie the ACA & refused to expand Medicaid - leaving many of our citizens w/o access to coverage. Also, our insurance commissioner is reportedly prohibited from regulating the insurance 'providers' - essentially allowing them to gouge consumers. If it were not for the ACA, I would not have insurance (had none for over 30 years before now) & I've already made good use of it. My individual plan is costing approx. $4400/yr, but I'm paying only about $800 of that w/ the subsidy. Not to let anybody off the hook, but I think the biggest culprit is medical costs - which continue to balloon out of control, it seems. Insurance providers, & ultimately we, are definitely paying through the nose for services & prescriptions. I was recently in a hospital room for about 6 hours - not even an overnight stay & no meals & the charge for that my ins. co. paid was $23,000! Has anyone else heard about the new push to require providers to disclose prices? The prediction is that this may result in lower costs - eventually. Right now, the $$ charged for a procedure can vary as much as 70% or more... http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/12/276001379/elusive-goal-a-transparent-price-list-for-health-care Oh & love him or hate him, I recently heard a good 1 from Ralph Nader: isn't it ironic to be calling the folks who gouge everyone on medical costs 'providers'?

Here we go again! No idea what is going on yet people are making absolute statements of "fact" and not knowing what they're talking about. Unfortunately you asked the wrong people. What you need to do first is find out what you signed. Short of advice to find out what you signed, forget all advice that is given under presumption and guess. I'm glad to hear you're going to check on what you signed. KUDOS! I'm sure you learned your lesson to sign NOTHING without getting a copy. No copy? No signature. Period. Hospitals and clinics are amazed and angered often when I won't even sign until a duplicate is out. Also, don't take their word that they'll get you a copy afterward. I made that mistake once. Cynic Rule #4: No copy? No signature! And saying "...the HIPAA law protects you" is an ignorant statement in this case. HIPAA does not protect you if you sign a waiver, which is often the first thing you have to sign for medical care. For anyone to make absolute statements of what is happening or can happen is naive since we don't know what was involved. I would doubt that it's a scam since it's through the Dr's office and given their liability in the event of a scam, they're not likely to take a chance. However, they might think something is good for you that you don't think is good for you. You're doing the right thing by finding out what you signed. Then you can start asking intelligent questions and stand a chance of getting some at least somewhat educated answers. Good luck!

Jill302, thank you for that link. It sure looks like the person my DH spoke to was wrong. That makes more sense and makes the choice easier for me. Oakley, BCBS is the provider for the plans I can get that offer some out of network coverage, but it's 30-50% and would apply to everyone I would see at home other than my PCP and in-patient care at one hospital. None of my generic medications would be covered, and for all of that I would be paying hundreds of dollars more each month -- just to not risk being drained or bankrupt by an out of state and out of network medical surprise. I have been covered by BCBS many times, including most recently. I would have stayed with them if they offered individual coverage that would equal my group coverage -- even at the COBRA rates, it would have been a viable option. The plans they do offer individuals don't work for me.

Interesting thread. I think it reads that most of us have been around long enough to have experienced several kinds of insurance provider plans before and after retirement. I do think that often the same insurer provides different coverages / services for different states. For example, I was very surprised to learn that the giant Kaiser Health care here in SW WA has no hospitals. Though they have more than several very large & convenient local clinics for routine medical needs, if one requires specialized imaging tests or any day surgery, they must travel across the Columbia River to Portland, OR area where there are several Kaiser hospitals. I’ve known people who were admitted to a local hospital under emergent situation & then were transferred across the river & to another state to a Kaiser Hospital once stabilized. Of course, DH & I don’t have Kaiser. The challenge for many retirees is lack of choice if one’s choice is original Medicare & not an HMO advantage plan. It’s increasingly more difficult to find doctors who will accept original Medicare & instead accept only certain advantage plans. If a person has either the resources to pay for supplemental care or, has a benefit of excellent supplemental care earned as a result of prior employment, then an advantage plan is not wanted or needed. For example, military retirees with Tricare for Life which also provides prescption coverage. Or, BCBS for federal retirees also with prescription coverage. A side note on dental coverage - whether or not one has a paid plan for it, I’m pretty sure most dental needs caused by accident injuries would be covered under the medical insurance plan. But, I digress. What I wanted to say here is that in regards to the landscape of medical insurance coverage for every one of us, we may be facing huge changes due to the ”BBB” or ”BUB” depending on your view. In other words, buckle up buttercup.