I went on medicare on 11-01-12. They would not fill my benicar medicine, until they spoke to the doctor to see why I needed it. It was during the holidays, and he was not going to be in the office until Monday. I went for 4 days without medication, until they could speak with him. I told them, I have been taking it since Dec 1996 when I had my bypass surgery, didn't make a diffrence. They told me that if I needed the medication, I could pay $147 and buy it. They will not let me get a 90 day supply, I have to go every 30 days now and get medication. I can no longer get it at HEB ( they are not approved by medicare, and it cost more to get medication there) I have to get it at CVS, Walgreens, or Wal-Mart. Yep I can tell you all about medicare part D. The summary they sent said I paid $81 for the benicar, and they paid $51 for a 30 day supply. I only paid $5 for it. I am not even going to question them about that. Barbra

My dad had a stroke & needed a wheelchair. We borrowed 1 for a short time from friends.Didn't work out well! Dr. gave us prescription for it since he could not walk without walker & safety belt & someone holding belt & 1 side of walker. They are very unstable if you want to fall off to 1 side,could easily flip it over. So wheelchair was best way to get dad to table & to his easy chair ,bathroom & bed. Not so easy. The wheelchair people came & measured couple of doors & brought a wheelchair, well, couldn't get it through area where bathroom is, too wide of wheelbase. Also when I tried to fold it & lift it so we could get him to dr. when required,they had sent out a heavy 1. So we measured doors & came up with narrower size,dad was only about 140 lbs so could have smaller area in seat without a problem. They got us a Karma Aircraft-Grade Aluminum Alloy frame chair with silver & black & very attractive & I could actually pick it up & get it in trunk of car(very important),easy to get through the house & he could even move it himself down the hall or out of kitchen so "not stuck somewhere", so lot of things to consider.We haven't had any problems with it, just added a thick cushion as he sat in it a lot with a soft light blue baby blanket(type that doesn't bunch up) so if he spilled food or drink could easily change it for another little blanket.(folded twice so about size of seat.) So anyone needing a chair these are the things you need to be aware of. My neighbor had a wheelchair & said I could use it- It wouldn't fit in the trunk of car even with 2 of us trying to get it in there. That's when I knew it was not going to be easy! Good Luck folks & be persistent!

Just thought I would report back that I looked into Bankers Fidelity and for me it is $205 a month for Plan F and $141 for Plan G. Plan F is an "issue age plan" and G is an "obtained age plan". I called the company and a very annoying local insurance agent called me back. Actually she seemed to know her stuff but her manner was annoying. I think AARP is going to be hard to beat. I downloaded and printed a booklet called Choosing a Medigap Policy and it is very helpful. It makes things clear and has great advice about what to ask an insurance agent if you choose to buy from one. It's on the medicare.gov site. Maybe my research will help the next person and it certainly helps me to bounce these questions off all of you!

Here's an good website. I heard a great presentation bu a rep from this office, and I learned a lot. Every case they bust started with a citizen report. Here is a link that might be useful: Medicare fraud