Our older granddaughter has had a very fun and varied summer of camps and vacation. Her school though started this past Wednesday so we got to hold Nana and Paps camp for two days. She was excited and nervous about starting 2nd grade. Always love to have her over. The pup really, really loves to have her visit and doesn’t want to leave her side.
We did 2 Kiwi crate projects together and the one on hydraulics taught us both how earthworms move. Movie afternoons were for rewatching Descendants 3 & 4 with snacks of course. Some physical activity including doing the very long street drawn hopscotch near us several times, “rock climbing” at the nearby playground, and helping walk the dog. We also took her out to lunch and played cards, colored and more.
Once again the medical group we are using has decided not to renew their contract with BCBS. We are giving up and transitioning to a Kaiser Sr Advantage plan for federal retirees once open season arrives. That will be our medical providers starting January 1, 2025.
Then we will have to establish new doctors, etc. Northern California is a huge Kaiser area though so there are lots of doctors and a huge hospital plus urgent care, pharmacy, etc. It will be great once we make it through the process. If we need care before the end of the year we do still have options but not the doctor we have been seeing.
It is complicated to make the switch although nothing changes with Medicare. All the changes are through Federal Employee Health Benefits plus Kaiser health plan. I spent a lot of time on the phone talking to a very helpful representative so I could be clear on the multi step process for making the switch. I haven’t run the numbers vs the services for the 4 plan options yet but will do that soon using 2024 data and then again when the 2025 plans are available.
Health insurance shouldn’t be this complicated and the companies shouldn’t be allowed to drop doctors and other providers mid year while we have to wait until open season to change companies with it not effective until January 1!
When we hit medicare age, we got a medicare insurance agent. It was free to us, and she was a font of knowledge. Navigating this stuff on one's own is difficult.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you can navigate through the insurance change over. Makes me kind of glad that we have universal health care, even if there are problems getting a doctor.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I do think you are fortunate to have universal health care. Here the problem is the insurance companies plus the area we now live in seems to have a shortage of som3 kinds of doctors.
DeleteI hope you navigate the change in health insurance smoothly. I had to change main doctor this year because my doctor of decades retired. That was simple, they automatically signed me up with a new doctor. But changing insurance providers would be a bit of a challenge.
ReplyDeleteIt is a challenge. We really like the coverage of our current insurance and it has served us well but medical groups in this area seem to not like their contract.
DeleteDays spent with your granddaughter sound VERY fun, and add to wonderful memories for each of you!
ReplyDeleteFor years I had Kaiser when I lived in San Mateo county. All three sons were born at Kaiser. Now I live in a rural area and no Kaiser. We’ve been here 16 years. I have regular Medicare and TriCare for life. It’s been fine but I am noticing more and more doctors are closing up practice. My daughter in law is a nurse in town and she says we have a shortage. I have a “old school” doctor that isn’t that old. He has his own practice and will even make house calls if you need him. You don’t find that anymore.
ReplyDeleteI’m 70 and with the exception of knee replacement and rotator cuff surgery I’ve been pleased with my insurance.
I’m sure you will like Kaiser. They’re very organized.
We had Kaiser years ago and I actually worked for them early in my career. Since this is a huge Kaiser area I’m sure it will be fine once we make it through the transition. I’m just really pissed that a medical group can drop your insurance when it is not open season so we can’t make changes to have coverage with the same doctor.
DeleteOh, these insurance woes. Do you have insurance through BeneFed or something like that? I think that is what PC had with DoD. Now we are relying on his military healthcare and Medicare for me. Enough to make you sick trying to keep up with it all. My mom worried herself to death over it. Now I understand.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you and the big second grader had a glorious time together. You did all the things!! Wish my babies would come for a sleep over. We are always on a time schedule and hurrying from one thing to the next because they are going home soon. We had them Wednesday for early release from school. They swam for 3 hours.