Regarding the insurance issue. Floyd is being treated here in AZ at Mayo. Mayo does NOT take medicare unless you get into their system before you are 65. I paid privately for 2 years to be seen at Mayo by an internist, and am now in the system with Medicare. However, they do not take Medicare Advantage plans (the bundled plans such as AARP) under any circumstance, and we (my husband and I) knew that going in, so we made sure that we chose and set up our medicare plan for what Mayo takes. Also as far as the plans Floyd gets through the NFL or the hall of Fame, I am going to bet that Mayo also does not take them. They are very limited in the plans they do take. Not only do they not take many insurance plans, but before each appointment you have an appointment with the billing department and you must pay in ADVANCE of any visits. You will not see a Dr. without paying first. This is what I also had to do for the 2 years I paid privately. Also, when you are seen at Mayo on medicare, they do not take payment directly from medicare. They will send the bill to medicare. Medicare then pays me directly, Mayo bills me, and after I deposit my medicare payment I pay my mayo bill. Mayo is very tough to deal with and they are not insurance friendly at all. When I had to go into billing first, it broke my heart to see the patients who really needed their famous services to deal with their illnesses. I went in as a general internal medicine patient. I see my internist at Mayo. My husband has more issues and is well taken care of by several doctors at mayo. Once again, you need to do that before you turn 65. I am now in Mayo for life, but very few even here in AZ know this.
Also FLoyd spent 2 weeks here going through testing. He is getting his treatments in Vegas, but will be back here in about 6 weeks. There are costs involved with travel, hotels or short term rentals also.
I have another friend who works for the US Department of Defense. She has lung cancer and is being treated at Mayo. She lives here in AZ. She spent about $100,000 for her first 2 months of treatment as she was not covered at Mayo by her US government health insurance plan. There was a more expansive plan she was able to switch to in January, but she had to delay her retirement for one year so she can get that insurance to finish her treatment which goes through Dec. 2020. Otherwise she would have retired in May of this year. She is not 65 yet so no medicare, but once she is 65 she will be able to use that at Mayo since she is in the system before turning 65. Hopefully she lives long enough to enjoy that retirement when it finally happens.
This is health insurance in the US and some of the problems that do exist. Most don't have a clue until they get to that point.
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