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Message: [QUOTE="llandz, post: 3437992, member: 1679"] My husband years ago (many years ago) got a dual MBA from the University of Chicago in Finance and Hospital Administration. While he went the Finance route career wise he often stayed on top of the medical world as he had that interest. Even he did not know the Mayo trick (although I had heard of it a couple years prior and then forgot) until he went to an insurance specialist to help him sort out his options with Medicare. The insurance specialist told him he had to get right in before he turned 65, and the only way in was through internal medicine. My husband was fresh into his fight with Kidney issues and was considering a second opinion at Mayo. Exactly one month before his 65th birthday we were both able to get an appointment with an internist at Mayo. That in itself is a major feat as it is very hard to get in. I made a phone call and explained the urgency and for some reason it worked. Luckily there was a new Dr. at Mayo and it was August, and many people were out of town. We totally lucked out. For one month we both had an insurance policy from Cobra from his prior job, and they were on the Mayo limited insurance list. Otherwise we could not get in the door of Internal medicine without a plan that they took. Not even for cash.. We got in for 30 days on that plan. Right after he signed up for Medicare and chose his options, and after being seen that one time by the internist, he received a letter from Mayo telling him that only a very few Medicare plans are accepted there. It was too late for him to make a change. BIG PHEW as he had chosen one of them, luckily. So as savvy as he was we did not know any of this. We lucked into their system. Once in their system (by the one month skin of our teeth) he could be seen via Medicare, and I could then pay privately until I turned 65. When it came time for me to choose my Medicare plan I just duplicated his as I knew it worked. I was not playing games with choices. I can only imagine how most others navigate or fail to navigate this health insurance and Medicare world. [/QUOTE]

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