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tldr; if you are on Medicare and have Health Partners insurance you might want to read this.
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Richard and I have a Medicare Advantage program with HealthPartners, which we have been generally quite happy with. Sufficiently so that I have become quite lax at doing that thing where you review your health insurance plan every year, looking for gotchas and unfortunate changes. This year I was surprised to receive a couple of shiny white debit cards in the mail. They just say "Health Partners" in big letters, but on careful inspection I spied "Choice Card" in tiny white on white embossed lettering. This forced me to start trudging through the murky pathways of the HealthPartners website looking for the explanation. I took one wrong turn, leading me to a completely different Choice Card that seems to be some sort of FSA? Nope, it's not that. Finally found it. Here's the link, as a public service for other HP customers who are currently staring in confusion at their unexplained new cards.
Guess what! It's a new benefit! A rather obscure and limited benefit, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth. This card can be used to pay for certain "expenses not covered by Medicare" up to $475/year! You can only use it for 4 things: chiropractic care, prescription eye ware, hearing aid products from one specific company, and home-delivered meals from one specific vendor (but only right after you get home from rehab care). The "Mom's Meals" benefit is hilariously niche, but the prescription eye ware benefit can apparently be used at any optical service. Perfectly timed, since I really need new glasses. Wow!
While I was at it, I followed a helpfully placed link from the Choice page to something labeled "OTC benefit" and discovered another hidden program that gives you $50/quarter for drugstore stuff: vitamins, bandaids, pain relievers, sunscreen, bedpans, etc. This one did NOT come with a card; you have to order online from the limited list of products on their special portal. But hey, it's free stuff that anybody can use: $400/year for the two of us. Nothing to sneeze at. I struggled through their extremely broken registration process, managed to get our accounts established, and verified that there is indeed $50 credit in each account. I placed an experimental order for a knee brace and a couple of replacement cane tips for Richard. Curious to see how long it will take to get here.
I also discovered through closer scrutiny of my plan benefits that Medicare insurance covers prophylactic dental care even if you don't spring for the ridiculously expensive extra dental insurance. We've been going to the same dentist for the past 30 years or so, and I never updated our insurance info when we went on Medicare (because I did NOT buy the dental insurance, so I thought it wasn't covered). So we've been paying out of pocket for exams and cleaning for 8 years when we didn't have to. D'oh! Note to self: give insurance info to the dentist at next appointment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard and I have a Medicare Advantage program with HealthPartners, which we have been generally quite happy with. Sufficiently so that I have become quite lax at doing that thing where you review your health insurance plan every year, looking for gotchas and unfortunate changes. This year I was surprised to receive a couple of shiny white debit cards in the mail. They just say "Health Partners" in big letters, but on careful inspection I spied "Choice Card" in tiny white on white embossed lettering. This forced me to start trudging through the murky pathways of the HealthPartners website looking for the explanation. I took one wrong turn, leading me to a completely different Choice Card that seems to be some sort of FSA? Nope, it's not that. Finally found it. Here's the link, as a public service for other HP customers who are currently staring in confusion at their unexplained new cards.
Guess what! It's a new benefit! A rather obscure and limited benefit, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth. This card can be used to pay for certain "expenses not covered by Medicare" up to $475/year! You can only use it for 4 things: chiropractic care, prescription eye ware, hearing aid products from one specific company, and home-delivered meals from one specific vendor (but only right after you get home from rehab care). The "Mom's Meals" benefit is hilariously niche, but the prescription eye ware benefit can apparently be used at any optical service. Perfectly timed, since I really need new glasses. Wow!
While I was at it, I followed a helpfully placed link from the Choice page to something labeled "OTC benefit" and discovered another hidden program that gives you $50/quarter for drugstore stuff: vitamins, bandaids, pain relievers, sunscreen, bedpans, etc. This one did NOT come with a card; you have to order online from the limited list of products on their special portal. But hey, it's free stuff that anybody can use: $400/year for the two of us. Nothing to sneeze at. I struggled through their extremely broken registration process, managed to get our accounts established, and verified that there is indeed $50 credit in each account. I placed an experimental order for a knee brace and a couple of replacement cane tips for Richard. Curious to see how long it will take to get here.
I also discovered through closer scrutiny of my plan benefits that Medicare insurance covers prophylactic dental care even if you don't spring for the ridiculously expensive extra dental insurance. We've been going to the same dentist for the past 30 years or so, and I never updated our insurance info when we went on Medicare (because I did NOT buy the dental insurance, so I thought it wasn't covered). So we've been paying out of pocket for exams and cleaning for 8 years when we didn't have to. D'oh! Note to self: give insurance info to the dentist at next appointment.
