The commercials make it sound like Medicare pays for less and you need a supplement insurance plan.
All I know is that a lot of good psychiatrists do not accept Medicare - I am lucky to have found a very good pdoc who accepts Medicare - a lot of private psychiatrists do not accept Medicare, and usually you need a supplemental.
Geriatric Psychiatry is different, usually these type of psychiatrists do accept Medicare.
You don’t have to worry. You can’t get Medicare until you are 65. You will**emphasized textneed a supplement plan.
I don’t know. Medi-cal pays everything for me. I pay zero. Only downside is not a lot of doctors accept it. Currently, the hospital, therapist, and psychiatrist I go see take it. Also, I don’t have to pay anything for my medications. Currently, medi-cal is my secondary, as I have a primary through my dad’s work.
I heard doctors like Medicare as they pay faster than other plans. But like others have mentioned, you will probably need a supplement plan.
Also, unless I get better and work for a couple decades, I doubt I would get Medicare. I won’t even qualify for social security because I don’t have enough work history. I think a lot of people are in my boat.
Also, who knows if social security will even survive by the time I’m that age anyways. Their financials are in disrepair.
The best bet me for is to get one of those $15 minimum wage jobs they are talking about and get a pension.
I have Medicare as my primary and Medicaid for my secondary. In outpatient visits Medicare only covers 80% and Medicaid picks up the other 20%. I do see doctors who only take my Medicare and the remainder isn’t much. In my experience Medicare is much better than Medicaid. It pays for better doctors. In my area if you only have Medicaid your only choice for mental health care is a community mental health center. This place was horrible. Because they accept Medicaid a lot of drug addicts go there because they’re lower income. This is a problem when you see a pdoc because they will not prescribe any controlled substances. I was having horrible panic attacks and they really didn’t care they wouldn’t prescribe a benzo. So I found a private pdoc that only takes my Medicare and now I take Klonopin everyday.Also with Medicare you don’t need referrals so that’s good. 
2 Likes
I think you switch to Medicare after two years on medicaid
1 Like
I have a team of psychiatrist, therapist and nurse practitioner all taking Medicare. They are employees of the county or of the state.
1 Like
Medicare works just fine for me. All it is is an economic crutch. I didn’t even care about it, but the county case worker I had was the one who pushed it quite heavily. So yeah, don’t blame me, blame the county (for all the hardline conservatives who hate the distribution of wealth to accommodate the disabled).