Sadly true, Greene. When providing elder care for my parents, I once asked their doc why the clinic didn't have a geriatric specialist and was bluntly told, 'There's no money in it.'

Yep. That's the truth!

Yes, @Greene Some doctors don't even take Medicare Patients. or at least limit how many Medicare Patients they will see because of the low payment. Kinda reminds me of when HMOs and DMOs first came on to the scene. Sometimes you'd have to wait 3 months for an appointment because they would only see 1-2 HMO or DMO patients per day! Isn't that against the Hippocratic Oath or something???

I've had shingles it was before the vaccine and I would have been too young for it anyway. Started on the roof of my mouth then on to my upper lip across my cheek over my ear an onto my scalp. I was immune compromised at the time. That also is what happens as you age. The immunity dwindles, the virus reactivates and it's hellish. There can be very serious complications also. Pain that lasts long after your over the shingles. Blindness if you have it on your face. I got over it. My family who witnessed what I went through had no doubts about getting vaccinated. I've had all my vaccinations always including those for active duty military and never suffered any ill effects. Vaccines aren't 100% effective and immunity doesn't last forever. Some require boosters. There may be one soon required for mumps. Even flu shots are a must for the young and old. Lots of the elderly die of the flu but you'll never hear those numbers because it's considered natural causes at those aged 65+. Just something to think about from me..Military medic/ reserve med-evac tech...EMT...LVN. Retired thank god. Sick people are the worst. Get you vaccinations. Vaccinate your children.

Something else to consider is that the supplement plans available will vary from state to state. Medical care will also vary according to location. Here, with our primary care group, we can always be seen the same day if we're sick. It takes 6 months to get an appointment with most any kind of specialist. That's not just for medicare patients, it's all patients, even young people with good private insurance. There just aren't enough physician specialists.

Karen

Bonehead said:Ahh, thanks so much. Lots of reading to do.

On the Pubmed site, sometimes you have to try a whole bunch of different key words for searching. Also, if you click on the name one of the authors of a particular study, then you can come up with more studies that author was involved in. They tend to stick to the same research fields so you can find more studies that way too.

In every state there is a shiip office with folks to help you choose a supplement plan. This is free. The advice is individualized... the SHIIP rep will look at your use of medical thus far, your conditions, meds etc. this is not a broker.They are paid via the government. Part of dept of aging services.

The supplement plans by law have to be the same..they used to run A-J ..now they go beyond J. The higher the letter the more coverage.. The reason the plans are the same AS LONG AS THEY ARE THE SAME LETTER is to protect seniors from being talked into trading one plan for another based on price when in actuality they may be buying a lesser plan / fewer benefits and that is why it is cheaper. Now seniors can truly shop price between various companies ...shop price and know if they have a C plan ..another C plan will bw exactly the same as every other C plan. So when they shop PRICE all they have to do is make sure the LETTER of the supplement plan they are considering buying is the same or higher than the one they have

That is good information to know Rosie. Thanks for posting it. I can use all the help I can get.

Yes, thank you Rosie! Excellent information.

I am not yet eligible for SS or Medicare but when my hubby became eligible, I did not find it all that difficult to find & choose a supplemental plan for him. It's been some years now, but I recall doing everything as far as comparison shopping right there on the SS/Medicare website. All the info. I needed was right there between the website & the booklet he was sent. Perhaps things were made a little easier b/c of the fact that we knew we did not want a plan where you had to go to "in network" providers - either doctors or hospitals. We wanted to be able to choose anyone, anywhere, anytime. That threw a lot of the choices out of the running.

One thing I'd recommend is to ask your doctor about a PET Scan, which diagnoses Osteopenia and Osteoporosis, if you haven't already had it. My doctor had it done while I was still in my 50's, then told me I had Osteopenia (a milder form of Osteoporosis) and that I had the bone density of an average 94-year-old woman (the test rated me one point away from Osteoporosis0.

I had the dreaded annual physical last week. 'Asked if I'd has the new pneumonia shot. I thought it was "one and done." No, there's a new one. Didn't even feel the needle, but the next day I felt like someone punched me in the arm. I had the shingle shot when it first came out. Knew too many people who had shingles that were painful. Will wait a bit to get the new shingle shot.

This new vacine, Shingrix, has a dead version of the zoster virus for those reluctant to the "live virus" vacine.

A PET is heavy duty for bone density
Why not DXA ? It does the job .. MEdicare pays. How could doc justify a PET?

Yes, I had the Dexa scan for osteoporosis.

Karen

I don't know about the DEXA vs. PET. My primary doc's practice had a PET scan there in the building, so he automatically did that. And I wish I'd had it earlier. 50's is kind of early, but who knows when that can start?

I thought I would post an update on the Shingrix situation here. There is and has been a shortage of the vaccine. It seems it's getting better but there still will be shortages according to what I'm reading. This consumer reports article is from March 5th so the most up to date article that I can find on the shortage.
https://www.consumerreports.or...

This article addresses the shortage & what you might be able to do to find the shot as well as some good info. comparing Zostavax (original shingles vaccine) to the Shingrix.
https://www.goodrx.com/blog/sh...

Here are a couple tools for finding Shingrix and the 2nd link is not limited to only the Shingrix vaccine but covers all (or most) vaccines.

https://www.shingrix.com/shing...

https://vaccinefinder.org

Yeah, they list places that give the shot, but if you go there or call, they say they can't get it. I've called a lot of places around here. Been on a list @ Walgreens since last summer.

Karen

I know Karen but at least you're not calling the places that don't give the shot.
One of our local pharmacies had Shingrix when it first hit the shelves & about 50 ppl got the vaccine & the pharmacy ran out & the shortage prevented the pharmacy from getting more. They started a list. They kept waiting for more Shingrix - to no avail. The pharmacist said they WERE adding ppl to their waiting list until the list ended up being over 100 ppl & still no sign the shortage would be resolved any time soon so they stopped adding names to the waiting list.

The dh & I will just wait until fall & see how things stand then.

My Walgreens has a handwritten list on a legal pad. Last time I checked I was on page 6 of that legal pad.

Karen

Page 6 is looking pretty good isn't it? Considering they're now probably on their 3rd legal pad.