OMJBand wrote: Wed Oct 22, 2025 11:17 pm
I did some extensive (meaning going through many rabbit holes on the internet and getting lost and confused) regarding Mailhandlers Standard and their Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan (MA). Monthly premiums for the Standard is around $203 whether you take the Advantage plan or not. Here is the link to the PDF for the 2026 plan: https://mhbp.com/wp-content/uploads/202 … e-Plan.pdf Mailhandlers Standard uses Aetna. The Aetna Medicare Advantage for MHBP (Mailhandlers) is different in the sense that not all of your providers may not be In Network. You can call your provider and ask specifically if they accept the Aetna Medicare Advantage MHBP which means they accept Medicare and are also willing to bill Aetna Medicare Advantage MHBP because that’s how this plan works. They act like the primary and pay both the Medicare allowables and also the remaining co pay and deductibles that Medicare won’t cover. This means zero costs for all medical services. Best to use providers who are In Network. If not you can still use the provider but you will have to pay and then send the bill with the proper codes etc for reimbursement. Agent told me that the MA plan follows the same rules as far as precertification and getting the doctor to justify treatment same as Standard. As for prescriptions the MA plan uses Caremark (CVS) and the Standard uses SilverScript which is the same company just a different name. The prices for drugs is a little cheaper with MA but it has a $2000 cap and Medical is no cap because they cover all costs unless you go out of network. I believe the cap for Standard is $6000 for combined Medical and Prescription. With MA you get some perks like SilverSneakers. I did not get into the perks. You can opt in and opt out of the MA plan. You need to get the paperwork for this before the 15th of the month for it to change the following month. I don’t know if this MA for those with Medicare A/B is automatic when you sign up. From talking to agent sounds like you have to sign up but you never know till you know. Now that I know as much as I do I plan to call my providers to see if they will accept MA and also send the bill to them which if they do it will be seamless. With MA you get $900 for Medicare B and according to the agent they will make the arrangements with Social Security if you are collecting. Each month they will pay Social Security $75. So that should reflect in your payment from SS. So that what I gleaned so far. Hope folks can reply if anything I wrote is not correct about Mailhandler and their MA plan.
Thanks OMJBand for the extensive research. I am in an FEHB Advantage plan, too, and I looked at a few others before signing up with United Healthcare’s version. But, I didn’t look at Mailhandler’s much because, on the surface, it didn’t seem competitive with the UHC or Aetna Advantage options (see Checkbook’s evaluation from 2025 below–the prices are for a self+1 plan). It didn’t seem to have a qualitative advantage in coverage to offset its higher price. From your description, it sounds similar to UHC and Aetna.
[Added edit] As far as I can tell, the key reason for the price difference isn’t about coverage, it is because of a slight premium difference and the larger rebate offered by UHC. UHC’s basic premium is 433.35/mo vs Mailhandler’s $468.27 (self+1), and UHC provides a $150/mo per person rebate vs MHBP’s $75.
Can you tell me if you found anything noteworthy about the plan that gives it a leg up?
