BillsFan4

So I talked with a Medicare agent from community blue (blue cross/blue shield). He said the Signature plan is much better than the merit plan. He said unless you only care about that $81/month credit (of the merit plan) the signature plan is better in every other way. He said you will pay a lot more out of pocket expenses with the merit plan. He was also saying that Medicare offices around the country are completely swamped this year. He said they made some really major changes and cuts to Medicare. He said people don’t yet realize how much stuff has been cut. He said it’s been an absolute mess. Said they only have 26 agents to handle this stuff and have thousands of people calling just their office alone. He said the rollout for these changes has been very chaotic and the Medicare system was not prepared to handle this. If anyone wants it, the number I called is 1-844-614-0343. They give you the option of a call-back so you don’t have to wait on hold. They called me back within about 15 minutes. We picked the signature plan for now. But we finally got a call back from this local place called “the clarity group” who help you sort through and pick plans. They are supposed to be calling later today to schedule an in-person appointment for my mom. So I think we are still going to go to that. Apparently they are super swamped as well but the lady was going to try to squeeze us in before the 12/7 deadline. I guess if your current Medicare plan is being ended you actually have until 12/31 to pick a new plan via the SEP (special enrollment period).

Yeah I definitely think that is some of it. But there also tends to be a big difference in the way the Sabres play. Watch how engaged they were playing Edmonton, then watch the Calgary game. You can see the difference in effort level and engagement clear as day. They hustled to every puck and tried to win every battle against Edmonton. Against Calgary it was the total opposite. They looked slow to every puck. Barely tried to battle. Let Calgary camp in front of the net. etc etc. Then you have Sabres players saying stuff like this after the game: Tage Thompson: Samuelsson: and Ruff: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6822312/2025/11/20/sabres-loss-flames-red-flag-thoughts/ This about sums it up…

But they tend to play well against the better teams. And that was my point - they are a team consistently at the bottom of the standings. They shouldn’t ever be thinking they can take a night off. But they seem to pretty consistently play up or down to their competition. They just played probably their best game of the year against Edmonton the game before this. Totally shut McDavid and Draisaitl down. Then they follow it up with one of their worst performances of the year against the current last place team in the NHL.

Why do they always seem to play so poorly against teams at the bottom of the standings? It’s been going on for years now. I don’t get it. I don’t know how they could possibly think they’re good enough to take any opponent lightly.

The plans were not through excellus. I’ll look them up again tomorrow and let you know the plan name. edit - The two plan names are “Community Blue Medicare HMO Signature” and “Community Blue Medicare HMO Merit”

I found a couple free HMO plans thru blue cross/blue shield that look pretty darn good. I can get the exact name of the plans if anyone wants them. The coverage appears better than my mom’s old independent health plan (which she liked). We were able to compare it to the new plan independent health is offering to replace hers for $40/month and it has better coverage than that plan too. We are leaning toward one of those 2. The one plan has slightly lower out of pocket costs in some stuff like x-rays ($25 vs. $50) and out patient hospital ($375 vs $475). But the other plan provides an $81/month credit toward the Medicare part B premiums that are deducted out of social security payments every month. So I think we are leaning toward that one. Ive had blue cross/blue shield for many years now and love them. It’s not Medicare though. Next step is to call blue cross/blue shield directly. That’s been helpful for us in eliminating some plans we were considering. Personally, i’d recommend everyone do that before choosing your plan. Once you have it narrowed down to a couple, call those specific insurance companies and talk to them to make sure you are reading/understanding everything correctly. Double check that your doctors and medications are covered, etc.

The same applies to them. They are considered a utility company. They can’t charge more than whatever the current kWh cost is set at. National grid is who I’m with too.

yep, I’d think this is similar to what the Sabres are going to have to pay to keep Tuch. He might be worth just slightly less but he may have more leverage just due to the overall situations each team is in.

Heck of a come back win. I thought for sure it was over when Detroit went up 4-1. But the Sabres battled back in the 3rd and tied it up. They even had to kill a penalty with less than 3 minutes left in the 3rd. Tage made a great play in OT to keep possession of the puck. He knocked a Detroit player on his ass, got the puck and set up Samuelsson for the OT winner. They finally got a win in overtime, and on the road! lol

Just make sure that they are widely accepted locally. My mom had fidelis for a while and we kept having trouble finding doctors in the area. Especially in certain fields, where it was almost impossible. She switched to Independent health and we really haven’t had any problems since. Now her plan is going away so she has to switch again. I was hoping to find her something else from Independent but that doesn’t look likely at the moment. I know Highmark blue cross/blue shield is pretty widely accepted in WNY. We have a few calls into different places that are supposed to help you sort through plans but none have even called back yet. I’m guessing these places are just overwhelmed. It seems like medicare made some pretty widespread changes for this coming year. Everyone we talk to is looking for a new plan.

I was just throwing out a general price of a top deadline rental. Maybe they can get a bit more if there’s a bidding war, and there might be because his contract is so team friendly that more teams could fit him under their cap. He would also likely be the top player available at the deadline. But pending UFA’s just usually aren’t worth crazy prices and you are going to get future pieces, which is not what the Sabres need anyway. The only way you have any chance of getting back Tuch’s true value in a trade at this point is if he’s willing to sign a new contract as part of the deal. But why would he do that if the Sabres are trading him over a million or two per year, especially if what he says about wanting to be here long term is true.

Tuch is one of their 2 best forwards among a group already lacking talent with Tuch here. If he walks, this forward group looks even worse. I’d rather pay him $10M/yr than watch him leave and have lots of success elsewhere while the Sabres don’t use the cap space they saved. Who cares about an extra $1-2M/yr on his deal when this team is never going to spend to the cap anyway (especially with the cap about to skyrocket the next 2 years…). They need to sign/keep their best players. I feel like we are in this never-ending cycle of watching our best players leave and never adequately replacing them. what are they even going to get if they trade him as a pending UFA? A late 1st and a B prospect?

I don’t know if it was a swipe at the fan base or the local media. Could be either. The local media is pretty critical of the Sabres, and rightfully so.

Oh, damn. That’s sad to hear. I’ve been reading his stories in the post for decades.

Sabres totally collapsed in the 3rd period last night. I thought they were getting out played before that anyway. But they were up 2-1 to start the 3rd. JJ Peterka scored 45 seconds into the 3rd period, then Crouse (iirc) scored a few minutes later and the game was over from there. It was their 4th loss in a row and 7th loss in the last 8 games. Utah was (also) on a 3 game losing streak entering last night’s game. They’ve only won 2 of their last 7 games now. Those two wins? Both against the Sabres…