Josie ... if your MIL's insurance is an HMO, as my Blue Shield coverage is, then she may have signed over all her Medicare benefits to Blue Cross, and everything must now go through the insurance company, not Medicare.
As Rose said, she may get more benefits through the insurance plan, but she will surely have more paperwork and hassles. IF this is the case, you must watch the insurance company carefully. They are obligated by law to provide all the benefits Medicare does, but they will probably not inform your MIL of all the Medicare benefits. I found out by accident (on this forum) that Medicare pays for feeding supplements if you have a peg tube ... 9 months after I'd been paying out of pocket for the very expensive supplements. And I can't recover the costs.
Check out the policy. These plans are VERY tricky. The expensive policies supplement Medicare. The bargain policies replace it. Of course, one can always change insurance (or drop it) during open enrollment.
But in my case, Medicare is no longer my primary ... and in fact, I cannot access my Medicare benefits at all as long as I have Blue Shield (unless I go on hospice, which is another story).
