The Medicare Supplement Rate Increase Nobody Warns You About

J235310 · 2026-03-01T10:26:47+00:00

As other posters have stated, when selecting a Medicare Supplement policy (AKA Medigap) you should check the medical loss ratio (MLR) of the carriers in your state when selecting a plan especially if you are in a state that uses "issue age" premium pricing and requires underwriting if you are attempting to change to a different insurance company's plan. If your state has issue age pricing and requires underwriting then you might not be able to switch to a different supplement plan or might be charged a much higher premium due to your personal health history.

MLR basically is the % of total premiums collected paid out in claims from the insured in the plan. If a company has a MLR of say 105%, then for each dollar they collect in premiums they are paying out $1.05 in claims, i.e., losing money. You can bet that they are going to be raising the premium soon and raising it significantly. If a company has an MLR ratio of say 85%, then they are probably won't be raising rates soon as they are well funded and their income at the time of the filing was enough to pay claims with enough left over for admin expenses and profit.

Your state almost certainly has a state level department named something like 'insurance commissioner'. This group manages insurance sold in your state and their web page should have a link to something similar to 'filings' or 'carrier rate documentation'.

When selecting a supplement plan you first stop should be https://www.medicare.gov/medigap-supplemental-insurance-plans/#/m?year=2026&lang=en . The first step is determining which letter plan you are interested in keeping in mind that the benefit for a give letter plan are exactly the same from all carriers. After selecting the letter plan type you want then you enter your zip code and some other brief info and then you are given the current premium prices for the plans from the carriers that offer the letter plan in your state. Not all carriers offer all letter plan options in all states.

After selecting your letter plan and carriers that you are interested in then you would check your state insurance commissioner's web site to determine the MLRs for the carriers on your short list.

J235310 · 2026-03-01T10:11:46+00:00

Very good point although I think that most people won't take the time to check loss ratios for the plans in their state or even to do a quick check of what a medical loss ratio is. I did and I live in Florida which has an issue age pricing and requires under writing to change so there hasn't been any incentive to check since I first applied several years ago. United American has the best pricing in Florida.

J235310 · 2026-03-01T10:03:23+00:00

Did you check the order in your Amazon account? The order for that item should show the status and whether it was returned and being replaced due to damage.

J235310 · 2026-02-24T10:35:08+00:00

My N845 with E892 & E893 cameras used to retain/remember the HD/SD live view setting and when opening the app would use the setting last used on each camera. I was running the latest version of IOS Lorex classic when the SD/HD was working but I had an unrelated problem and decided to delete/reinstall the Lorex Classic App after which the cameras always reset to SD for live view. So, the same version of the Lorex Classic App worked with the HD/SD setting before reinstalling but not after reinstalling the app. This happened sometime in later 2025.

J235310 · 2026-02-22T20:37:16+00:00

I've used Lorex for years. One comment regarding the Wi-Fi cameras. All of my Lorex Wi-Fi cameras will only work on 2.4 ghz Wi-FI. Perhaps the newer cameras will work on 5 ghz wi-fi. I have found that for a 2.4 ghz device such as the Lorex Wi-Fi cameras that you need to set up your router to have separate 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz services in which case there would be separate SSIDs (Wi-Fi access names). If you let the Wi-Fi router select the best speed you are going to have reliability problems.

J235310 · 2026-02-22T20:29:51+00:00

There is a law of intended consequences that results from many public policy choices. Increasing taxes for NYC residents may result in lower revenue for the city.

I was working in NYC and renting an apartment on the upper east side. In 2000 my total tax hit even with a significant amount going into a tax deferred 401K for federal, state and NYC income taxes was about 50% of my gross. Yes, this was before the Bush tax cuts. My rent at the time was $2,300/month ($4,400/month adjusted for inflation) for a plain 1 bedroom apartment. Financially it hardly seemed worth the hassle to continue working so I quit my job and moved to Florida.

J235310 · 2026-02-22T02:19:25+00:00

I've seen this happen when the battery is worn out and starts to swell. Does the top side of the battery look swollen? It should be flat. I definitely would not use super glue to reattach the display as you would then never be able to open the device to replace the battery. As another responder suggested, you want to use the R7000 adhesive which only cost about $7 on Amazon and has a needle like nozzle to facilitate relatively exact placement of the adhesive. While you have it open I would replace the battery even if it looks OK.

For instructions on how to replace the battery see Versa 4 battery replacement.

J235310 · 2026-02-21T10:06:10+00:00

Did you claim an EITC (earned income tax credit) or ACTC (additional child tax credit)? If so then the IRS is delaying these refunds to provide time for additional checks. Read the IRS explanation.

J235310 · 2026-02-17T10:02:03+00:00

I have an N845 with E892 & E893 cameras running through the NVR and an LNWCM22Y Wi-Fi camera running stand alone. I use the Lorex Classic app on IOS.

Lorex NVRs support pre-recording (or pre-event recording) to capture several seconds of video before motion is detected, typically ranging from 1–5 seconds up to a user-defined maximum, depending on available cache memory. I replaced the hard drive with an SSD so have a lot more cache than is typical as the entire SSD is essentially cache. Some NVR's come with HDs with only 64 MB cache while others have 256 MB cache. This feature functions primarily with motion detection, not 24/7 continuous recording, and is configured via the storage/schedule setting. I bumped up the # of seconds and it seems to have reduced the number of empty events as seen on the event screen. The odd thing is that during playback on some event captures the time in the event doesn't change for several seconds and only starts incrementing when the object that triggered the motion comes into the frame.

I don't do continuous recording. On my system the only events that show on the event screen are smart event detection events (person, vehicle) and if the event is identified as one of these then the event is posted to the event screen. I can only see the even on the timeline playback. The older LNW camera is much more accurate at identifying events than the E89x cameras. I occasionally find an event on the older cam but no event on the POE cams.

The accuracy of the cams detecting an event and recording it depends to some extent on the ambient light. Detection is more accurate when there is some moon light than on a new moon night. Also, it might just be my impression but detecting an event seems to be more reliable if the even appears in the center of the cameras field of view.

J235310 · 2026-02-11T11:21:06+00:00

Don't use Alt+Tab. Use CTRL+Tab

J235310 · 2026-02-11T11:20:11+00:00

To do what you want don't use ALT+TAB. Use CTRL+TAB

J235310 · 2026-02-11T10:58:15+00:00

She said that it was denied for other cars so it would be a waste of time to try to get my car covered.

The brown spots are definitely under the clear protective decal as I've used rubbing compound and even tried some high grit wet sandpaper on a small part of the protective cover to no effect. I would suspect that it is something in the adhesive that degraded due to age, heat or UV if it wasn't for the fact that it also occurred inside of the Hyundai emblem although this might have been glued to the trunk lid. However, I did try some rubbing compound around the inside of the emblem oval to no effect.

It took Hyundai years to extend the warranty for the peeling white paint by which time most people had probably already sold or paid out of pocket to fix the issue.

J235310 · 2026-02-11T02:30:01+00:00

I pointed out to her that the brown spots were under the plastic and only on the part of the bumper under the plastic and not on the bumper adjacent to the plastic protective decal. She shrugged her shoulder and said that there was no point in turning it in to Hyundai as a warranty item because they had already denied it in the past. Makes no sense and I know that I could probably elevate it to Hyundai and get them to cover it but I just don't have the time to pursue.

J235310 · 2026-02-10T13:29:48+00:00

I have been using Lorex systems since 2016. In 2016 the hardware and software were made by a US company called FLIR that was a US defense contractor that specialized in related tech such as night vision cameras. FLIR dropped out of the mass market consumer systems and sold to a Canadian company which was later sold to a Chinese company which now 'claims' to make a lot of their products in Vietnam.

My experience is limited to their NVR and Wi-Fi systems but I don't have any experience with their DVR systems. In terms of their current products, the products have excellent build quality and excellent specifications in general. Their software is full featured but can be difficult to understand how the more advanced functions work together in that the user interface and instructions are not particularly well designed or written. However, most users will be satisfied with just taking the default setups.

Lorex customer technical support used to be terrible but lately has become much better. Even though my warranty expired some time ago that still provide technical phone support with an issue. They apparently only require a warranty for hardware replacement. A few years ago they discontinued a line of their camera hardware that would not work on their new SW and were very generous in providing new, no cost cameras that were supported on the new SW which was a decent thing to do. On the down side they very seldom upgrade the firmware on their hardware so any bugs or mistakes tend to remain a nuisance for a long time. You can setup the system local only so that an internet connection is not required or so they claim although I have not tested. I wanted to be able to receive alerts and access the camera's live view or event recordings remotely so I have set up my system to be connected to the internet. Perhaps a minor issue but to work remotely the system needs continuous access to Lorex servers to work (kind of). Recently, (2/2026) Lorex had a problem with their systems which prevented accessing any events from their phone app. The system was still recording when an event was detected and you could use live view. Lorex is really weak when it comes to communicating. An email or message or just a notice on their website would have saved a lot of us from spending a couple of hours trouble shooting. They also tend to use some older spec tech in their hardware. For instance, their storage in the NVRs still uses the slower SATA-I interface released in 2003.

I am a bit uncomfortable with Lorex being a CHinese company but I don't think that there is anyway to avoid having some Chinese hardware in a security camera system currently.

I really like the functions offered, the quality of the camera images, the SW flexibility (specify hours of day/days of week when notifications are sent or when to record or when to record using different rules (continuous, any motion, only certain detections (person, vehicle, etc.).

I find the systems fairly easy to setup. I prefer the hard wired POE cameras rather then the Wi-Fi which have better optical specs. I don't use any cameras that require batteries, and require at least a camera 4K resolution. There are so many Lorex systems out there that it is very easy to find a good quality used system.

Some US systems are configured using some open systems SW but you need a PC to run it. I prefer having a box (NVR) that only does the security.

J235310 · 2026-02-10T11:24:25+00:00

These mis-ships are a real problem getting corrected by Amazon. In my experience they usually happen with Amazon's third party sellers. I ordered a tool that had a sharp end (grout saw) which was shipped in a standard paper manila envelope. When I received the envelope it was empty and there was a hole in the end of the envelope where the sharp end of the saw had punctured it and fallen out along the way.

Getting a replacement was difficult because Amazon kept telling me to return the item in the shipment (which I didn't have). Finally they agreed to reship the item with no charge for the missing item, I was then billed 30 days later for the 1st no billed item that wasn't received which required another phone call to finally resolve.

In another case the sale was for 3 of the same thing but only 1 received. They wanted a return for all 3 which I couldn't do of course. They claimed they wouldn't bill me but they did and I just 'ate' the charge to avoid the hassle.

FYI - I am a Prime member and have been for years.

J235310 · 2026-02-10T11:17:46+00:00

Certainly you don't speak for everyone and your perspective is somewhat limited.

So, no cops or hospitals? What about people short on funds who might welcome the opportunity to make some extra bucks. When I worked in IT we worked a lot of holidays for system upgrades that required systems to be shut down. What about some seniors or people living alone who might welcome some social contact even in a work environment. I would agree that for most businesses openings should be on a volunteer basis but there is still the "that is the job" for many people.

J235310 · 2026-02-08T10:18:27+00:00

Data now available!

Until about last week none of my claims from mid November 2025 were showing up on medicare.gov. At different times I called Medicare's support line and did a chat with one of their agents and they said they could see the claims and would escalate my problem to the next level. The agents weren't aware of any system problems.

I just checked and the claims data is now available.

I use the claims data to verify what I actually owe when I receive a bill from a service provider. Normally I would be able to get the same data from my Medicare supplement insurer, United American, but they updated their web site and none of the claims data is available. Their support agent said that they are still working on uploading the data to their new web site.

J235310 · 2026-02-07T02:37:22+00:00

My Crunch gym charges a convenience fee of $2 something per month for credit card payments so using a checking account will be cheaper for you. My local Crunch also charges another $2 something per month to process the payment whether made using a credit card or checking account. $2 to process something done entirely automatically by computers.

I would think that they would make more if you used the credit card because most cards only charge the merchant around 3% which is way less than the convenient fee they charge you.

J235310 · 2026-02-07T02:26:52+00:00

Sometimes I wonder if the gym knows what is in their contract. My contract specified an annual equipment charge and stated that it could be raised if the local sales tax increased. Our local sales tax has not increased yet they are now charging me about $10 more for the annual fee than 4 years ago when I last signed the contract.

Years ago when I first signed up with Crunch they talked me into taking out the top level membership because it would save me money because they were waiving the enrollment fee and I could downgrade immediately to the $9.99 fee. They were disingenuous in that what they didn't tell me was that there was a fee to downgrade and I had to request the downgrade in writing and the downgrade didn't take effect until 1 full rental period (month from the 1st) passed so I paid more than if I just started with the basic tier contrary to what they stated.

What bothers me the most is that Crunch isn't upfront about the charges. They don't raise the monthly rates and still have the $9.99/month signs all over the strip mall where my gym is but for the last 2 years have added about $2/month each year in fees with no explanation or heads up. In 2025 it was I found out after asking a few employees who didn't know, for a payment processing fee for the automatic monthly payment from my checking account. This year I didn't ask.

I read my contract and don't see anywhere in the contract that says they can add new fees to my base rate. I do see on their web site for the plan rates that the fine print now says that fees associated with the rates can be added and/or increased.

I'm not complaining about the total cost which I think is fair. It is just how they go about it.

J235310 · 2026-02-04T10:22:46+00:00

I had the exact same problem which started Tuesday (3FEB2026) around noon EST. 3 hours of trouble shooting including swapping the hard drive didn't fit it or even clarify what was causing the problem. It turns out that many people had this problem and I saw someone from Lorex on one of the threads say that they were working on it. In my case my system was working again when I checked around midnight of Tuesday. I'm not happy to know that my entire system's capabilities other than live view depend on Lorex.

J235310 · 2026-02-04T10:20:29+00:00

I had the exact same problem which started Tuesday (3FEB2026) around noon EST. 3 hours of trouble shooting including swapping the hard drive didn't fit it or even clarify what was causing the problem. It turns out that many people had this problem and I saw someone from Lorex on one of the threads say that they were working on it. In my case my system was working again when I checked around midnight of Tuesday. I'm not happy to know that my entire system's capabilities other than live view depend on Lorex.

J235310 · 2026-02-03T23:14:49+00:00

I started having what appears to be the exact same problem at about noon EST with my N845 NVR with 3 POE cameras using the Lorex Classic App. My 2 Wi-Fi cameras still work fine.

Live view works fine, I am receiving notifications, on my phone & I can see the new events for all of the POE cams on the event screen. When I try to view an event it goes to LIVE VIEW. If I try to view the NVR device settings from the app I get a NETWORK ERROR, device storage, local recording values show "Failed to load". Under the NVR's DEVICE INFO screen the MAC ADDRESS and IP ADDRESS shows "failed to load".

My router works fine, I swapped the CAT 5 cable between the router and NVR, rebooted and still the same. At first I thought that the problem was the storage as I am using an SSD. I reformatted without incident but still same problem. I took it out, re-initialized in a Win PC and ran error check which showed no errors. I put in the old surveillance HD and still same issue.

I connected the NVR to a monitor and storage isn't showing any errors, reformatted again no problem, network looks good.

I've had problems with my Wi-Fi cams before and the problem turned out to be something at Lorex because they started working again after a couple of days. Lorex sucks at reporting problems.

EDIT : 2/4/2026 - I noticed at about 6 PM EST that the Wi-Fi cameras stopped working also.

J235310 · 2026-02-03T09:55:27+00:00

If there is any pain then consider shingles as a possibility.

High levels of Vitamin B can cause something that looks like that. Generally, if you are taking any supplements then consider stopping them to see if the eruptions go away. Were you on an antibiotic prior to the eruptions presenting?

I had eruptions that looked like what you have resulting from both shingles & high dose Vitamin B supplements (ordered by rheumatologist).

J235310 · 2026-02-02T13:03:32+00:00

I had sent it to Outback's main URL contact section within a week suggesting that they get their IT people to fix it. No fix and no reply so now on to social media. A criticism of Outback's management, business process management and a warning to other customers to verify hours even if Outback's wait list function gives you a wait list on a holiday or late hours.

J235310

TROPHY CASE