What's covered Reviews

It’s handy to have this available to check prior to having testing done. It covers the major diseases and tests but not comprehensive, but then neither is Medicare. I would check here first and if I had questions research further before having the test or procedure done. Unless you are able to afford big medical bills and surprises don’t bother you. These expenses can quickly get out of sight. You also have to be savvy with some medical terminology and know how to enter the names of diseases and procedures the right way to get the info you need. Any step towards transparency in health care is a plus even if the program needs additional work.

So far, 80% of the things I’ve searched for have typos on the pages that pop up. Would you like some help? Put a link on your help page to report them. Giving me the Medicare page online means I’ll never get to the right person without hours of searching and phone calls. You asked for feedback, right? Why is a review the only way to communicate with you through Whatscovered ?

So I could keep track of previous services and suggested services, but it’s just a list of what’s available. Regardless of how crappy our national medical outlook is, medicare is still pretty generous with what it covers. I had sick sinus syndrome starting last year and they covered a dual valve pacemaker for me. But there still needs to be better coverage for not only dental but also orthodontics. It’s the one huge gap in the system. Well, two huge gaps seeing as how the system covers I exams but no longer helps you with access to glasses or lenses.

I like Whatscovered for original Medicare. It gives you quick access to most Medicare coverage questions like what Medicare part (A or B) covers this service and how much it pays. The descriptions are not comprehensive. For example, it doesn’t tell you that the inpatient hospital stay has to be 3 consecutive nights to qualify or that each benefit period is separated by 60+ days. I just wish there was a back feature so I could go back to the screen I was viewing beforehand.

Pluses. A simple clean interface that assures people that most items they want are probably covered.

“Covered if medically necessary” leaves a lot unsaid, though. Most people believe a prescription is all that is needed to prove medical necessity to Medicare.

Negatives:
It provides some apparently conflicting information depending on your familiarity with the terms used. On one page it states bandages and gauze aren’t typically covered but on another it states that surgical dressings typically are. Most people would think of “surgical dressings” as bandages.

You have to know the correct terms or browse the entire alphabetical index and select likely candidates. For instance “knee brace” comes up with nothing (you have to know to search for generic term “brace”).

When you condense policy articles that are dozens of pages into a few lines say about oxygen, a lot is left out and a few inaccuracies are introduced. Hence the disclaimer that refers to Medicare’s rules.

If it wasn’t paid for directly by big business they certainly had a hand in it. Might have received it free from big business to peddle its expansive goods. I tried to search for what brands of glucose monitors Medicare would pay for. The only information it would supply was for the one business makes the most on for the initial purchase, and for supplies after that. It was totally silent with it came to standard , less expensive glucose monitors. Someone should research how Whatscovered was acquired. Or research who got paid off to adopt it.

The search function, which is the main feature of Whatscovered, is almost useless. Looking up procedures based on actual names doesn’t work. You need to know how Medicare categorizes things to know what to search for. Browsing the list - one letter at a time! - was the only way to find an item. Example: looked up Cerebral Angiogram. No match. Look up each term separately. No match. This appears to be covered under diagnostic testing, which covers hundreds of procedures. App needs to recognize actual procedure or treatment names to be useful.

I don’t know why I expected anything better, but Whatscovered has all the hallmarks of a good idea implemented by a bureaucracy of the US government.

Whatscovered does not adapt to landscape mode on iPads. Whatscovered does not adapt to the screen notch on iPhone X screens. The search function is restricted to the text as written in the canned responses for a very limited number of semi-informative entries. All of the results say that Medicare “may” pay when the procedure is covered, without providing any guidance as to what will or will not be actually covered.

Not even a good version 1 effort. And I just can’t help but wonder what our civil servants spent on this.

Am I missing the back button? I don’t see a way to navigate directly back to the “place in the alphabet” I just came from.
You still have to know what you’re looking for to find the right information; kind of like learning to spell a word by looking it up in the dictionary.
I am hopeful, though, if kept up to date, that this could be a useful resource.

Lots of bugs in Whatscovered. First of all not a very good search tool for what’s covered. You have to know the exact name the way they categorize it. And if it’s not covered good luck finding it. And many things that are covered I couldn’t find. Maybe I don’t know the exact verbiage they’re using but once again the search tool isn’t very inclusive or intuitive.
Also with iPhone X and up the notch cuts out at least half of the search field and hard to access it.
Better than nothing but it needs a lot of work.

Information on covered tests and procedures . To make it truly helpful it should include finding physicians near me who accept Medicare (not always in my home area). Also, if it could store a usable Medicare card, paper cards don’t last all that long, in lieu of a plastic card one that could be stored either on Whatscovered or in Apple Wallet would be great.

Works great on my Ipad! Quick and easy way to find out whats covered. Simple! I can’t imagine what problems others were having or what they expect from it but for me it’s a quick source of what’s covered and what isn’t. Easy peasy!

Quick reference to searching coverage, but very general response for coverage. For example it says covered if medically necessary or at high risk. When the physician says for your age and what he sees from the lab test result you need to have such and such test done (e.g. bone density), it means necessary and you are at high risk. But, then Medicare denies the claim even though they know your age and that is was ordered by the physician.

So it looks like MyMedicare had its heart in the right place, but try searching for a term and the search window partially disappears because the new camera has a cutout at the top.

Why didn’t someone think about it before sending every Medicare recipient an email to download Whatscovered when it wasn’t ready.

Nice try though.

The text input box overlays the iPhone screen cutout at the top of the iPhone XS-Max. I’m guessing any iPhone with the screen cutout has the same issue. Very difficult to get the focus in the search box and bring up the keyboard.

Update: Current refresh addresses this issue. Thank you.

Since the user is not a medical scholar it would be nice to list procedures in layman's terms. I am having my knee replaced and everything is in place. BUT, I was curious what Whatscovered said about it. Searched for it many ways with no luck. Looked under K. Nothing there. If I cannot search and get a response for total knee replacement or a variant of same then Whatscovered is useless. I will be freeing up space and deleting Whatscovered.

This is handy for a quick check on possible coverage. Whatscovered does not yet address all possible coverages (for example, cataract surgery), but we have to assume it is constantly being upgraded. Obviously Whatscovered does not replace the need to refer directly with your medical provider and Medicare to determine your possible coverage.

I have only used Whatscovered for a few minutes and to see if I could find 5 different services.

I could not find skin cancer, dermatologist, heart attack, cardiologist or ophthalmology. That’s zero out of 5.

I find it hard to understand why I couldn’t find these common services/conditions/medical specialists listed using either the search engine or directory. Am I doing something wrong?

I’m sorry to have to be so negative in this review, but it is of little value to me at this point.

I do like the idea of an app that will allow you to see what’s covered by Medicare, but Whatscovered is seriously lacking in usefulness, at least for me.

While useful, Whatscovered could REALLY use a better search function. It seems to require that you word a medical service with their exact wording or it can’t find it. A keyword-driven search function would make this an excellent app.

I’m glad to see the beginnings of Whatscovered.

There are two things I would like to see dealt with.

Number one would be a back button as previous reviewer’s have stated.

Number two would be to allow the search function to operate a little wider. For example, type eye examination and I get zero results. type eye exam and I get results. Loosen it up a little.

Also, when establishing a nickname that is already in use offer suggestions.

Seems to work fine on my old technology number five phone.