which insurance plan to chose ?

[ljjhouser]

If your employer is footing the bill for your healthcare insurance coverage and you find the coverage adequate, you wouldn't have to pay the Medicare premium or pay for a supplement until you go off your employer's plan.

My wife's employer offers health care insurance that supposedly covers spouses. They had no clue what their insurance coverage actually was for people 65 and older, however. Her employer referred me to their carrier who didn't even bother to answer me when I asked them to tell me what their coverage actually was. Instead, they transferred my call to someone in their medicare supplement area who tried to sell me one of their supplement policies to which I replied that if they couldn't tell me what the employer plan covered, I wasn't interested in their supplement policy.

My recommendation to you would be to try to get satisfactory confirmation from your employer as to what coverage you would have after 65. Some employers will have an HR department that will immediately be able to help you with your questions.

If you choose to delay Pt B. enrollment, your employer insurance co should issue you a letter informing you that the insurance is "Creditable.Coverage" for Medicare purposes. I am sure it will be, but when you go to enroll into Pt b at a later age, you will be asked to provide that information to avoid the late enrollment penality for Pt. b.

Also, you may want to read Post #20. Thanks.

 

[tom3]

When I started looking into this I quickly realized that Medicare is basically a bankruptcy plan by itself. Looked at a lot of options and went with AARP UHC plan N. Was pretty low priced in the first year and goes up gradually afterward. Still at full price it was some cheaper than most. Plan N pretty much dictates coverage for any ins. company coverage. Billing though Medicare and the UHC gap is a real screwed up mess, seems to take forever and the spread between billed, approved, and final pay costs is shocking, but in the end it pays as it should. I'm surprised that most medical facilities even accept Medicare these days.

 

[Oaktree]

When I started looking into this I quickly realized that Medicare is basically a bankruptcy plan by itself. Looked at a lot of options and went with AARP UHC plan N. Was pretty low priced in the first year and goes up gradually afterward. Still at full price it was some cheaper than most. Plan N pretty much dictates coverage for any ins. company coverage. Billing though Medicare and the UHC gap is a real screwed up mess, seems to take forever and the spread between billed, approved, and final pay costs is shocking, but in the end it pays as it should. I'm surprised that most medical facilities even accept Medicare these days.

Not just Medicare. When I met my wife she was self employed and used AARP/UHC for regular health insurance because it was reasonably affordable. All in all a rather crappy policy...it didn't cover much, and what it did cover was handled very slowly.

 

[kenmac]

When I started looking into this I quickly realized that Medicare is basically a bankruptcy plan by itself. Looked at a lot of options and went with AARP UHC plan N. Was pretty low priced in the first year and goes up gradually afterward. Still at full price it was some cheaper than most. Plan N pretty much dictates coverage for any ins. company coverage. Billing though Medicare and the UHC gap is a real screwed up mess, seems to take forever and the spread between billed, approved, and final pay costs is shocking, but in the end it pays as it should. I'm surprised that most medical facilities even accept Medicare these days.

I'm leaning toward plan N from Humana .
I looked at AARP N Plan, and it was about $25.00 per mo. higher than Humana @ $94.00 per mo
Looking like the Humana Part D is going to be the lowest cost on my end as well @ $34.00 per mo.

Plan G in my area was $144.00 per mo with Humana But I'm in pretty good shape and don't go to the doc enough to make up the difference in cost over N plan

There are so many people on Medicare, if these places didn't accept it, they would go out of business ! LOL
My GF works in healthcare and she says most of her patients are on MC !

 

[ConawayFarms]

When I turned 65, I had the same decision to make between an Advantage plan and a Supplement plan. It really depends on what you need. If you’re okay with staying in a network and want lower monthly costs, an Advantage plan might work. But if you want more freedom to see any doctor and avoid big out-of-pocket expenses, a Supplement plan could be better.

I ended up choosing a Supplement plan because I liked having more options for doctors and specialists without worrying about networks. It gave me peace of mind, especially when unexpected medical stuff came up.

I also added optical cover to help with eye exams and glasses, which made a big difference for me. If you’re curious, Private Optical Cover ᐈ Best Medical Glasses Insurance 2024| Premier PMI explains how optical cover works and why it’s useful. It’s worth checking out if vision care is something you need.

 

[WM75Guy]

Not all Advantage plans are HMO with restrictions on doctor visits. We both have an Advantage plan from United Healthcare through AARP. It is a PPO so we can see any doctor without referrals. Has zero copay for PCP visits, $45 for a specialist. Low deductibles for procedures. Never had a claim denied. Also get $40/quarter for OTC meds and supplies.

AARP Medicare Advantage from UHC TX-0007 (PPO)​

 

[ultrarunner]

It is confusing but as I have employer provided coverage as part of a 65,000 employee company I learned I did not have to do anything…

I signed mom up for plan F and the best drug plan and she hardly used any of it until age 85 and the premiums kept increasing as expected.

Her last 18 months had a lot of expenses including skilled nursing and all was covered… it was great peace of mind.

I planned to also have plan F but no longer an option.

If I never retire I won’t have to choose.

 

[KennyG]

I'm grandfathered into Plan F also. Plans F and G are no longer offered. The only real difference between them and Plans C and N are that the current ones don't cover "Excess Charges" when a non-Medicare provider charges more than allowed. In some areas this isn't an issue because state law doesn't allow those charges or the local market doesn't support it.

 

[LouNY]

I'm on a "G" plan also it's not inexpensive but seemed like the best after a lot of consideration. The "G" is still offered when I look at the available plans.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I sign up later this year. Where do you look at the plans? My current UnitedHealthcare PPO plan is available for Medicare.