We're mainly trying to start out with some reasonable choices and make sure we avoid some of the future penalties we've heard of.
Any advice or suggestions appreciated.
Medicare is only good for hospitalization and you still have to pay 20%
of the cost!
Get the supplemental insurance right up front. Humana is great. Also, depending on income, perhaps she could qualify for drug assistance.
Try not to be ill?
Just make sure that your Dr even accepts Medicare patients. I did research on various plans only to find out there were no Drs that accepted them. Ironically the local hospital didn’t even accept Medicare patients. Took me quite awhile but finally found a GP that accepted Medicare and a Mutual of Omaha supplemental plan. Humana has a drug plan for $18 a month but you have to use a Walmart pharmacy. So I pay $100 a month for Medicare, $150 for the supplemental plan and $18 for the drug plan.....and I never use any of it knock on wood.
A lot of places will only take the original medicare.
The most important thing we learned is to obtain a Part D drug plan from the start, because if you don't you'll pay a "Penalty" later on if you do enroll in a plan - and that 'penalty' is forever, by way of monthly premium, and grows annually.
Since we're virtually drug-free, we went with a Walmart-Humana plan that doesn't cover much, but it costs each of us less than 13 bucks a month.......in the event we require pricey meds, we'll simply swap plans during the open enrollment (switch) period that comes each October.
You can apply 3 months prior to your 65th birthday, and I applied online as soon as I was eligible.
In my case I had to wait about 85 of those days to (finally!) get my card and ID number, but my coverage actually began on the first of the month in which my birthday fell, which was about 25 days prior to when I got my card and ID.
I have a supplemental through Anthem BC/BS.
Don't.
We have the AARP (yes, I know) supplemental insurance. It’s been great. It’s cheap and it covers more than you think. It’s even got dental in it and some hearing insurance.
I just had my knee replaced. The bill was $50,000 with $15,000 in patient rehab. I had to pay $1060 on the first bill, and $700 for the rehab. I had outpatient rehab too, and I haven’t seen a bill for that yet.
My husband had a brain tumor removed. The bill was more than $100,000 and we paid less than $3000 for it.
I have no complaints about Medicare and AARP insurance.
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A doctor gave me this advice: Get the most expensive supplementary plan. The bad news is: You’ll need it. The good news is: You’ll have it.
The only money I ever pay out is the Part D copays.
United health care medicare advantage
our plan costs $0 per month with $5 and $25 copay
Get a good supplemental insurance and avoid AARP like the plague!
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Download the Medicare and You 2013 booklet from the Medicare website. Be sure to get the one for your state.
You might want to check and compare Medicare Advantage plans that are listed for your state. They should be identified in the Medicare and You booklet.
For 2014, the Medicare and You usually comes out in late Sept or October. Enrollment for 2014 begins in early October.
You might also check the CMS website for your state information.
http://www.medicare.gov
http://www.cms.gov
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/hprc/mediinfo.shtm
Medicare is really private insurance sold through the government. There are lots of plans. Just be sure to have a calculator handy when trying to figure it out.
As for Part D, we ran the numbers and it’s actually cheaper for my wife to buy drugs from Canada that pay the premiums and co-pays with Medicare. If you take a lot of drugs, especially if they’re name brand, the co-pays are high. And on some of the plans the co-pays on generics are higher than what the pharmacy charges. You have to really look at it close.
I remember as I approached retirement age I got a letter from my insurance company stating that if I did not get Medicare that the insurance company would drop me like a hot potato.
Get the information booklet (free) from Medicare.com, and read it. It’s one of the few things from the government worth reading. Medicare isn’t complicated, but it is not intuitive, and you need to be able to speak the buzz words.
If you’re 65 and on Social Security already, the government signs you up for Medicare automatically. No choice. Part A is inpatient care and it is free to everyone. Part B is outpatient visits and cost about $110 a month, deducted from your SS check every month. Part C is other care and Part D is prescriptions. You can buy supplemental policies that pay what Medicare doesn’t pay for.
In my own case, I refused Part B outpatient care because I am a veteran and get all of my care at the VA hospital. Medicare sent me a new card reflecting Part A only. I reckoned I needed the $110 a month more, than I needed more outpatient care. If you are a veteran eligible for VA care and travel a lot or are away from a VA facility and need emergency or urgent care or even routine outpatient care, you might want to keep Part B just in case you need it. But since I don’t travel, I am doing without it. There is a penalty to sign up for Part B if you don’t take it the initial time you are eligible for it and want it later.
I got tons of offers for supplemental insurance in the mail from various insurance companies that sell them and even had a couple of agents show up at my door to explain it to me. Good luck figuring it all out. It can seem complicated and be confusing until you research it and study it for a while. Remember, nothing the government does is simple.