No problem dude, ride along.
Already it seems like I should just do nothing and roll with the Medicare basic.
z
Avoid penalties. Humana part D is now 20.40 $ per month
I think a FReeper told me that Plan F costs a higher premium but eliminates co-pays for specialists.
Here's one thing I ran into. I had a little tiny spot removed from near my wrist with that Nitrogen stuff. They billed Medicare $600 for surgery, several years ago.
More recently I get bouts of painful acid indigestion. The med that works the best is Ranitidine and ignorant about what comes next here. My doc prescribed it, won't name the pharm, well-known, and it's $60/mo. So I'm paying it because I take only when needed even though I saw on the bottle to take 2 times a day. So I call my doc and ask (nicely) if they can prescribe the generic. That is the generic. And they give me something else. I don't like it; it almost seems to cause it to be worse so quit taking it. Get on the web and look up Ranitidine. Saw post about how the capsule was store-name proprietary sort of thing. I see amazon has the same drug, same dosage in tablet form for around $10. So I call the pharm. She goes to look in the OTC meds aisles. Yes they have the one I need, but I forgot to ask how much. Haven't been able to get my daughter to go get it for me yet but she will when she can fit it in her schedule.
In the meantime, I'm using a lot of Rolaids.
Once you get on a plan, make sure you're covered for what you want/need to do next. I went by ambulance on July 4 to where they knew I was covered. I kept getting worse, and by Sep 9, I didn't know what to do so called my ins and asked if a hospital in the next town, same state is covered. It is but not some of the docs they work with and refer to. I thought they might be better. They found a UTC, prescribed for that, and found thru blood test my sodium was too low. So I had a saline drop by IV. Have to keep my salt intake at a certain level even though I'm on blood pressure meds.
And that wasn't anything terribly serious but could have gotten to that point. But my main point here is you have to take charge of your own care, ask the right questions, look things up on the web, etc.
Re: “Already it seems like I should just do nothing and roll with the Medicare basic.”
Be sure to pay the monthly premium for Part B.
Each month you postpone adds to the price of Part B in the future.
I actually forget which service Part B covers - I think it’s for physician services, and Part A is for hospital.
I have both, so I don’t really pay attention.
I’m 75 and, like you, I’m healthy. No ailments and no Rxs. I only have had Medicare A and B. ...Cost of about $1300 per year = $12,000 so far, which is deducted from my SS checks each month.
Over the years, I’ve used Doc-in-the-box walk-up clinics for a couple of minor problems and I’ve used Albertson’s pharmacy for flu shots.
Medicare has paid approx. $500 toward my bills in over 9 years, so they are making money off of me.
Don’t believe the BS about SS and Medicare being welfare!