OK, were right there if someone can help with this last part. Signing up for medicare now, it says there is a late fee for signing up for part B. Do you need part B with a supplement????

OK...googled....got it....yes

Breathe Pam, breathe. You're almost there.

Husband didnt sign up for B . Dont think he is going to pay 144 a month when he has three months after he turns 65 to get it with no fine. You can save the world with a whopping 450 lol dont you know. ok well at least he signed up in general.

Are you sure about that? I didn't think you were required to have part B at all.

And if he doesn't sign up for part b, and gets sick, Medicare will only pay for 80% of his medical bills. The other 20% is your responsibility. That could be a lot of money if he has an accident or serious medical event requiring surgery or hospitalization or rehab...

Karen

Karen, just to clarify, it is confusing but Medicare Part A only pays for the hospital bills, not for any dr visits in the office.
When people are talking about getting a supplement or advantage plan, they are talking about it being a supplement to Part B. Part B only pays 80% of the Approved Medicare charges( what is "approved" is a whole other area that is confusing)and the supplement pays the rest.

The supplement requires you have it.

We both have United Healthcare Plan F supplement. We've been in it over 10 years and have never paid a penny out of pocket, and I've had 4 hospitalizations and many tests like MRI's, X-rays and Ultrasounds. Our lab work is constant. The plan started out about $200 a month for both of us, and it's now $497 a month. Expensive, but worth it!

Same here. My husband went on Medicare 2 years before me. He had the Advantage Plan the first year, then the consultant steered us to the United Healthcare Plan F. He has been on it ever since, and I've been on it since I started Medicare. The premiums are high, but we never pay anything out of pocket, even though we have lots of medical issues, tests, surgeries, etc.

We both intend to stick with that plan. But we're meeting with the consultant next week to review our Part D plans for next year. We do that yearly, and I would strongly recommend that everyone consider doing that.

Karen

Thank you for all the insight into Medicare! This is a big deal for so many people.

My husband and I are both college graduates with post grad degrees and we find the whole thing to be so complicated and difficult to understand at first that we wonder how many people make choices that aren't the best ones for them just because they give up trying to understand.

@plantmanager, is that $497 including the Medicare Part B premium portion or just the supplement plan all by itself?

So there is no premium for Medicare Part A, but Part B does have a premium (I think it is based on income??. Mine will be $144 month). Then you pay a premium for a supplement if you choose to go that route and it will go up over the years. If you choose a supplement plan, then you have to pay a Part D premium, plus a separate premium for any dental, vision, or hearing plan if you want those. It can all add up to a lot of money in premiums a month. But you get to go to the doctors of your choice and you pay virtually nothing if you need care. However, I don't know about the dental, vision, & hearing coverage.

You don't necessarily get to go to docs of your choice. Depends on the plan that you choose. Some less expensive plans have very limited networks. The UHC Plan F---expensive premium--- lets you go to any doc who belongs to Medicare, anywhere in the country.

If you travel, you want to be sure to have coverage when you're out of your own state.

And, yes, it gets expensive. When politicians tout "Medicare for all", I think they give the impression that Medicare is free medical care. It's far from that. For a lot of us, it's a major expense in retirement.

Karen

Wow, this is all alot more expensive than regular insurance. My husband will never spend 500 a month on himself especially when he has spent 0 in health care in the last 40 years. He would go to a lab if ordered, I will not. I pay for my echos now, get two a year
ummmm this is tricky. In the end I will be the one who decides and I will decide to get him some coverage of some sort I dont care how much it cost. I know exactly how much it cost if you dont have insurance for a big surgery.

Karen, I was thinking the same, I hear medicare for all and think what a scam on people. Of course, for those who already get all free stuff, Im sure it would be free for them as well. For those paying for insurance, they are going to be unpleasantly surprised if it ever happens cuz they are going to still keep paying. Im shocked myself, I had no idea.

Trying to make the decision for what is best for you is what makes it difficult. It seemed like the most complete coverage cost a lot more than other plans. So balancing what you need with what you can comfortably afford is not an easy decision and is stressful. Then throw in any changes a plan makes each year and you are thrown back to square one.

teacup754 said:Trying to make the decision for what is best for you is what makes it difficult. It seemed like the most complete coverage cost a lot more than other plans. So balancing what you need with what you can comfortably afford is not an easy decision and is stressful. Then throw in any changes a plan makes each year and you are thrown back to square one.

This ⬆️

G is as close to F as I can get offered on the united healthcare. F doesnt even come up .

I think I read that they were discontinuing the plan F, but grandfathering in the ones who have had it.

That price was only for the supplement plan F. The part B premium is in addition to it. You don't have to do the Part D for drugs, but it's probably better if you do. When we started, we didn't take many drugs, so we never got it. There is a huge penalty if you start it later on. We now have a lot of drugs, but we use GoldRX and get them highly discounted. It hasn't been too bad, but if we had plan D it probably would have been cheaper.

Yes Plans C and F are not available to anyone after January 1, 2020 unless you already have one of those plans according to Medicare.gov. So the best plan a person can get at this point if you are not on one of those plans is probably Plan G.

I like the side by side comparisons that Medicare.gov has on the supplement plans. Any insurance can sell one of these plans and charge whatever premium, but they all have to follow the same rules for each plan.

Quoted from the Medicare site (I'm sure our government had a hand in this)
https://www.medicare.gov/suppl...
"Note:
As of January 1, 2020, Medigap plans sold to new people with Medicare aren't allowed to cover the Part B deductible. Because of this, Plans C and F are not available to people new to Medicare starting on January 1, 2020. If you already have either of these 2 plans (or the high deductible version of Plan F) or are covered by one of these plans before January 1, 2020, you'll be able to keep your plan. If you were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020, but not yet enrolled, you may be able to buy one of these plans."