Villages Health is pressing hard to get everyone into Medicare Advantage. If you don't mind being locked into that network, it's OK, but if you want the flexibility to go to the best specialist or hospital (like Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and many other first-rate hospitals) you would be out of luck. With standard Medicare (plus supplement) you have much more flexibility to manage your own health care, and that's worth a lot to me and my wife. My understanding is that you would pay a cost penalty if you wanted to switch from Medicare Advantage to standard Medicare. Be sure that you check this carefully, since if you develop a serious health problem, you may want to be able to choose the best specialists and hospitals, not just stay with the network. My opinion is that cost is way down on the list of concerns regarding my and my wife's health.
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