[Villages Kahuna]

Every Medicare Advantage Plan has well-publicized co-pay amounts for appointments or procedures provided by doctors or specialists. Usually your appointments with your primary care doctor is free, as long as he is “in network” for your insurance plan. There is always a co-pay for appointments with specialists. But there is also a maximum out-of-pocket amount which caps what you might have to pay each year.

All this information is published and available to people before they sign up for a plan. If you didn’t investigate whether your doctors were in network or out of network, or what the co-pays were, the cause of the problem is your failure to do the research.

But all is not lost. It is never publicized, but Medicare members can change their choice of plans during January through March each year. You are not limited to just the November to early December sign-up period. So you still have almost an entire month to change plans if you so choose. You would be well-served to visit an insurance broker—one not affiliated with a particular company—to have the costs and benefits of various plans explained to you. I’d start with one of The Villages insurance offices. But ask to see a broker. Otherwise you are almost certain to get an agent for United Healthcare.