[M2inOR]

My wife and I had health insurance from our employers for our working years until we retired in 2019. We both had HMO plans from Kaiser Permanente, and would have continued with them if they had facilities here in Florida.

We view the Medicare Advantage plans here in The Villages to be quite similar.

Back when we were under Kaiser, we had to go out of network, and Kaiser took care of everything. Just a small copay.

Same is true here under Medicare Advantage via United Healthcare at Villages Health.

We've had very good experiences. Only big expense we've had is to pay for medical procedures that Medicare did not cover; we both recently had cataract surgery. Rather than get the normal replacement lenses that Medicare would have covered, we got the deluxe lenses which take care of vision at all distances. Yes $$$.

We've also been referred to other specialists for other procedures, and all was paid by our plan except for small copays.

We are both in our late 60s, and both healthy and active. My wife is a cancer survivor. 10+ years ago, when Kaiser could not handle her early stage breast cancer, she was referred to a specialist outside of their network, and they did a great job. When my son had a severe concussion, again we got a specialist outside of the network via referral, and he was taken care of in record time. Similarly for a sports injury.

With Villages Health, we have a great PCP who addresses our questions quickly, and if we need routine care it's taken care of right away.

Last thing:
- for routine care, we go thru Villages Health and our PCP. If special care is necessary, it will be handled within Villages Health or we get a referral to specialists outside of the network if Villages Health does not have someone with the right specialty.
- if we need Urgent Care, we can go to any Urgent Care facility that Villages Health refers to us. Call first, and they will tell us where to go.
- in an emergency, we can go to wherever in the US we are close too, and when able to, let The Villages know for follow-up action.

Medicare Advantage works for us within the US. Outside the US, need to have separate travel insurance. We aren't covered by Medicare outside the US.

Yes, it can be complicated, but best to read up on how coverage works while you are healthy.

Finally, there are other Medicare Advantage plans that are offered in the area that aren't as compressive as the Florida Blue and United Healthcare plans that The Villages accepts.