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Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
What are the steps we Villagers should take as we move to the 65 year mark with respect to Medicare?
I have almost a year though to plan.
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Sign up for regular Medicare and the Prescription Plan. Then add a Supplement. While there are several grades of Supplemental plans, those grades are all the same from carrier to carrier. The easiest is to join AARP and buy the United Health plan.
Avoid the Advantage plans, which are HMO's and severely limit your choice of doctors to those in the HMO. With regular Medicare, you can go to the doctor of your choice anywhere in the country, provided the doctor accepts Medicare. If you are healthy at present, you may think this is not important. However, if you become sick or injured and are in an Advantage plan, you will quickly learn the plan's limitations, will be unhappy, and, will realize you made a mistake. As mentioned by one RP, all the Supplemental plans must accept you when you first enroll in Medicare. However, if you enroll in an Advantage plan and, in later years, try to switch to a Supplemental plan, you can be rejected because of your medical problems.
I speak from personal experience. At age 65, I chose regular Medicare and United Health. In the past 15 years, I have had few, if any, problems getting the medical care I need from the doctors by whom I want to be treated. In contrast, my wife chose an Advantage plan because she wanted the "free" fitness club membership and the small dental benefits. However, when she came down with an unusual and severe kidney problem, we went through hell to have her seen by one of the handful of doctors in the country who specialized in treating her condition. As soon as she was cured, she immediately dropped the Advantage plan and purchased a regular Supplemental plan.