Quote:
Originally Posted by Rainger99
I am currently on Medicare with a UHC Advantage policy. For the most part, I am satisfied with Advantage but I am interested in possibly switching to a regular Medicare and I am trying to figure out how much that would cost.
Right now, I pay my Medicare premium and there is no deductible. The maximum out of pocket payment is $2700 a year. This is for co-pays. Primary doctor is $0 a visit and specialist is $30 a visit. Dental and Vision are included at no extra cost. I am in network but the network is not limited to Sumter County. It is a nationwide network. I can go to hospitals in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or Orlando or Tampa. They even have a hospital in Alaska!
Fortunately, I have been healthy and my out of pocket expense has been less than $250 a year.
For those of you with regular Medicare, can you give me a ballpark estimate of how much a Medicare supplement policy costs and how much dental and vision cost? Do you also have a separate drug policy?
And has anyone switched from regular to advantage or from advantage to regular? If so, why did you switch and are you happy with the change? Thanks.
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Unless money is a serious problem and the "free" teeth-cleaning and eyeglasses are extremely important to you, switch to regular Medicare as soon as you can and purchase a Supplemental plan from one of the private insurance companies (AARP gets you United Health).
Should you have a serious medical condition, your choice of doctors will be limited to those in the Advantage plan. They may, or may not, be the best available. Getting permission to use a doctor outside the Advantage plan will be as hard as pulling your own teeth.
With regular Medicare, you can be treated by any doctor you choose, provided the doctor accepts Medicare and accepts as payment in full what Medicare and your supplemental insurer pays.
If you don't care who cuts into your chest to place several bypasses on your heart or cuts into your brain to remove a tumor, stay with your Advantage plan.