Once you are on Medicare, you will be required to pay about $100 per month from your Social Security check for Medicare coverage. Supplemental or "Advantage" plans cost anywhere from $0 to about $225 per month. At the top end you get a plan like the AARP sponsored Plan F, delivered by United Health Care, and it's related prescription plan. This plan covers everything Medicare covers, no matter where you are, with no additional out-of-pocket costs. Plan N is pretty good too, and costs about $75-100 less, but there are doctor and hospital co-pays.
On the other end, there are $0 premium plans which offer coverage beyond Medicare with co-pays, some as low as a few dollars for a prescription or a doctor visit. Some of these even offer free gym memberships, dental cleanings and x-rays, etc. However, many of these plans will not cover you "out-of-network" (important for snowbirds), unless you have an emergency. Also, many of these make you pay co-insurance, which may be 20% for many procedures. Chemotherapy is a good example. Those extra costs can easily make Plan F premiums look like the bargain of the century.
If you're healthy, look at those inexpensive plans, but insist reps tell you what kind of coverage you will NOT have if you get sick or need other health care. Use a half-dozen examples like cancer, heart attack, stroke, joint replacement, etc.
In the end, the best plan is the one which gives you the most confidence. But you can't come to that conclusion until you compare a number of plans to each other. I suggest you start learning about plans now, before you become eligible and before the short enrollment period beginning October 1. Best of luck!
|