I get a kick out if those who despise Obamacare (ACA) but enjoy its benefits. Kind of like the politicians who boast about the infrastructure bill but voted against it.

Premiums are age based, so yes, you will see an increase every year, but a small one. Your employer health insurance went up every year too when you were a part of their plan. As long as meducal costs continue to rise, so will your health insurance costs..

Yes. Increasing healthcare costs continue - there doesn't seem to be an end. Healthcare costs and healthcare premiums have increased annually at rates higher than overall inflation (CPU/CPI) for many years. Our "leaders" (all parties) continue to let this insanity go on at our cost. I'd plan for continued significant increases in your healthcare costs during retirement - if you end up spending less over time great, but you're better off planning for it. That means your Medicare premium may double again in 5 years. Let your elected leaders know you're sick of this.

Right! ACA was not tweaked nor improved - it was just pulled apart and fought over by nearly every politician involved. * All parties failed us - not just 1.* So now we're worse off than ever and holy cow have you seen the amount of $$ we're all paying?

as long as you stay healthy, only incur health accidents which are routinely fixable, such as broken bones, etc, and don't require specialty drugs / procedures to live, you will be fine.

medicare advantage plans get finicky is when you require expensive drugs/ medical care to live. . that scenario creates hits to the budgeted profit growth, and they can get finicky about coverage at that point. . . which is the uncertainty about the advantage plan as you age. . .

The insurance companies are predicting / expecting healthy living and average payouts per year per population age and risk pool

former finance guy

Sorry OP, off topic i know. Aren't there problems with the medicare advantage plans in FL? In my mind, i've ruled them out but i can't remember why?

If Massachusetts can prove that you spend more than 183 days in their state, they can tax you as a resident. It doesn't matter what form you filed in Florida.

That "fine" was never implemented. It never happened, no one ever had to pay it.

With Medicare, if you have social security, $165/month (or whatever the current Part B cost is) is automatically deducted from your SS check to cover the portion for part B. If you fail to sign up for it in time, and realize after the fact that you need health care coverage afterall, you'll pay a monthly penalty, until you die.

You don't have to sign up for Medicare at all if you don't want to, but that means you'll have to pay the full premium price for whatever health care you choose. For most insurance companies, that's generally around $1500-2000 per month, plus deductible, any co-pays, and out of pocket expenses. Or you can just pay as you go, but you'd need to be insanely wealthy to risk that - cancer treatment alone is more than the average homeowner's house AND savings are worth, combined.

A trip to ER, paying in cash with no health insurance discounts or contributions, will set you back over $4000. And that's just for ambulance, paramedic, intake services, testing, and a few bags of fluids to treat dehydration.

A yearly physical costs several hundred dollars. A mammogram, the same. Colonoscopy? Same.

The ACA (commonly known as Obamacare) covers all the yearly routine stuff for just the cost of the monthly premium, which is based on a sliding scale depending on your income.

Try contacting UHC they have a 3 year short term plan that is very affordable I will never do obumercare as the cost is worse than what I am paying now.......

We have a zero premium plan with Humana. Not sure why you're paying so much. I've never had a plan with a monthly premium.

Focal Insurance agency lady Lake they don't charge you anything for United Health Care. They retrieve what you automatically pay through social security check shandra at focal is your contact no more of yours for sure

Below is a link to a video that may answer many of the questions you may have.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pWQ...st=WL&index=27

I retired young so I had to get my own insurance till I went on Medicare. I had a fabulous agent here in WI and I had what is called catastrophic insurance. In other words, I am perfectly healthy and only go to the dr once a year for a physical so I could get away with that for if insurance. If I had to go to the dr for something like a sinus infection or step throat, I simply told them I was paying on my own and they automatically gave a 40% discount off your bill. I did this for 8 years and it saved me a lot of high monthly insurance premiums. I opted for a plan that had a low monthly premium and a high deductible since I wasn't really using it.

We’ve been delighted with our UHC advantage plan. No premium, several expensive surgeries (back fusion, neck fusion, total knee replacement), no referrals needed to see specialists and combined we are on a dozen prescription medications. Each surgery cost $250 co-pay total, $40 co-pay for specialists and we see doctors in network in both the Villages and up north. Any doctor we’ve wanted to see have been in network. Not sure why everyone hates advantage plans.

In general, people who like Obamacare are those with lower incomes who get either free or substantially subsidized insurance depending on their level of income relative to the national poverty level. People who typically despise Obamacare are those whose income is above 400% of the national poverty level. Those people aren’t eligible for subsidies and have to pay outrageously high premiums because someone has to pay for the people who are getting the subsidies. Before Obamacare, I was paying less than $300 a month for great insurance (not through an employer) with both a low deductible and max out of pocket. After Obamacare, my insurance went up over 400% for an inferior plan with a much higher deductible and max out of pocket. Who in their right mind would not despise that?

We had a Humana plan in Va and was happy with it and when we moved here met someone who recommended a physician and they took Humana Gold so we switched to it.

Only disadvantage is physician acts as gatekeeper and must approve referral to specialist. Been happy with our doc and the referrals they found for us.

Has saved us a lot of money and so far so good.

At one point in the Villages, there was only one Advantage plan option. And they decided they weren't going to participate the next year so everyone whose doctor was with that plan, were out of luck unless they paid extra for a Medicare plan their doctor did participate in. Not all doctors accept Advantage plans, and you can't just go to any doctor. If you need a hip replacement, you might discover that there's only one choice of surgeon offered to you and he's booked solid for another 8 months.

Medicare
 

SHINE is a great group of volunteers to explain all the options. They aren't selling anything. Numerous personal meeting sites in The Villages. SHINE - Home

I understand that’s possible but that’s not been our experience. Every doctor recommended to us by friends and neighbors have been in network.

Your lucky, lots are not

The question was "why don't people like Advantage plans?" I gave one answer. My answer was factual. The risk of NOT being able to get non-life-saving but necessary surgery due to limited access to available specialists is a bonafide, valid, very real, and not uncommon reason.

Please everyone get answers from knowledgeable sources. Visit SHINE. Call doctors offices and see what they take - they can change over time. Use responses here as a starting place for your questions. I appreciate all the responses here so I know what to ask about when I need to select. Everyone is different and has different needs. Seems like I would not like an Advantage plan, but I know people who have one and love it. At least I know more now about what questions to ask. Thanks y'all.

AAarp United healthcare supplement. No network no preapproval. No geographic limitations. They pay for items not included in Medicare. I needed a planter fasciitis splint. Podiatrist said not covered by Medicare. Supplement paid for it.

I’m not saying your answer is wrong. I’m saying that our experience has been very different, which I think is important for others to know.

But your experience is a sample size 1, there are hundreds of samples out in the real world. . and any individual experience works until it doesn't work. .

The problem with most everything in life is that whatever works until whatever doesn't work and most humans blame the whatever not working on something else other than an insignificant sample size. .

Kind of like do black swans exist if you have never seen one?

And I didn’t claim my experience was anything other than my own

My Obamacare plan is awesome
 

I can’t complain with my Obamacare plan through blue cross blue shield about $250 a month but an excellent medical plan .. they spent 3 million last year on my care.. can’t complain at all..

Yes I know folks here who have an Advantage plan with UHC and are very happy with it. I also know two in particular who are not very happy with it. One says she had to change her doctor because he didn't accept Advantage plans, and she felt the free gym membership was a waste because she never goes. Another needed a specialist and had to wait two months just for a consultation. Both of them thought the "free" medical supplies every month or quarter or whatever it is, is incredibly wasteful. They end up buying things their neighbors need and give the stuff to them. They'd rather see their premiums reduced, instead of getting credit for things they don't need.

It's great that your experience has been very different. But it isn't applicable to the question. Again - the poster wanted to know why people might NOT like Advantage. Not why they DO like it.

Try re-reading the original post. The question was about the rising cost of supplemental plans, nothing to do with advantage plans.

Try re-reading your own post. I bolded and underlined the part where you comment that you don't know why people hate advantage plans. I also included a previous post from gigi asking outright what the problem was with advantage plans in Florida.

As I said, the original post was about the cost of supplemental plans.