You would be well advised to check with the Villages healthcare and see if your insurance will be OK in the Drs office. It will be good at the hospital but you may have an issue with some Drs offices. check first. There ha s been some recent changes on the Villages healthcare program. However there are many Drs that will accept FEHB programs.

Self + 1 can be used for either your spouse or one child under age 26.

If you are talking about BCBS rates and the Standard option the rate for Self + 1 will be 501.17. Family will be 516.18, an increase of 54.01 over last year. So Self + 1 is cheaper than Family - but still $38.00 more than we paid last year.

Come to a SHINE counseling session (times and locations at various rec centers, published in the rec center news each week. I'm a volunteer and not allowed to make recommendations, but we can show you why you might want to keep Part B. Also, be aware that effective 1/1 if you are already a patient with the Villages health care system they will continue to take your coverage, but new patients must be in one of the 3 United Medicare Advantage plans (2 HMOs, 1 PPO).

Federal Retiree Health Insuranc
 

Any suggestions for a good Primary Care Provider outside of The Villages Health System?? I don't have one within The Villages system and now they won't honor my FEHB!

Narfe Chapter 2234 will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, November 11th at the Golden Corral Restaurant on CR 466 near Walmart. All active and retired federal employees and their quests are invited to attend. Doors open at 11 AM and the meeting begins at 11:15. Lunch must be purchased at $11.25 to attend. Our guest speaker will be Mary Hampton of the Protect Our Environment (POE) Club. She will give a very interesting and informative talk on solid waste recycling. The legislative report will include the latest updates to pending legislation to include the FY 2016 budget and the debt ceiling. This is our food pantry meeting, so bring a non-perishable food item to the meeting. Come join us for an informative meeting and enjoy the company of other retired federal employees. Contact Ken Szczepanski at352-205-8872 for additional information.

I consulted with SHINE. Came away feeling more confident about keeping Part B AND BCBS. Twenty percent can amount to a lot in the event of surgery or something serious. We're blessed with good health now, but you never know what tomorrow will bring.

I was able to change from self & family (105) to Self & 1 online today. Doesn't save much but it is something.

Thoughts

If you opt out of Part B when you are eligible and later enroll you will be penalized 1 % of the premium for each and every month for life. 10 months is 10% of $104.90 for life.

I think Village Health is not accepting new patients unless they are enrolled in Medicare Advantage. Not sure if it must be United Health Care.

All previous patients are grandfathered.

Did you mean 1% or was that a typo? I thought it was higher than that.