The big kicker is that if you had high earnings before you apply for Part B, they charge you extra for Medicare coverage, and they want it up front. My deposit in February will be a whopping $3.50 (recouping the extra I owe from the January). Fortunately, you can appeal these things. I just sent a “life changing event” form and hubby’s end of employment letter to our local office. We have funds to cover things for now, but it would be nice to have everything resolved.

Happy Boomerbenefits client here.

The only issue you may have with them is, they’re located in Texas and thus you have to interface with them via phone.

They have a lot of YouTube videos explaining the basics.

Here’s how Medicare Advantage works: instead of the government paying your medical costs, they pay an insurance company a premium every month to insure you. Some of the insurance companies may be nonprofit, but there has to be a lot of money going to them for the amount of commercials they run during open enrollment. Probably no premium to you, but you could be subject to delays and preapproval for services. Plus the network issues.

The big caveat is that once you go Advantage, if you want to go back to Original Medicare+Supplement (Plan G), you will be subject to underwriting and may be denied or charged a higher price.

My mom and aunts all had a supplement, and never paid anything (other than drugs, but that’s a whole nother can of worms). Margie had lung cancer, and had chemo on and off for five years. Never paid a cent. Alice had a lot of falls in her last three years, was hospitalized 4 or five times, two stints in Rehab post hospitalization, at least 8 CT scans and ambulance runs from assisted living because she fell & hit her head, and it was all covered. My mom just had a lot of doctor visits, until she had a massive stroke and never awoke from the surgery; she died 4 days later (there are a lot of worse ways to go when you’re 91; she was driving the day before). Never paid anything. Never had to get preapprovals.

I figure as long as I can afford the premium I’m going with Supplemental insurance. If at some time in the future I can’t afford it I’ll deal with the advantage plans then.

It is very confusing. The government does not make it easy. And the slogan “Medicare for all” is not as comprehensive as people think. Plus the Part vs Plan gets confusing. Part is Medicare, Plan is various supplements.

Doing the research and trying to make a decision is beyond daunting! I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why they make it so confusing! Debby has it right. I did this dance years ago and we went supplemental and so glad we did. Fortunately we have decent retirement income and can afford the premiums. Just my two cents.

While not every single thing is covered, I am so glad I live in Canada.

Thank you for the link and all the info, in the comments as well. After months of research last year, we got my husband on Medicare Part B, a gap plan, and a Rx plan. It was a big adjustment as our family doctor for 38 years retired, so we had to move to a new medical group anyway. Seems to be working so far, we haven’t had any unexpected costs for him. I’ve got a few years until it’s my turn. My mom likes Kaiser and they went with the Kaiser Advantage. While it seems everything is covered, she waits a long time for appointments, but that could be Kaiser in her area.

Such a good PSA! I’m going to start saving those cards!

Why is insurance so complicated?!