In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says...


You may be right. I need to investigate this more as well. It just
dawned on me that the last person I talked to who became eligible for
Medicare last year *may* be paying for Medicare Part "A" for him and
his wife. That would be roughly a $900 per month. Add a Part "B"
supplement at $200 and he's up to close to what we are paying now for
direct, private insurance. If your employment over the years
contributed to Medicare, Part "A" is supposed to be free. His may
not have.

I don't know where you and Califbill are getting your figures.
For me Medicare A is "free." I paid those taxes.
Anybody who takes themselves out of Medicare and SS taxing to avoid
paying faces the music at retirement.
Some low income folks who were never on a payroll get picked up by gov
welfare.

I pay 105 bucks a month for Medicare B - comes out of my SS check.
If you have +170k annual income joint return, or +$85 single, it goes
up, but it's never a bad deal.
The low incomes are hurt more than anybody by the premium.
If your only income is $10k a year SS, which is common enough, the part
B premium is taking 10% of your income.
But that $105 a month is my ONLY health care insurance premium.

I have an AARP MedicareComplete Plus (HMO-POS) supplemental.
Cost? Zero.
Medicare pays United Health Care the part B money taken
from my SS check.
No idea how that works as a business plan for them.
Don't think it's widely used.
But that plan also adds the Medicare part D drug benefit.
Which is how I found out about this "no cost" supplemental.
Third degreeing the guy on the phone about drug plans.
I was shocked when he told me about this.
You want to check into all of that.
Most people don't know that even exists.

Downsides? $3800 max out of pocket per year.
Pay first 20% of out-patient services.
A colonoscopy next year could cost me a grand.
If so, I'll pay up.
Hospitalization is $250 a day for the first 7 days.
Zero after that. $5 doc co-pay. $40 for a specialist.
The only drug I use has a $6 co-pay. Tier 2 drug. Tier 3 goes to $60
co-pay. Some people would reject that.
They'll reject paying $40 to see a specialist.
Reject paying 20% of out-patient services.
They'll reject the $3800 out-of-pocket max.
They'll reject the provider list.
In my case I kept the the same local hospital group, but had to change
doctors. Some will reject that.

You have to look at your own medical needs and calculate what works
best.
Pretty sure the "no fees" "gold" supplemental would have cost me $170-
180 a month. Or $4080-4320 over the past 2 years. Maybe more.
I've only paid about 50 bucks in doc and medicine co-pays.
Of course that could change if I start getting sick and hospitalized.
Still won't cost more than than $3800 yearly max out-of-pocket.
Kind of like a "free" "catastrophic" policy, but also covers the common
stuff like exams, tests, and common medicines at no cost except small
co-pays.
When I get decrepit and that max out-of-pocket is getting hit too much,
I'll look into changing it.
Or just slowly fade away.