Starbrd

My medical insurance has been covered by my previous employer, AT&T/Bell Labs/Lucent/Lucent-Alcatel. I took an early retirement offer in 1989. One of the benefits was that I would not have to pay for medical coverage in my retirement. That has been true thus far, except that the coverage has been steadily reduced.

After I went on Medicare they offered a traditional indemnity plan for medical and drugs that started reimbursing for co-payments after $1100 out of pocket costs. Then last year they eliminated that drug coverage and paid for a Part D plan, so it was no longer included in the maximum out of pocket costs.

This year they scrapped the traditional indemnity plan an offered a Private Fee-for-Service Plan. That type of plan is actually worthless for us. It only covers doctors that accept their conditions. That acceptance has to be verified every visit. Most of the specialists we use and have been using for years don't accept their plan. Another change was that doctor and specialist visits no longer count toward the maximum out of pocket. While we get the plan at no cost except for the initial deductible (in addition to the Medicare deductible) we cannot us a plan that does not cover our doctors. I have to take their medical plan to get the prescription plan.

So now I've spent the last week looking at Medigap and Part D prescription coverage. It is extremely difficult to compare the plans since they are all somewhat different. One thing is clear, however. I am looking at an an expenditure of at least $600 per month that I did not have until now.

Are there any other ancients in the Vintage group that have had some experience with these plans? Any recommendations?

RC - Ryder

That Medicare D donut hole comes up pretty fast, if you have expensive scrips - circa 2200 dollars).

Jim Reichard

Hey Herman - I remember contacting you about going to the first S annual meeting in Asheville, NC. As I remember you are a few months older than me.

We have AARP Medicare Advantage thru Secure Horizons. Secure Horizons is a division of United Healthcare. It is a HMO plan but there are plenty of doctors to choose from. Primary doctor visits are $5 and specialists are $30. There are no monthly fees. Fees for surgery and major tests are minimal. Drugs are a different matter. If you require a lot of expensive non generic drugs you are going to pay a lot for them. We don't have that problem so it is a great deal for us.

valentine

Herman, you should check out Medicare Access plans. They apparently can save you a bundle. I don't know details, but check out the medicare website for more information. My husband went with AARP medicare access and has great coverage. It may work for you as well.