Medicare supplemental coverage

For the next year my DH will still be working full time and we have health insurance through his employer. However, next year he will retire at age 67 and I will be 66. We are both registered with Medicare and have our cards but we did not sign up for Part B b/c we have our own insurance now. So I have a year to figure out what Medicare covers and what additional coverage we need. I would rather have double root canals than try to sort this stuff out. Has anyone gone through this and was there anything that helped you figure out what supplement coverage you needed and could afford??

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Originally Posted by Florence

For the next year my DH will still be working full time and we have health insurance through his employer. However, next year he will retire at age 67 and I will be 66. We are both registered with Medicare and have our cards but we did not sign up for Part B b/c we have our own insurance now. So I have a year to figure out what Medicare covers and what additional coverage we need. I would rather have double root canals than try to sort this stuff out. Has anyone gone through this and was there anything that helped you figure out what supplement coverage you needed and could afford??

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Aren't there insurance guy who know that stuff? Sure, they are insurance guys there to sell you a product, but you still might get some good ideas about what to buy.

In case you don't know this, I had an elderly friend that did not buy part B because she and her husband were covered under a Federal plan from past employment. In her 80's when her medical bills were high, she wondered about signing up for Part B. Turns out they increase the monthly premium for every year that you were eligible but had not purchased part B.

Our state has a service called SHIP to help seniors with such decisions. Easiest is to contact a local senior center and ask what they have available for counseling.

I've ordered a couple of Medicare for Dummies type books from Amazon.com. But I will talk to a couple of insurance companies and take sweetanna's advice and see if Texas has any senior advocate office.
Then of course Congress may do most anything or nothing at all to Medicare.

Florence when we were selecting one for DH, I made a spreadsheet and listed what was important. DH is on two drugs. One has no generic and is quite expensive. He needs it the rest of his life due to a pituitary disorder. We looked those up on each site so we knew what tier they were in. (you most likely know about tiered drugs) We wanted to compare annual premiums with and without copays. We compared 3 companies. We had one company for a year and they did not provide good customer service. We changed to another company and have had them for 3 years. We have our own concierge that we call directly. (that was important because I am in the ins business and wanted to talk to one or two people and not a call center in India) Florence the websites I listed below will probably be more helpful than any 'Dummies' book. You are smarter than you think about this. If you know anyone that has Medicare now, ask them if you can look at their 'Medicare and You' book for 2013. I refer to it often.


http://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb036.html
http://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-chan...lth-plans.html

I have been using the AARP supplement and drug insurance for 2 years now and have been very pleased with it. I do have the Medicare part B. My just went on Medicare and she did some research and also chose the AARP program. The AARP program is handled by National Health Care.