Medicare Advantage vs. Traditional Medicare

[Jerry Bruette]

Go to your doctor(s) and ask for a printout of which plans they take. Then get a list of all medications you and spouse take from the drugstore. Contact a insurance broker who specializes in medicare and let them do the work for you at no cost.
Bill D

Sounds like a plan except I don't know which oncologist, orthopedic surgeon, etc. I or my wife might need in the future.

[Bill George]

Sounds like a plan except I don't know which oncologist, orthopedic surgeon, etc. I or my wife might need in the future.

You do not want an Advantage plan, go with regular Medicare Supplemental and I have Plan F I do not pay anything out of pocket, its no longer available but I think G is very close.

[Lisa Starr]

As several have already said, do your own homework. In some areas, such as mine, there are very good Advantage plans available. I have an Aetna PPO plan with a very inclusive network, some plans do not. To me, one of the most important things to look at is the Maximum Out of Pocket (MOOP) for the plan you are considering. My particular plan has no deductible (including drugs) and a $5900 MOOP, which I consider reasonable. There is no additional premium over the Medicare amount deducted from the SS check.

[Patty Hann]

And I am sure that they will recomend an advantage plan. They get no money if they don't sell a plan.

NOt sure, but I think a broker gets a commission no matter what plan they sell (talking of the supplements/medigap).
They just get more if they sell the Advantage Plan.

[John M Wilson]

As several have already said, do your own homework.

Lisa, I couldn't agree more!

Every time this subject comes up, we get a lot of opinions from a lot of well-meaning folks, but these things vary so much depending on a myriad of factors, including health, age, location, doctors & networks, prescriptions, and so on.

We might as well be talking about each person's dental work, taxes, or the fastest route to Wal-Mart!

One person's plan & experience, even if it's perfect for them, might not work out for someone else. This is one of those topics that wide-ranging rules of thumb & advice based on generalities may be worse than no advice at all.

At least Bevel Up / Bevel Down only has two choices!

[Bill George]

Once your on a Advantage Plan there is usually no one will take you back on a Standard Medicare plan if they do it will be a major jump in price.

[Jimmy Harris]

There are some Medicare Advantage plans that will be better than traditional Medicare. There are also some that are worse. There's no easy answer.

Your best bet is to sit down and expect to spend several hours, if not days, educating yourself on everything you need to know. You can pay someone to help you, but can you trust them? Maybe. But maybe not. It depends on who else is paying them. Even asking a friend won't do you much good, as they may not know, yet think they do. Or they might live in a different state so will have different options. So you really have to rely on yourself and prepare to go back to school with this.

If you're not going to put in the effort to figure it out on your own, then stick with traditional Medicare. It's going to be the safe choice. It won't be the best, but it also won't be the worst.

[Bill Dufour]

Before I went to the broker for regular health insurance I tried to do it myself. I settled on a plan. Low copays, covered my meds, good reviews etc. Turns out it was based in San Francisco about 90 miles away. Okay they must deal with doctors near me right?
Turns out they were based in SF Chinatown and only doctors there deal with them. A clue should have been all the mentions of many in network doctors spoke Chinese. The only in network hospital was in Chinatown.
Bill D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I haven't researched Medicare/Medigap vs Medicare Advantage plans since I went on Medicare some years ago. At the time, the traditional Medicare - Medigap insurance had better coverage in the event of a major illness. Medicare Advantage plans had lower premiums and might offer some special benefits but in the event of a major illness, they reached their maximum payout a lot quicker than Medigap plans. Medicare Advantage plans may work better in metropolitan areas. In rural areas, they may not work as well.

What is important. Before making any radical changes investigate how it will affect you in both the short term and long term. Then decide what type of coverage is right for you.

We have the original Medigap "Plan F". We get a bill and the insurance pays our portion. Yes we have higher monthly premiums and yes we have a Plan D prescription plan but the long term coverages are more to our comfort levels.

Investigate,research, talk to friends and decide what is right for you.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The simple fact that they push Advantage plans on TV as hard as they do, tells me the Advantage plans are good for the insurance company pushing them and not so good for me.

[Stan Calow]

The simple fact that they push Advantage plans on TV as hard as they do, tells me the Advantage plans are good for the insurance company pushing them and not so good for me.

Amen to that

[Bill Dufour]

Consider buying a carehome policy. If you get too bad it pays for a care home and services. I can not remember the actual name of the policy type. A decent care home will run 3,000-5,000 a month and up. This insurance is not medicare covered at all. It is a stand alone policy. Most payout a max of 3-5 years. The average patient who has to go into a old folks home lives three years there.
My mother lived there three years gradually needing more and more help. as more staffing was needed the payout went up. I twas never nough to cover the full cost. Cost her estate about 1,000-1,500 a month more then the insurance paid.
Bill D
Bill D

[Mike Henderson]

The simple fact that they push Advantage plans on TV as hard as they do, tells me the Advantage plans are good for the insurance company pushing them and not so good for me.

The theory of the Advantage plans was that they would cost the government less than traditional Medicare. Didn't work out that way. The Advantage plans find all kinds of medical issues that you (might) have and they tend to upgrade the reported severity of those issues. The net result is that it cost Medicare more for Advantage plans than for traditional Medicare.

Mike

[Patty Hann]

Consider buying a carehome policy. If you get too bad it pays for a care home and services. I can not remember the actual name of the policy type. A decent care home will run 3,000-5,000 a month and up. This insurance is not medicare covered at all. It is a stand alone policy. Most payout a max of 3-5 years. The average patient who has to go into a old folks home lives three years there.
My mother lived there three years gradually needing more and more help. as more staffing was needed the payout went up. I twas never nough to cover the full cost. Cost her estate about 1,000-1,500 a month more then the insurance paid.
Bill D
Bill D

"Long term Care Insurance".
I have something along this line from Pacific Life: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/life-...m-care-hybrid/

[Stan Calow]

We had long term care insurance for a while, before the rates jumped up dramatically as we got older. I think it's best not to think of it as medical insurance, but as insurance for your income & savings. It doesnt directly pay for medical services, just provides you some money to pay for some nursing home care so you dont have to pay out of pocket.