Hi! I am newly navigating retirement and am on original Medicare. I don't have any of the shiny benefits that friends on private Medicare Advantage plans have, so I'm trying to put together my own collection of wellness benefits through discounts that I find online. I'm looking for affordable dental care, healthy meal, and fitness programs specifically for those of us who are a little older. I'm not ready to join a boxing class but could do yoga, you know what I mean? I've been using the Chapter Retirement app to digitally store my insurance cards because I kept losing track of the physical ones. I saw they've started adding some wellness discounts for older folks. Looks promising. How does everyone else here supplement their Medicare coverage with non-medical wellness programs? What wellness subscriptions or memberships do you pay for that you find worth it? Which ones have you started thinking it was a good idea, but subsequently quit? Would love any and all insight on how to make retirement the healthiest era of my life
We are both on original Medicare as well. We also buy a yearly membership card with Aetna Dental & Vision that helps with payment for either. As for myself, I'm on both Medicare and VA Medical. Any ER visits/Hospital stays and any surgeries go thru Medicare and our Supplement. We have Humana for paying for non-VA medications. I have a VA doctor and get any/all medications from VA. Have not got a Medicare doctor yet. As far as any fitness programs, none. But, we do own a power boat and have the Wii Game to play in our living room.
Hello @June Johnson and welcome to the forum. Are you a brand new retiree? If so, congrats! I retired at 60 and have been on Medicare a couple of years now since turning 65. We have an Advantage plan so I don't have much to contribute to your thread. A few months ago I discovered that we could save over $700 a year on auto insurance by going through AARP, so it pays to check into senior discount programs for many things.
Did you take out a supplemental plan also when you started on Medicare? Our supplemental plan seems to have wellness perks but we have not looked carefully because we’re couch potatoes. Also, our GP belongs to a group that has some extras too but again, we have not paid much attention. I only know because they keep sending stuff about them.
There are many Medicare plans out there with a variety of tiers and benefits. You don't have to stay with any long term since there is an annual enrollment period, so keep looking around as long as you're covered now. I switched to a different one once I figured out what was available and how much I may need it.
Each fall is the annual enrollment options for medicare plans. We have an insurance agent who looks at the new programs each years and goes over them with us for what he thinks are the best plans for our needs. Both myself and my husband have had Medicare Advantage plans since we started on medicare, and would not change for anything, we have so many benefits, and everything medical (all of my heart procedures) have been completely covered with the advantage plan. I do not have any idea of what you might want to look at to supplement your plain medicare program, because most everything is included with our advantage plan.
I haven't seen an affordable plan that includes comprehensive dental care. My Advantage Plan pays a large amount of the cost for cleanings and checkups, but very little when it comes to any actual work that might need to be done.
I did, but I haven't heard of supplemental plans having that many perks. Isn't it funny how we leave so much value on the table because it feels like a pain to go find out what that value even is? What if they're offering you free fitness tracker watches or over the counter benefits or something? From one couch potato to another, I get it.
You should be able to change over to a better plan with more benefits when open enrollment starts this fall. If you have an insurance agent, he can help you find the best plan that includes the extra benefits you are asking about. Right now, we have Humana, and besides the regular medical coverage, we have prescription coverage. We also have coverage for eye exam/glasses, dental $2500 annually, Silver Sneakers fitness program, plus $125 (each) for OTC items and shopping or living expenses. There is a ride service to medical appointments if needed, as well as all of the regular medicare health checkups each year, like bone density, mammograms for women, colon cancer checks, and others that i don’t remember. If you can’t cook, they provide free meals, but I am not sure how that plan works, we have never needed it. If you do not have an insurance agent, it would be worth while to find one right away and plan for fall. The independent agents get all of the new medicare plans in July, so they can be ready to help you find the best plan when enrollment opens this fall.