Marie, it's only me and for years I had dental discount stuff and it worked out good. There was a time when I remember my part of dental cleaning was $16.00 but for at least the last 10+ yrs I've taken full control of my mouth and have not seen a dentist in all this time. My toothpaste and the other stuff I use and Big Reduction in sugar and carbs...big big big, and rinse my mouth with H202 before I go to sleep. ...
Another thing that is closely related to the topic of medicare and health insurance (at least to me), is having what they call an advance directive. This is different than having a will, and you do not need an attorney, it is just information as to what you want to happen if you are unable to make decisions about your life and health for some reason. For example, say you had a stroke and were in the hospital and in a coma. Would you want to be put on the equipment that does the breathing and stuff like that to keep you alive, life support ? This is kind of a 2-edged thing, at least to me. If I were injured and the paramedics have to shock my heart to start it back up, I am fine with that; but if my heart is giving out and i am dying in the hospital, then I just want to be left to die in peace. The main thing is that I do not want, is for my family to have to make a decision to take me off of life support, because i know how hard that would be for any of them to have to do. So I do not want to get there in the first place. Anyway, Humana sent me information about an online advance directive, and it is free and easy to fill out. I downloaded the app onto my phone, so if I had to go to the hospital, it can be accessed right from my phone. It looks to me like anyone can use this, even if you do not have Humana advantage plan. Here is the link to the website : https://mydirectives.com/
My Advantage Plan doesn't include a great dental plan, but I don't know if any of them do. For vision, all I've needed so far are periodic checks, new prescriptions, and new glasses, and it pretty much pays for that. My wife needed more extensive vision care. I don't remember what it was because it involved needles in her eye periodically, and I didn't want to listen. I know that her Advantage Plan paid a portion of that, but I don't know how much.
Most of the surgical-procedure type eye stuff is covered by medical and not vision, Ken. When I had the retinal bleed last year all the visits to the ophthalmologist were billed to my medical coverage.
I wasn't going to post anything because I forgot why I chose the Medigap (regular supplemental insurance) instead of Advantage in the first place. But I looked up a few things out of curiosity recently. The Advantage plans are government subsidized. The insurance companies get a lump sum for every enrollee in an Advantage plan. Medigap policies are not. So there are some additional regulations imposed on the insurance companies for Advantage plans. This is just what I read, so take it for what it's worth: If you are fairly healthy, Advantage is a great plan because of very low to no premiums. But if you have to go to a doctor often, the copays and deductibles can add up. It might be hard to budget ahead if you are on a very tight budget. Also if you get very sick there is a maximum out of pocket cost per year. That maximum is set by the government (a good thing, imo), not the insurance company. Medigap policies usually don't cover prescription drugs. You get a second bill for Rx drugs from another company. That can add up also. Choosing a doctor in an Advantage network is usually not a problem with your PCP, but could be for specialists if you live in an area where there aren't many choices. It's easy to switch to an Advantage plan later, if you choose a regular Medigap policy at first and don't like it. But the other way around there may be a penalty. Bottom line for me: I chose Medigap because there was a plan that covered copays and deductibles. The insurance plan at the place I worked had the copays and deductibles, and I didn't want anyone else who might have to handle my affairs one day to have to deal with them. Silly reason maybe, but when I had to handle health related affairs for my parents, their Medigap insurance was easy to deal with, compared to the one I had a work.
I just chose the AARP plan on United Health Care because you can choose any doctor and zI'm tired of having to find a doctor because ZI changed my plan. I have an excellent ophthalmologist who gave me a complimentary visit because my health plan didn't recognize her. She had recommended that I have lassie surgery and found a surgeon that accepted my health plan. I just had the surgery in one eye and will have the second in 2 weeks. With the first one done the deficiency in the undone one became more noticeable.....I'm currently waiting on a new Kidney doctor, ZZI had an appointment with one yesterday who'd been taking care of me for several years. When I got to see him yesterday, he said I need to cover my nose and mouth with the mask..I told him that I can't breath with one on and I can't hear hime when he has one on....He had a mask and face shield...I told him that if he insisted on masks, I'm leaving.....He protested but didn't remove mask..So I left.
We've changed doctors and dentists a few times since we've had Advantage plans and, so far, we haven't come across anyone who wouldn't accept our Advantage plan. This might be because Maine has an aging population.
I am reading through the new information for Humana for 2023, and it looks like they are adding more upgrades, up to $5,000 for dental, plus more for the OTC, and a spending allowance that replaces the Healthy Benefits food card, and can be used for more than just food now, up to around $3,000 annually, depending on the plan.
I do know that when I first became eligible for Medicare, I had the idea that the choices that I made would be a whole lot more important than they were. In practice, if I found that I was paying more than I wanted to for something, I could simply change the next year if I wanted to, and even earlier, in some cases.
I have had a supplement plan with BCBS and a Part D plan since I "retired" in October of 2020. I had an issue last month and was hospitalized and it seems as though the hospital - which is part of a large system - shared all my contact info with several Advantage plans - they have been all over me like ugly on an ape! I've sent for some info on one of the plans. I am concerned that the devil is in the details, but I probably won't get down to what I really want to know until I talk to some high-pressure salesman. Thanks for starting this thread - I will be following it.