For fun, I plugged all my meds into a comparison tool at the Medicare.gov web page.
My total cost (for the rest of the year) including premiums and copays ranges from about 1650 to 4800. The higher cost versions tend to be those with lower monthly premiums, so might be a good choice for someone who is not on a lot of prescriptions.
The cost for getting them via mail-order is UNIVERSALLY several hundred dollars MORE than getting them locally - which is baffling.
Looking at preferred pharmacies, it’s a crapshoot as to whether pharmacy 1 or pharmacy 2 is cheaper - so as noted upthread, you may do best by sending them to different pharmacies. One preferred pharmacy is universally MORE than a non-preferred pharmacy.
The mind boggles.
One of my meds (Ozempic) shows something like 500/year on one plan, and 1200/year on another. That may indicate that it is simply not covered under the other plans - but there’s no real indication of that, which is frustrating.
My Fortune 500 employer included a short letter about medical coverage as part of the normal retirement package. They need to to do it for everyone, so it’s not a surprise to them.
The smaller and less organized your employers the more this might be a surprise to them. But the more accessible they are to ask Jane or whoever how they do that.
FYI, even if working or covered by your spouse who’s still working past your age 65 it’s normal and expected to sign up for the no-cost Part A as you approach age 65 to take effect, but only as secondary coverage, upon turning 65.
Actually that would be a little tricky right now. We have a high-deductible health plan, and are dumping every penny we legally can into our HSA.
And it turns out, we cannot contibute to an HSA for me (even though it’s my husband’s account) if I’ve got any kind of Medicare. So we would have to slash our HSA contributions (I assume that adding Medicare for me would qualify as a “life event” to allow my husband to make that change). It wouldn’t benefit us financially to have Medicare, and we’d lose out on 4,150 in HSA contributions. We do usually manage to pay much of our out of pocket expenses actually OOP, rather than using the HSA funds.
Yes, it would kick in and potentially pay for some of the deductible, but only if I were hospitalized (which, obviously, I hope will not happen).
This is something we need to put some thought into. Something I read suggests that when I do apply for Medicare, it’s basically back-dated 6 months (presumably only if I’m older than 65+6). If that happens and we’ve been saving in an HSA during that time, we need to withdraw any money saved during that time, treat it as taxable income, and any income it has earned - or pay a significant penalty. In any case, we’ll need to put some thought into, possibly, switching to a non-HDHP plan next year. I don’t know if it’s POSSIBLE to tell Medicare “do not backdate my coverage!”.
I hope my husband’s employer would provide a letter that covers both of us, when the time comes.
Another question: For Part D (drug plans): is there any underwriting if you want to switch plans during the annual open season? I’m on enough meds now that I’d want to opt for a higher-premium, better coverage plan from day 1; a friend barely takes anything and might be served in the short term by a lower-premium plan, but what if she develops health issues?
I have zero info on HDHP vs Medicare, so ignore my comments ref Part A. If I’d ever been in a position to have an HDHP I’d have done as you did/do and just treated it as an additional form of IRA/401K.
My understanding is that Part D has no underwriting.
No, I don’t believe so. You enter your list of drugs, your preferred pharmacies, and you’re presented with all the various plans available to you, with the annual cost of each plan. That cost includes the cost of each drug, plus the yearly premium.
I’ve changed plans twice in six years, with no issues. Just have to make sure that your pharmacy has your updated insurance info once your new plan takes effect.
And don’t forget that things like Good Rx can save you money even over your Part D plan.
Plus, if you use something like Good Rx, the cost isn’t reported to your insurance carrier and so won’t count towards the “doughnut hole.” (Which will have major changes anyway come next year.)
So now it’s my time to sign up for Medicare. I reached age 64 last month. Of course, I’ve been bombarded with ads for Medicare seminars ever since I started to let the gray show in my hair. But, as they say, shit’s getting real now.
Did anybody here take one of those seminars and find it useful? Or are they all just trolling for customers? I have health issues so I’ll be signing up for supplement, not advantage. Also, do I go notify them that I’m at the age or will they notify me? I was homeless for a bit and am still not getting all the usual mail.
Ignoring for a moment your USPS mail issues, Medicare will send you notices out the wazoo about signing up for part A & B which they administer.
Choosing any drug plan (Part D) or supplement (Part E or higher) is all on you. Lots of advertising will come, but you sign up with the commercial vendor you choose and they notify Medicare of your choices.
Switching back to mail problems …
If you have USPS snail-mail problems you really need to get yourself an online account for both Social Security and for Medicare. They’re separate. But once you have both then both bureaucracies will switch to emailing you and leaving messages on their portal for you. USPS is no longer in your critical must-succeed path.
As to seminars I did not bother. But I have read extensively and bought and read these folk’s books which I highly recommend:
If you’re skint you will probably find this in your local public library.
Every state has a state-sponsored nonprofit informational organization that gives seminars on the different coverages. In my state, it’s called SHIBA. In Massachusetts, it’s called SHINE. Look it up for your state.
Don’t go to the seminars put out by insurance companies. Obviously, they’re trolling for customers. Nobody needs a free pasta dinner that badly.
Here’s the locator site for finding your state’s SHIP-State Health Insurance Program.
Federally required and subsidized, run at state level with trained and certified impartial advisors that will customize and individualize all your options and help you get signed up for what will serve you best. Your tax dollars at work! They are not agents, they don’t get commissions, unlike all the purported experts who bombard you with offers to ‘help’ you at seminars. Those people are trolling for customers and they’ll advise you to sign up for what puts the biggest commission in their pocket.
Have a list of your prescriptions on hand, they can even help you chose which Part D drug plan covers your drugs with the lowest cost (each year you can chose a different Part D).
OTOH, the quality of the SHIPS program varies wildly from state to state. Where she lives they are well-funded, well-trained, and responsive. Where I live they are none of those things.
YMMV, and I definitely endorse trying them out. But don’t start out expecting miraculous hand-holding. If you get that, bravo for you and two thumbs up. But if not, don’t be too surprised.
And if your SHIP is a sad excuse, a fall back that might be able to give impartial advice and guidance is your local Area Agency in Aging. Also impartial, etc.
I did and I did. But, and this is critical, the seminar I went to was from an independant company, not one of the insurers. Their compensation came from signing me up, no matter what I chose.
In my case they did a great workup comparing my wife’s insurance to a G plan supplement. Turned out to be identical unless I had a catastrophic condition in which case the G plan had a lower out of pocket.
But what decided me was that the G plan paid for what my doctor (and that’s any doctor who accepts Medicare) said was “medically necessary” so long as Medicare covered the treatment. IOW, I don’t have to deal with getting an insurance company’s approval or using their network of doctors.
Bottom line is that they’re like the SHIPS program, I guess, but more convenient and good quality–for me.
I didn’t go to a seminar, but I did make an appointment with such a company.
My rep showed me which company was the cheapest, but then also pointed out that the second-cheapest would be better the following year, when my wife became eligible. The ‘family’ discount would then start to save us money.
Fast forward five years, when our insurer raised our rates by double-digits percentage 3 years in a row. I went back to the company, and our rep figured out what was happening. Short story is that she was able to switch us to a different insurer at far cheaper premiums; the only ‘underwriting’ that was done was a written questionnaire.
I’m not sure that SHIP would have been able to help us accomplish the switch so easily. I have, however, used the SHIP services for Part D, the prescription insurance, with good results.
What a bunch of crap. “Oh, these people are actually using the services that we said we’d cover. Time to drop these folks because it’s now costing us money.”
What I’m afraid will happen is that the people who have lost coverage will now try to get supplemental insurance. And if they’re sick or have other pre-existing conditions, they will either not be able to get insurance or have to pay exorbitant premiums.