Which Employer medicare insurance?
DW will soon be 65 and sign up for Part A & B medicare. She's gonna delay social security till later, probably age 70.
She has not yet needed any medical care and takes no prescription drugs.
We have to pick from 2 available company employee/retiree insurance plans. Pre medicare we had her on both. One was secondary to the other.
The premedicare plans end. We have to pick one for age 65 on medicare
She has a insurance plan available from her company, from which she retired, that is secondary to medicare, has $0 copays for many, maybe all, things, does not cover drugs, but will reimburse up to $40 for a part D. We have a 3 page summary of this plans coverage. It's $38/mth
She also has a plan available to spouses of retirees from the company I retired from. It's a medicare advantage plan. It has some $20 copays for some things, $40 for some and $0 for a lot of preventative stuff. Drugs are covered. There's a $1250 maximum out of pocket/year. We have a 54 page summary of this advantage plan. It's $50/mth
I'm older, have made significant use of this advantage plan for some surgeries, tests, treatments, & followups. I had to pay out about $1200 after a surgery. I get a few bills for small amounts like $6 or $11.
DW thinks her employer might have more long term stability because they are a public gas/electric utility. Mine is a steel mill.
These plans are complicated. I've called and asked questions. I don't think I know all the right things to ask to pick the best plan. Both have some kind of coverage for skilled nursing care facility. That sounds like a big deal to me. It's 3 lines on a chart on my advantage plan and I only have a verbal statement over the phone on the other plan.
Anyway we have to pick one or the other.
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