Which Employer medicare insurance?

[thatguy]

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.

 

[Bamaman]

I would go with her company's program, and purchase a Part D separately.

We're being bombarded with advertising and phone calls offering the Advantage plans. It sounds so great on paper but may not be so great in reality as they work like HMO's. Not all hospitals and not all really great doctors participate in Advantage plans.

My wife has had numerous medical procedures in 3 different states, and she prefers to call the shots on who her doctors are and which hospitals to go to. So we're sticking with the expensive Plan F for the upcoming year.

You're just so fortunate that your wife is so healthy--at least for now.

 

[thatguy]

I found some info about medigap plans F,K,G,L,N,M,C,B,D,A, people are referring to.

So basically it's a choice between a offered medigap plan or a advantage plan.

The advantage plan pays for glasses up to an amount. The medigap pays only for the exam.
I'm inclined to think the advantage plan is better but the medigap plan might require less copays for the less than catastrophic stuff.

DW would loose my advantage plan if she remarries.
If she looses one plan she can still join the other. I think there are papers that must be filed to preserve that option.