On Monday, April 5, 2021 at 11:45:21 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Mon, 5 Apr 2021 22:33:48 -0400, "John Grossbohlin"
wrote:

wrote in message ...

On Fri, 2 Apr 2021 22:45:43 -0400, "John Grossbohlin"
wrote:

As long as inflation stays moderate we will probably be OK. With all the
deductions for insurance, savings, retirement plan, and commuting costs
going away I'm ahead for now. I'll have to reassess every year... I
haven't
figured out how to predict the future so I cannot do it now!

Well, insurance is still there. That can be expensive. My drugs,
alone, are a fortune. List is around $1K/mo. They're relatively cheap
now because of rebate cards but that all goes away with Medicare. The
drug plans (Part-D) aren't all that great. I still have a lot to
figure out about Medicare. It's almost like it was designed by
politicians.

The insurance situation certainly varies across people. For someone who is
healthy and doesn't take maintenance meds a free basic Managed Medicare plan
that includes pharmacy can suffice for a long time. Later on if the health
situation changes the plan can be changed during open enrollment. For
someone with chronic health problems who takes multiple maintenance drugs it
can get real expensive for sure.
I have a couple (three?) of drugs that are $1000 to $1500 for 90days.
Now, I have discount cards that pay much of the cost that my insurance
doesn't cover. For one, the cost is $1500/90 days, my co-pay is $120,
and it costs me $30 out of pocket. With Medicare all of that goes
away. Medicare Part-D helps until the donut-hole, which for me is
about March. Then it's going to cost about $5K for the next quarter.
My choices get real, fast.

Have you looked into the Managed Medicare plans? Some give you the
opportunity to have premiums rebated through various programs.

I'm certainly not interested in an HMO. Not a chance. I am
considering a PPO Advantage plan but, again, that only works if I
never plan on moving. I'm in my employer's PPO now but while I'm
working I would take that wherever they would move me.

The problem with Medicare is that the decision is pretty much a one
time thing. Sure you "can change at any time" but the fine print says
"underwriting may be necessary". IOW, forget it.

Why do you feel that a blanket CYA statement that uses the word "may"
is actually a "forget it" clause?

Lots of contracts have verbiage that protects one party or the other against
that one-off case that just doesn't fit the norm. All it does is give them an out
under certain, usually limited, circumstances.

Have you actually been told - by someone official - that you can't make changes
over the years? Any stats as to what percentage of change requests end up being
denied by an underwriter?

I know people that use Medicare plan brokers who hold seminars before every
open enrollment period - for their existing clients - presenting the options available
for the upcoming year. Why would they do that if everyone is simply going to be
told "forget it"?