I went to a number of seminars presented by providers and brokers. Avoid the brokers. They will try to steer you toward those plans that pay them the highest spiff.

Good luck!

I just sent an email to my financial guy and I'm sure he'll help me sort through it.

But asking for the wisdom of DU'ers is always good.

I'm off to look now.

And smack myself for not thinking of it myself.

Medicare Part A will pay for hosptial care.
will NOT pay for the Dr. care in the hospital
There is a 1500.00 deductible
But Part A is free, no charge to you.

Medicare B will pay for that Dr. in the hospital
and for tests
and for outpatient services ( like x-rays, screenings, Dr. visits)
There is an annual 140.00 deductible.
Part B will cost you a monthly premium, which usually increases every year.
The first 6 months you are on Medicare B you get free screenings for colorectal cancer and some other things, no deductilbe, no co-pay.
Some Medicare Part B providers charge co-pays, but it can never be more than 115% of what Medicare pays.

Medicare D....pays for prescriptions. The law was written by insurance companies, thus the infamous "donut hole"
Only you know if your current or expected prescriptions are expensive enough to pay for supplemental insur.

Most prescriptions can be bought in generic form for 10.00 for 30.00 day supply at Wal-Mart and some other pharmacies.

you should be getting the thic book Medicare 2012 in the mail. They send one out every year around this time.
Plus, of course, you can type ANY Medicare question into Google and find dozens of pages of answers.

Does this help?

And explains a lot.

You should be writing the copy for Medicare and the ratbag for profit insurers.

Oh, and doing the Google - Never anything as clear and elegant as what you wrote.

Which involved years of having to understand the complicated stuff.

In this case, we are also on Medicare, and I just got a refund from them because my hospital over charged me.

Medicare and Soc. Sec., for my money, are pretty good at listening, and at giving information, once you get past the double speak and know how to ask the right questions.