General Discussion

sign up to add a supplemental policy at any sign up period (Nov.) so you can put off deciding without penalty. I think there are a couple of states that do the same.

Wife and I are healthy with no meds. We put off getting a Supplemental plan until just this year, when we each turned 73. We saved $2400/yr for 7 years by doing this. Now, if something comes up, the supplemental at about $100/mo. each, will cover the 20% Medicare doesn't. Hopefully we won't need it, but chances are higher now as we age. Also our savings have grown because of the recent market run up and so funds were available that weren't 7 years ago.

We started the Med D drug coverage with the cheapest plan offered ($20/mo each just to avoid the 10% premium penalty if we waited. We heard from many that even basic drugs were very costly and didn't want to be hammered. Neither or us has benefitted from those polices so far.

I believe the Advantage plans are not available to people in Mass now unless you were on one when you started Medicare. Those plans seem to require use of "In network" service providers and if you are not in an area that has them, trouble. This should be considered if you think a move in retirement is in the cards. Many people do change their address as they want to move to be near kids or to get into better climate or to an income tax free state.

Big consideration seems to be smoking and over weight problems. These issues affect people the most and we have not had problems because of that. The Doctors pretty much can tell if you have smoked or not just by seeing what problems you have. So this would be consideration in deciding if you need more or less coverage. That is no way saying we are not all subject to accidents and a list of hundreds of medical issues, but Medicare will most likely keep you out of bankruptcy court and so protecting your assets would be what you are looking at. If you don't have any assets to lose, all the more reason to not bother with the extra coverage and plan on moving to Medicaid when you finally are broke.