"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...

On 9/16/13 6:51 PM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 9/16/13 5:47 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...

On 9/16/13 4:31 PM, Boating All Out wrote:
In article ,
says...


I am going to be on the bleeding edge of this because IBM chucked
us
into exchanges.

Florida isn't exactly good place to be with this.
Not sure of all the details, but I've seen "things" on the
internet.
Your governor putting up roadblocks to exchange enrollment doesn't
help.
A Richard suggested, this isn't set up well for higher income
folks.
But that's really only if they choose the type of "golden" plans
which
do what you don't like - remove out-of-pocket costs.
I expect the premiums on those type plans will subsidize "lesser"
plans.
Many of the issues people whine about should and could be
addressed if
the degenerate Congress wasn't...degenerate.
Good luck to you.
You've got an absolutely great head start - Medicare.
So you're only talking about a supplemental.
You can commiserate with Mr. Krause about the big evil corporation
stripping your company benefits.


Awwwww. My health plan benefits aren't changing, nor is my premium
going
up, though I do plan to switch to Medicare and a Supplemental at my
next
birthday. It's not easy to figure out which Supplementals provide
the
widest and deepest coverage. My monthly health care premiums will
be
going...down.

---------------------------

Don't bet on that. I'll bet you will find that Medicare with a
decent
supplemental plan will be close to whatever you are paying now.
I've been talking to those slightly ahead of me in years (I turn 65
and
am eligible for Medicare in another year). All have told me that
their
monthly premium cost didn't change much.






Hmmm. Medicare B with a Humana supplemental will run me about $200 a
month. Right now I'm paying close to $900 a month for my union plan.
My
union plan requires me to pay a $10 copay for doctor's office
visits,
and $5 for generic prescriptions, and discounts non-generics 80%. I
had
a cataract operation two months ago, and my out of pocket cost was
under
$100. I'll have to spend some real time investigating all this.


I'm sure there is more to this, but I still think my monthly outlay
will
go down.

------------------------------

You may be right. I need to investigate this more as well. It just
dawned on me that the last person I talked to who became eligible for
Medicare last year *may* be paying for Medicare Part "A" for him and
his wife. That would be roughly a $900 per month. Add a Part "B"
supplement at $200 and he's up to close to what we are paying now for
direct, private insurance. If your employment over the years
contributed to Medicare, Part "A" is supposed to be free. His may
not have.