Hi Elsa. My husband and I have been retired and on Medicare for five years now and I remember what a nightmare it was to go through all the choices. We didn't want a Medicare Advantage plan because it was like an HMO where you can't choose your doctors and might have to go out of network. They might pay some percentage of whatever you have done, but it depends on your plan.

The benefit of a Medicare Advantage plan is bundled services. When you choose that plan you get basic services, but if you have a serious health emergency, you're limited to the doctors in their network. They pay less for out of network doctors.

I went with a Part G Medigap policy from United Healthcare through AARP and have been very happy with it. It has worked out well for us, but every year we get older it costs more to afford this kind of coverage. Its not too much, like $25 a month more this year for both of us.  It beats having to deal with miscellaneous bills and all the aggravations associated with them.

It's so hard to navigate... I'm really hoping I can get my retiree insurance straightened out. If so, he can go with plain Medicare and we can pay for the other, which is a known quantity.

This stuff sounds good... ooh, dental and vision, included. But then you're dealing with high deductibles, co-pays and restrictions.  

It's just a (double) pain, sifting through this while working with my health insurance to uh... find my policy!

It is so unnecessarily complicated. I spent several months looking at options when my husband and I went on Medicare. You need at least Medicare parts A (covers hospitals) and B (covers doctor's office visits, outpatient care). Part B costs $174 a month in 2024. If you paid Medicare taxes for 10 years while working, there is no charge for part A. If you didn't pay Medicare taxes, there is a monthly charge for part A.

Medicare part D is drug coverage. If you choose not to sign up for this when you first go onto Medicare and maybe decide to do so at a later date, there will be a penalty charge added to your monthly premium. It isn't a one time penalty charge either. Its hard to believe they do this , but they do. The cheapest drug plan is called Wellcare where I live. My husband has that one and it costs $35 a month. He takes mostly generic drugs, so it works for him.

I take several brand name drugs and some of those part d plans didn't cover them, but United Healthcare did, so I went with that. Its expensive at almost $100 a month but the one drug I take costs $500 a month if I had to pay for it out of pocket. They cover about $375 of that. If you have special drugs you take its really important to find out if your drugs are covered and under what tier.

Everything is ala carte with regular Medicare. It has no dental coverage, but this site offers reasonable dental coverage if your dentist is in their plan. Its something a little different than insurance, but they offer nice discounts.

https://www.dentalplans.com/dentalplans/dpcompletecare/?zip=08822

I have a VSP plan for vision and I've used it for years. It costs about $22 a month, but my yearly eye exam is paid for and a good percentage of my new glasses. Its a great plan, and I'm had it for many years.

https://www.vsp.com/

I hope this helps. I remember what I went through when I signed up and it was just an awful experience.

@jofrance you did a great job getting all the details together. I just logged in to reply to Elsa’s questions and I would have written exactly what you’ve written. The one thing I would add is that you need to make a choice and stick to it. You can only change plans if you move. There may be other circumstances but that is the main one. 

We got the United Healthcare N plan because it had coverage if you travel out of the country. 

Mum had Medicare Advantage. We found the delays and snags with getting prior authorization for care to be burdensome. It was hard on her health. I have been on an HMO in the past and Advantage was far worse for unecessary delays and denial of needed care.

Wishing you the best with these decisions.