I'm over 65 but I'm still working (probably always will be) and earning and I have private medical insurance. That private medical costs approximately $2500/month, including "employer" portion (but I'm the employer).
So, I am thinking there might be a better way. I've talked to a few people recently and they have said:
(1) I CAN go on Medicare while working...it will probably cost me about $650/month.
(2) If I do that, I CAN go back to full private insurance under my company group plan if I don't like the result under Medicare.
(3) I SHOULD either add private insurance to Medicare benefits. Either a private "Advantage" plan or a private "Supplemental" plan.
(4)I'm told Advantage is cheaper but restricts doctor access to whatever the insurer has in their fold. Advantage makes hassling with paperwork go away.
(5)I'm told Supplemental is BETTER, with "all doctors in the country" available -- but can create a paperowrk nightmare. I'm also told a Supplemental plan may handle both travelling all around the US PLUS foreign doctor needs, IF I CAN FIND THE RIGHT PLAN?
(6) My eventual plan is, in fact, to spend MOST of my time escaped from this US nightmare, using mostly foreign, high-end, expat medical services. Living here isn't good for my mental health...However, I don't know when I will be able to escape. And under certain chronic conditions I may be forced to retreat back to US medical.
(7) So, to underscore, I am not aiming for maximal cheap. I AM MOSTLY CONCERNED ABOUT CATASTROPHIC INSURANCE. I am unusually healthy absent, and probably because of, one chronic condition I've managed pretty well for most of my life. I figure outside the country I can probably find, and afford, BETTER care than inside this rats-nest socialist/fascist country. I don't want to just waste money, which is what I think I am currently doing, but I don't want to find out I've moved out of the frying pan into the fire, either.
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Questions:
(I)Do my basic understandings comport well with what you guys know/have experienced? Please suggest corrections/refinements/additional info.
I find this rats-nest of Socialized/Fascist medicine hard to understand, much less trust. I'm surprised there aren't good books or private, reliable information resources which cut incisively to the bone?
(II) Recommendations on Advantage and Supplemental plans you think are best or ... best to avoid?
(III) Anything else you know, or wish you'd known, which I should probably know? I've heard that many good doctors won't be eager to see me if I go on Medicare. I've also heard that is untrue. What is your experience and sense?
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