If Covid Lockdowns and ForeverWar Policies aren't enough to convince one their Gubermint is an Insane Dictatorship, Signing Up for Medicare "Benefits" Should convince you. ESPECIALLY IF YOU DIDN'T SIGN UP BY AGE 65. Now, why would a gubermint program PUNISH people severely, FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES, if they don't sign up, ON TIME, for a supposed "benefit"? Where have we seen this sort of perverse activity before? Oh, now I remember! Covid mandates!
Now that I am almost 78 years old, and have moved to a new land, where my old private insurance is "out of network" all the time, I have decided to sign up for Medicare.
I didn't do it when I was 65 because I didn't want it and was seriously confused by the vagueness, the vagaries, complexities, restrictions and endless "gotchas" of navigating the morass at that time. I generally try to hew to a hard learned policy: if the government strongly encourages me to do something, I ought not to do it! The more they obfuscate, deny, and prod, the more concerned I get.
I am interested in forum members sharing:
(a) what type of plan they have
(b) from whom
(c) why
(d) biggest / most important lessons learned, whether from doing a lot of study or making mistakes.
If there is a good story or two, then bonus points!
This is definitely a sick system designed by sick minds. It is loaded with potentially lifelong, economically savage, PENALTIES for not goosestepping properly, not signing up on time, or otherwise not reading the 10 million pages of fine print from the gubermint and 10 billion leeches hoping to make money off of you!
I started off thinking about a Supplement plan, then an "Advantage" HMO, then another HMO, then back to Supplement, now an "Advantage" PPO. They are all squirrelly, with exemptions, exceptions, caps, dangerous sinkholes, "bonus" features (e.g., some have dental and sneakers, some drive me to therapy or psychiatrists, some PAY ME at the end of the year with coupons I can redeem for things like vitamins and enemas, etc. Some cover some drugs. Some don't cover some drugs. Some have deductibles with lots of paperwork and some say they don't have as much. Etc.
I realized yesterday that I don't want "sick care" but to care for my health (of which I still, surprisingly, mostly have). I want a GREAT primary care doctor (if such can be found, in a system which punishes anyone who tries to go into general medicine / family practice and, especially, if they DARE to treat their patients with compassion, more than 10 minutes of time, or any thoughtfulness/creativeness.
Sigh. Oh, God, why was I born in Hell? I don't want to be here! Dying wouldn't be quite so bad if it would only go quick, and I would only stay dead!
P.S. I have an appointment for a fateful phone call at 1pm. I am THINKING I will get an Humana "Advantage" PPO with a $10/month extra charge (in addition to whatever I have to pay to the government, I guess, by way of Medicare ABCD. And EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY&Z. And various penalties and copays.
I've heard, repeatedly, that once I sign up I become ineligible for all manner of treatment options I otherwise could get on a good, wholly consensual, private plan.
I was going to go with a Supplemental, instead of an "Advantage" but I worried I might want the "Advantage" of having drugs to go along with my doctors; useless things like "dental care", "vision checkups", etc. (Why would any gubermint think things like teeth might be important to keep and might impact health at least a profoundly as, say, vaccines and statins?
Ok. Ok. Where did you guys end up, what have you learned, and what do you advise me to do?
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