TexasCHLforum.com

Looks like I may be the odd man out on this so I'll share my experience.

I'm on an advantage plan through Aetna. My premiums are ridiculously low (pubic forum, not sharing here). I had a multi-day hospital stay in 2017 that cost me a couple of hundred dollars. My drugs (4) are all classed as Tier 1 and I get them in 90 day supplies through CVS for $0 co-pay on the advantage plan (no separate plan d) I even went with a doctor who is "out of network" on my plan. I pay every time that I see him. In the past three years, I've paid less than a third of what I was paying on my monthly premiums before I switched to the advantage. I got flu shot, etc covered. The new shingles vaccine cost me $160 per dose.

My wife, who has had many medical issues from knee replacements to cancer is on standard Medicare and the UHC/AARP plan F with an Express Scripts plan D. Her combined premiums are 10X mine. Her she takes some of the same medications but none of hers are tier 1 and her co-pays range from $12-75 per medicine per 90 days. She has one drug that costs us $350 for the first period and $75 every 90 days afterward each year. Her plan gave her a $140 copay for the shingles shots.

Our combined premiums are over $3k per year and we average that much in doctor costs. Because of her history, I was paying $1,100 a month under my previous employer's plan and there were lots of co-pays. I cannot afford to change plan her because, unlike the non-Medicare plans, there is not provision for uninsurable coverage with the Medicare supplements and she could be in a position where none of them would take her. I'm going year to year. If it looks like I'm going to have more trouble than I do not, I'll pick up a standard plan/supplement on renewal.