DH and I have both had Advantage plans since we were eligible for Medicare. Here's how it works in our state: We still pay the Part B Medicare premium (about $100 per month) which is deducted from our SS checks. Then we each pay another $59 for Advantage, which is also deducted (we had a choice to pay it separately or have it deducted). We have co-pays for almost everything (except certain preventive procedures and a physical each year), with a cap of $3,400 each year. Some Advantage plans have dental and vision included. The benefits are often more than what is offered by Medicare Part B. A couple of years ago, we were thinking of moving 65 miles away and the very same Advantage plan would have cost us another $70 per month, each, just living in another county. Some years we have had a $0 co-pays. Then that company stopped offering Advantage plans. Our first year, we were in a plan with no cap and DH had unexpected surgeries, MRSA, and we had co-pays of well over $4,000. So, I learned to check out whether there was a cap and how high it was. We have always subscribed to plans where we could go to whatever doctor we chose (a very few refuse Medicare patients and one year, doctors refused the plan - that had $0 monthly premium and $0 co-pays - so I ended up enrolling, within 90 days of when the plan started, in a different plan that doctors would accept). It's very complicated as it takes several hours each year, online, of comparing plans for what we think will work best for us. Part D is even worse as DH takes over 10 meds. But, overall, it's much, much better than any health insurance we had before reaching age 65 (we had to enroll in private plans for about 6 years before being eligible for Medicare).

Just thought I would report back that I looked into Bankers Fidelity and for me it is $205 a month for Plan F and $141 for Plan G. Plan F is an "issue age plan" and G is an "obtained age plan". I called the company and a very annoying local insurance agent called me back. Actually she seemed to know her stuff but her manner was annoying. I think AARP is going to be hard to beat. I downloaded and printed a booklet called Choosing a Medigap Policy and it is very helpful. It makes things clear and has great advice about what to ask an insurance agent if you choose to buy from one. It's on the medicare.gov site. Maybe my research will help the next person and it certainly helps me to bounce these questions off all of you!

chisue, understand the lesser of two evils. They use prednisone for my disease too. Thankfully, I've never been bad enough to have to use it on a daily basis. I'm allergic to one of the main drugs to treat my disease so if my current drugs really stops working I will have no choice but to take those awful , dangerous and expensive drugs. Hopefully it will never come to that. I have one older brother that did not move to the States when my family moved and so I've really been thinking about how much easier it was for him to retire in Canada. No jumping through all these hoops to figure out how to get his health care needs covered. Emma, what I understand is that they don't have to insure you if you have had a gap in insurance and are outside the 6 month open enrollment. Our situation was a little confusing to these insurers because our medicare part A automatically kicked in at 65 and our B took effect two years later when my husband turned 67. So they carelessly were just looking at the date part A kicked in and assumed we'd had a two year gap in coverage. Some asked if we'd been on cobra. They were asking for proof of insurance until I reminded them that medicare B was just starting and we were within the 6 month open enrollment. The drug plan still said that if I had not been covered they would have raised my premium.Not sure if that is legal under the 6 month open enrollment, but I didn't research it anymore sine it didn't apply to me. In my case, if I went without and then ended up going on one of those $3000 a month drugs and then decided at that time to get part D, no one would be too excited to insure me . And you can bet if one of my drugs was $3000 a month and they agreed to insure me, my premium would be pretty hefty. Our total costs for the two of us are around $480 a month United(AARP) is $116.78 for me, $121.94 for my husband. It is community based which means they can't raise your premium just because you are a year older. It goes up according to your zip code. In my state there were only two options for community based or issue age --the two that can't be raised because you are a year older. All the others were attained age which will go up for each year older you get. Then medicare B is $99.90 for each of us. I'm paying $27 for my part D and my husband picked the cheapest for 15 a month. I didn't figure it was as important to get the perfect plan with drug because it apparently is easy to change at the end of the year if what you picked didn't work out so well. It just seemed to me that there was a real learning curve to getting this all arranged. Dedtired, I'm confused why you would be paying 300 a month for medicare part B or something else?? something doesn't sound right.

@sushipup2 you are probably right. I can't remember exactly what dad had; sadly he passed away a few years ago. I believe he did have vision coverage. We have vision care through my former employer but not dental insurance. What was offered through work did not cover our (wonderful) dentists, and I would rather pay than change. So, I guess we'll be used to that if need be, when we go on Medicare.