I called the local office and was told that the congressman that WAS in our small town, is an attorney now...though it still has him on the Internet as the congressman for our county...Shows you how little I keep up with politics. The lady gave me a number to call our "new" congressman...Phil Gringey. Who's office is not located in our town. I spoke with a man briefly, mentioning the social security letter and medicare...He said that he would have to send us a form to fill out, to get our permission for them to "look into it." Social Security called yesterday and told us the "Reconsider" was turned down. That we could file an appeal to Waiver it...I said, Ok., and they'll send a paper to file out. Seems that you have 2 options after SS claims they overpaid you...One is that you want them to Reconsider the situation because you don't believe that you are at fault in any way...the other is a Waiver...that asks them to waive it because you're not financially able to pay it back. Doubt that is in our favor either...because I told the SS lady yesterday that I don't see how we can live on $229.00 a week...and she said, "Sure you can." I asked, How?...and she said, "Just sit down and go over what you owe, and you'll see that you can eliminate a few of them." She didn't say what "them" were. Eliminate what? water? phone? electricity? gas? insurance? food?

Depends on what you mean by "Major Medical" Some companies call a policy with a huge deductible,(several thousand) Major medical because it picks up and pays a certain percent after you have paid that deductable. Others will have a lot of restrictions. Some will pay only if you are in a hospital. At your age, you could get a regular policy with any on the main line companies like AARP, Blue Cross, New York Life. I think that would be your best bet and forget about any other type of policy. Decide what you need and don't need. Dental coverage is nice if you have terrible teeth, but isn't worth the cost if your teeth are in good shape. The same thing is true of things like organ transplants, and ambulance fees. Nice if you need them, but most likely you would not. Therefore, not worth the additional premium. When you reach 65, Medicare will pay 80% of the APPROVED amount and your insurance will pick up only the remaining 20%.

Been digging around and found this which pretty much answers my questions: Skip COBRA Conventional wisdom says that if you lose your job, you should go on COBRA right away. If you're healthy, you can almost certainly find an individual policy that offers better coverage for way less money. COBRA is meant to be a last resort, so only use it if you can't get real insurance. Don't elect COBRA until you need it Even if you can't find any other insurance options and need to use COBRA, you don't need to actually pay for it until you get sick. You have 60 days before you have to elect into COBRA and another 45 days after that before you have to pay. Once you elect, you receive retroactive coverage. So basically, don't elect until 60 days after you left the company, and don't ever pay unless you actually get sick and need the coverage (or if 105 days passes and you still don't have real insurance). With this loophole, you can be covered by COBRA for 105 days after losing your job without ever paying a dime. Here is a link that might be useful: Copied from this website

Gosh, I hate this whole procedure. I'm also seeing that medicare supplements are hugely more expensive for 2016. We've had Plan F high deductible in 2014 and 2015, paying under $100/month. Looks like more than DOUBLE for the same coverage next year -- and very little difference in premiums between high deductible and the comprehensive straight Plan F. I'm wondering if we will even GET a supplemental plan next year. I have yet to meet the deductible ($2800) after my hospital stay for pneumonia. (Medicare paid almost everything.) I'd have been better off not paying premiums! We have to do Part D (drug plan). Fun and games running the numbers of who will charge you less for any maintenance meds -- two for DH and one for me (Adviar, at $300/mo. retail). This is a cockamamie system we have in the US.