This is what I have: Medicare part A zero cost Medicare part B 98.00 Medicare part D drugs 70.50 (through BC/BS) Medicare Part B supplement 141.00 (through BC/BS) total 309.50 Zero copays so far. Have not been hospitalized so I don't have any experience with that but I have only had to pay small amounts for drugs since retirement. Most of my drugs are 4 or 5 dollars at Walmart. You can get coverage to supplement medicare through AARP. I think they use Humana. They can help you decide which plan to get based on your needs. I chose BC/BS because I only had to transfer over from my coverage at work with no interuption in service and I have preexisting conditions that I didn't want to have a hassle explaining to an new insurance company. My coverage does not include the coverage for out of country travel. The possiblity of my traveling on my limitd income is nonexistant so I couldn't see paying for that but I did get the next best plan as I have two autoimmune diseases to contend with. If you are in better health there are a couple of lower priced plans to consider and AARP/Humana and BC/BS have people to help you make that decision. Note: IMHO the drug plan is a good idea to consider when you look at the price you would have to pay for them without it and if you had to have a non generic med.

I carried Healthspring about 5 years ago. It was great with 0 premiums until I was admitted to the hospital for an endoscopy of my throat and was surprised with a charge of $225 called a "facility fee". It was a charge I had to pay for the "use" of the room for the procedure. Healthspring is loaded with little surprizes like that. You will have a hard time finding those in your policy! I dropped them and went to BCBS.

Do you pay the premiums or does your hubby's retirement plan do so. I think the only way you can get the insurance is join, and I am surprised that a retirement plan would be able to offer such a plan. Please at least check you a local independant agent and/or like one poster said, with Social Security. You have some good suggestion here to help you out. As far as I know AARP does not offer insurance plans, but do offer supplements only, as Medicare, if you have it, is your primary provider. Is your husband's retirement a big company--small etc and what else do they provide (insist) the retires do. We are with Los Angeles County and we can choose anyone we want as our supplements. Please feel free to ask questions as we do have a lot of very knowlegable people here.

A few minutes ago I saw a post from about six weeks ago where someone asked if anyone had any advice about Medicare supplemental insurance. I am about 70% of the way through reading a Kindle book (price is $5.99) entitled Medicare Demystified: A Physician Helps Save You Time, Money, and Frustration, written by Ronald Kahan, an M.D. who specializes in Dermatology (although his specialty doesn't come into play in this.) I turned 65 last summer, and although I do have Medicare Part A (hospitalization), I do not have Medicare Part B (medical) because I am still covered by my husband's group insurance through his employment as a state employee. But, he is retiring soon and that means I will have to sign up for Medicare Part B. I, too, had a zillion questions and much confusion about Medicare supplemental insurance (also referred to as Medigap insurance). The state retiree system has a whole bunch of choices for Medigap insurance, and I wanted to ensure that I made an intelligent, informed choice. I highly recommend this book. No, you don't need a Kindle to read it. Amazon has free readers you can download onto virtually any device -- desktop computer, laptop, tablet, mobile phone, etc. This book clearly explains Medicare (often referred to as Original Medicare), including Parts A (Hospitalization), B (Medical), C (Medicare Advantage), and D (Drugs), as well as Medigap Insurance (Medicare Supplemental Insurance). It gives a lot of different scenarios and explains how they would affect you depending on which coverage you do or don't have. Considering the escalating costs of medical treatments, $6 is well worth it to avoid the angst and extra money paid out that would be the result of making the wrong choices.