Look at the letter designation. Plans are standardized across the industry WRT what is covered. But individual companies can charge different amounts. Sounds like you want a "G" or "F" plan, and all you will pay is the once-a-year deductible, which was $240 in 2024 unless you are high income.

We have an AARP plan, which is administered by United Health Care.

I am looking into this right now because I want dental and vision coverage. DH has a Medicare Advantage plan through Blue Cross/Blue Shield that covers both and is paid for by the $174 deducted from Social Security for Medicare, so it's no extra charge to him. What I have found is that neither my eye doctor nor my dentist take AARP/United HealthCare but they do take BC/BS. BC/BS Medicare Advantage is what a physician friend and his wife have and recommended to him.

We haven't wavered from our Premera Blue Cross supplement. I think we may pay a little more in premiums than some do but we have no copays, no limits on who or where we can be seen, no deductibles. Living in a larger metropolitan area, I have no complaints at all about the Kaiser advantage my mother used but there are no HMO plans available to us living in this more rural county.

We don't have dental included in our plan. I have a separate dental plan purchased through an insurance broker for our dental. Truthfully, unless a year when something big might come up like the molar I replaced with an implant, I think we just about break even on it going twice a year for cleanings and checkups.

My sister prefers to take another direction and has plans for the two of them with very low premiums. Every time they are seen for something they have a copay and prices she pays for things like an annual full body skin exam can startle me sometimes. We pay nothing over the cost of our premiums.

All you can do is premium/plan shop. Not only do available plans vary from state to state but also in which county in that state you are living.

no such thing as no to low deductibles, and the insurance carriers are steamed about the new $2,000 deductble cap under the inflation reduction act.

Many of the smaller carriers are threatening to pull out so the government is going to pay them to stick with the program . We will be paying another $35 bucks a month, so it might be closer to $200 per month deducted from our soc sec., and that will go up $35 in 2026 and yet another $35 in 2027.

just in time for another election year. hang on.

AARP/United issues the most med advantage policies followed by the Blues and Humana. Aetna/CVS is among the top ten providers as well.

Be aware that Medicare Advantage plans, while they might cover dental/vision, are not the same as the supplement plans. They are INSTEAD of the supplement plans. And yes, they may look nice, but they will limit your choice of doctors and usually require pre-authorizations.

My husband says we are not using a Medicare Advantage plan, so that is out.

More important than dental / vision coverage is your drug coverage. Factor that into whatever supplement you decide on. My DH is retired military so we are eligible for Tricare for life - it is our supplemental insurance & also provides our drug coverage. It also pays our medicare deductible & since it’s a military retiree benefit, there’s no fee to us. We have original Medicare. If we use an advantage plan we wouldn’t use our Tricare supplemental as not needed. We didn’t / wouldn’t consider an advantage plan because each of them has contracts with major medical providers & often the provider won’t accept the new contract & so if you want to stay with same provider you must change to a different advantage plan the provider does acccept. It’s also becoming difficult to find providers who will accept original Medicare - some accept advantage plans only. I assume that’s based on the contracts for service they’ve worked out with the various advantage plans. Our medical provider is a major one for our city & they don’t accept original medicare for new patients but will accept for existing patients who had other acceptable insurance coverage & reached medicare age while still a patient. That’s my situation. Advantage plans do serve a purpose & are certainly more affordable for many since no supplemental plan needed. But, there is that almost annual contractual issue & we didn’t want to be forced to choose new insurance every year during open enrollments. The only HMO I’m aware of in my area is Kaiser which has their own advantage plan. People we know who use Kaiser have no issues for routine medical care since there are several very large clinics here in our city. However, there isn’t a Kaiser hospital here - the closest is in a larger city in another state - about a 45 minute drive. So for non-emergency hospitalizations they must drive to that hospital - or be transferred there once the emergency has stabilized. My point with all this info is that often, what a person chooses is based on where care is available to them under original Medicare. If medical reimbursement rates ever improve, doctors might be more willing to accept Medicare.

ETA - we don’t have dental or vision coverge. Vision issues that are also medical issues are covered by Medicare. - think cataracts, retinal surgeries, AMD etc. Dental also - loss of teeth from accidents etc. We can handle the routine twice annual cleanings & checkups just fine & they cost about what annual premiums for dental coverage would cost. We also receive cash pay discounts.

We were happy with Illinois Blue Cross supplement plans until DH's former employer stopped coverage for supplementals and required that and we switch to a United Health Care Advantage plan tailored to the company. A big perk of this company-special UHC plan is a $750 cap on medical. The company pays DH's premium; mine is $131/mo. We have co-pays: $30, and $50 for specialists. We've saved thousands over the supplement plans in the last two years.

Original Medicare has improved plans for 2025, with lower caps and limits on some prescription drug costs. Some of the savings touted by various 'plans' are actually due to new Medicare rules (like lower prescription drug cost caps). Do look at how much just Medicare is giving you as a base. Then see what additional benefits a supplement promises to earn their premiums.

I never found a dental plan I wanted. Either the in-network providers were sub-standard and/or located far from my home, or the premium cost was close to what I'd pay out-of-pocket. You can also ask a dentist for a discount if you pay cash. (Saves them the office hassle and delayed payment with insurance.)

" Medicare Advantage plans, while they might cover dental/vision, are not the same as the supplement plans. They are INSTEAD of the supplement plans. And yes, they may look nice, but they will limit your choice of doctors and usually require pre-authorizations "

I think you're describing a plan that either is expressly an HMO or acts like one. My employer coverage is Medicare Advantage PPO and we go to anywhere and anyone we choose, no preapprovals or referrals. "Out of network" is the same as in-network benefit wise in my plan. The one proviso is that the doc or other care provider needs to accept Medicare or falls into a second category that I forget the nature of. We haven't encountered an issue at all.

Plans of various types can be found and I know it varies from place to place. I'm glad to have had the choice made for me.

A few things to note:

-"Dental insurance" is really not insurance but more like a prepaid services arrangement. Most dental treatments are covered but limited dollarwise - you're not going to pay a $500 premium for the year and then get $30K worth of oral surgical and prosthodontic treatments. But what it can do for some (who need twice a year cleaning plus minor additional things from year to year) is allow you to benefit from the insurance plan's negotiated fee discounts. Dentist who accept dental insurance have to agree to fee concessions, sometimes 30% or more, to participate. If you need $1500 of work, perhaps the dentist's charge to the insurance company is $1000. If your limit for that kind of work is $500 per year, your share is $500, not the $1000 non-discounted price. It's not uncommon that some dentists and some dental specialists don't accept insurance. Their charges are undiscounted. It does tend to be the better ones, as dentists whose skills and reputations keep them busy don't need to offer discounts as a come-on to get more patients. Not always though.

-AARP has no involvement with AARP Medicare policies. United Healthcare licenses use of the name for branding purposes. The policies are United Healthcare policies and have nothing to do with AARP.

I think i pay too much for my UHC supplemental insurance but i don’t care. I never pay a dime for any medical ( not dental) care except for vision. There’s one procedure at the eye doctor that costs $40. I like to not have to think about cost or choice of doctor.

On top of Medicare and Supplemental, I pay for a concierge primary care doctor. I honestly think for me, its a waste of money but i dont want to change doctors. The vast majority of my doctor visits are to specialists.

Im very happy with UHC/ AARP. Im not sure the plan i have is offered now. It was a letter farther down the alphabet. If i leave, I cant come back.

The conversation demonstrates how labels don't always tell everything one may need to know. Polices can vary significantly from one to another, even from place to place. For those having to go hunting out in the dark forest of the marketplace, performing careful investigations and comparisons of alternatives are important.

My husband has Kaiser. His cheap meds are covered @ 100%. Says they cover dental, but we have a Delta Dental Policy we use.

sushipup2 said, "Look at the letter designation. Plans are standardized across the industry WRT what is covered. But individual companies can charge different amounts. Sounds like you want a "G" or "F" plan, and all you will pay is the once-a-year deductible, which was $240 in 2024 unless you are high income."

It's my understanding that the Plan F plans can no longer be purchased unless you were eligible for Medicare prior to January 1, 2020, and weren't already on a Medigap plan. If you were already on one, you can stay on it. Anyway, this chart shows what the various plans do and don't cover.

We have neither vision nor dental health care coverage. The premimums were crazy, and when we looked at the benefits- eh? We would have had to change dentists. Most of the vision care visits are covered under the medical plan. We pay out of pocket for the dentist, but it's cheaper than what the dental insurance would have cost. We do have United healthcare, the premiun one.

We pay out of pocket for the dentist. It's cheaper than what the premiums were. When we were working, we did crowns, fillings, everything that needed to be done before we retired. But, dental insurance has never, ever kept up with the cost of dental procedures.

I have a 0 premium BCBS medicare advantage PPO. I have had it for 3 years, and have had no issues. Finding a primary care that was taking new patients when my old one left was tricky, but the new one takes it. I don’t need referrals for specialists, and could continue to see my endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, and eye specialist. My hand surgery cost me $350. My OOPocket expenses are capped at 8,000. In a dire emergency, I have the resources to cover that, in the meantime I have dental, eye, and a generous flex spending card that covers a lot of extraneous pharmacy purchases. Sunscreen, toothpaste, bandaids, vitamins, and a whole lot more.

That's the plan my DH has and he's been happy with it. .