For those of us old enough for Medicare, this is one reason to avoid any of the many Advantage plans, that promise much, but pay only a percentage. In addition, the "benefits" for vision and hearing are very small, almost token amounts. Yes, some Advantage plans have no premium each month, and Part F or other more robust plans cost something. However, we've both had Part F ever since my husband became old enough for Medicare, and we still pay less than $200 each for both the Part F medical plan plus a separate pharmacy plan. I'm older, and we had a group plan for our own tiny company, so I couldn't opt for Medicare until he was old enough as the group plan required a minimum of two people. That meant that initially I couldn't have a Part F plan, as I was long past the 60-day window to opt for it. However, we were planning to move to our weekend place on the coast, so our broker switched my Advantage plan to one that wouldn't be available in this county, which gave me 60 days to opt for a Part F plan.

There was no question that my husband needed a Part F plan, as he was on dialysis not long before he turned 65, and was already on the list for a transplant. Our own company insurance paid 80% of dialysis, which is $60,000/month...leaving a substantial amount for us to pay, in addition to the $2,000 monthly premium. As soon as he was 65 and opted for Plan F coverage, we owed not a penny for monthly dialysis. Two years later, when a kidney became available, we paid absolutely nothing for either the surgery or hospitalization, a savings to us of over a half million dollars! That less than $200 for Part F plus pharmacy looked very good! When I was able to opt for Part F when we moved here, I wondered if I was indulging in overkill, but six months later I learned that my kidneys were already operating a less than optimum, meaning, at best, quarterly appts. with $1,000 or more of labs with the kidney doc. So far, I haven't collected a dime on my pharmacy plan, but, you can't opt for one when you need it: you must make the decision at the time you opt for Part F. Since I've had cancer and know that even "simple" Stage 1 cancer results in a total cost of around a quarter million, I feel safe having good coverage. And, when I say you pay nothing, I mean exactly that: no copays, nothing, for any medical appts. For the first time in our lives, we have no need to worry about medical costs. Including the roughly $400 deducted from our SS checks, we're paying less than $800 every month for peace of mind and, many months, far less than we'd pay with Advantage plans.