How do you deal with aging?

Great information! Thanks .... 🙂

@vic83 Like you, I was utilizing AARP United Healthcare Plan F. This year their premiums were going up and up and up! So, I changed to a Plan G. The monthly premium is about $75 less per month. The out-of-pocket max for me will be the limit of $286 [or whatever the figure is!] I honestly could not see any reason to keep paying higher premiums. And, my dialysis clinic would not accept a medicare advantage plan, so I kept with the medigap plan from UHC.
Ginger

My Medigap Plan F premium is now $314/mo, but it covers all deductibles (including Part B and hospital) and no copays. Part B deductible is $240 in 2024.
Given my chronic form of lung cancer (multifocal) with nodules always to treat, I do constant testing and treatments - very expensive. So $3768/year for a premium is a lot less than max out of pocket in any insurance plans year after year. I see how much they pay and it is twice the premium total for the year.
When I bought my Plan F, I asked the sales rep how much typical annual increases were. He told me 10%. Several years later with the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care), my plan's increase percents were smaller - They are in the 3%/5% range. People don't realize that one of the things Obamacare did was to mandate that insurance companies must pay out 80% in benefits or give a credit at the end of the year. This applies to all health insurance including employer health insurance plans. When I bought my Medigap policy the brochure said it paid out 67% in benefits. So that is a big difference compared to 80%!
But I tell friend and family to not to try to save money on health insurance. When you get older you don't get healthier. I was very healthy until 80. When you need it, you want to be able to go where the expertise is and where they offer the best treatment options...because not all places can do the same thing! I could self-refer to Mayo Clinic and go where I want. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I had an Advantage plan.

We have the Medicare advantage Highmark BCBS plan and love it. With original Medicare, we had to,pay for a supplemental, vision, eye and RX. We now save hundreds every month and have never any issues. After surgery, many tests etc out of pocket was under $500. We have 0 copay for specialist and we even go to one not on our plan, which they do pay. I would rather save $735 a month from what we were paying and put that money away.

I like to remind my friends starting out out on Medicare to sign up for partD
regardless of their health or wealth. I complained about the plan premiums
while I was in great health until the prescriptions piled on in my 70s.
Now I am on a very costly biologic and my benefits far exceed all my prior
contributions.
Once you sign on to an Advantage plan you are likely to be stuck there.
Regular premium supplement plans such as F or G do not have to accept
you should you feel disadvantaged.

Agreed!!! And there are some very cheap Part D premiums. If they use the tool on the Medicare site to find Part D plans, they will be shown all the plans available to them. And people don't realize that insurance companies don't have to accept them when they want to change. They sure wouldn't want me now with my bills!
I lecture my friends and family about the dangers of Advantage plans.

I don't know what your work is or what it involves? Might it be that your life has centered around work and nothing else?
Might there be something else you enjoy but have not done, but wish you had spent more time doing? Of course that might be limited by your age, but think how many others limit us only because our age! This might be the time to start something new and go at it full speed to get your mind off your obsession. When your mind gets stuck, take 5 deep breaths, get up, start moving, and living.

The quote "Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Age is just a number" is a powerful one. You sound incredibly strong and blessed to have good health, work, and a sense of gratitude. Instead of focussing on how many years you have left, you might consider replacing the word "years" with "opportunities." Carpe diem!

I am 75 and in pretty good health a few hiccups now and then but active and loving my somewhat retirement..😂I am a wife and mother and grandmother.. That can have a negative and positive lifestyle 😂😂.. Looking forward to what ever may happen.. I figure maybe 10-15 good years left. My mother is still alive at 98 but that’s another story ❤️😂👍

I really appreciate the time you took to give me suggestions and realize I need to be a bit clearer with my comments. Although I love my career as a Realtor, I spend so much of my time with family -- husband, adult children, grandchildren, and now great grandchildren -- plus do a lot of volunteering. One would hope that with all I'm involved in my age wouldn't play into my "issues!" 🙂 I definitely need to get in nature more and at the very least go for long walks each day.