When I was getting close to 65 I talked to the lady that has handled our health insurance at work. I was going to lose my full time status due to losing farms that I milk tested. So it was good for me at the time. But she told me that I had to sign up for Medicare part A, which is free. If I continued to have full time employment that made me eligible for my health ins, that you can delay signing up for part B with NO PENALTY as long as you have proof of insurance. Then there is part D which is the prescription. Our particular plan at work was not "qualified" so I would have had to sign up for it. Part C is the Advantage plans which might be good for some ... you can get things like the eyeglasses etc.... but there are deductibles on other stuff and some co-pays.
Since I was losing my ins coverage when I lost my full-time status, I opted to go on Medicare completely. This is what she told me to do and it has worked out great. I turned 65 in Sept of 2018. I signed up for part A, and deferred part B as I was still covered at work. I signed up for part B as of Jan 2019 BECAUSE it was the calendar year that I turned 66 which was my "full retirement age" and at that time I also signed up for part D. Part B is automatically taken out of your SS if you are receiving that. It runs about 135 a month (don't quote me exact $). I pay my drug plan, part D, yearly as it is only 15/month but again I do not take any drugs regularly . I also have a supplement plan, which will cover most of what is not covered. I have plan G. I pay 88/month, directly out of my checking account. Between what all I have, I have 200 YEARLY deductible and am then covered 100% on everything else except for a few small co-pays on any prescriptions. I just paid $5 towards an anti-biotic the other day.
So I am paying approx 105/ month not counting the 135 that comes out of my SS check before I see it. So about 240-250 a month. If I have no health issues then I might be better off with something that has a 2500 deductible a year.....BUT....
I will be having my ankle replaced in about 2 weeks. I will be totally covered, have at least a 14 day stay at a rehab facility, and all followup visits etc. To the tune of somewhere in the neighborhood of 75,000..... My total out of pocket will be the 200 deductible and a little towards the prescriptions.
I had an "incident" the end of Oct that at first thought was a stroke. Emergency room trip, blood tests, x-rays, MRI, you name it. Possible seizure but no one could pin point anything. Had to go to a primary care dr., had more blood work, then had to go see a neurologist, and turns out no signs of a seizure either. My Chiropractor said I was way out of alignment and he was pretty sure it was a basically a "pinched nerve" due to the upper part of my spine being so out of alignment. There was over 5,000 just in the first ER trip and I was completely covered.
My ins lady advised me on this after her husband had retired and had a knee replacement. Said they paid out 187. and the rest was paid for. I said that is what I want.... knowing I was going to have to have a knee replacement in the future, not counting the ankle situation.
This fall we talked again and I told her that I had a friend that switched to one of the "all inclusive" plans that she got her glasses and some other stuff, maybe even dental, and it costs less than what she was paying. My ins lady said that they are good for people that "never go to the dr" but that there are higher deductibles and co-pays. Once you go off the plan G, I have, it costs a lot to go back on and that is if I haven't had any health issues in the meantime. There is underwriting to go back and they might turn you down then you would have to stay on the advantage plan.
She point blank told me that I should stay with what I have and that prices will go up as my age increases, that is not due to my situation but due to the general cost increases. This way, I will only ever have the one "out of pocket cost" right now at about 200/yr., and it costs me what I was paying in towards my ins coverage at work which had a 6500 yearly deductible. She told me that there is a plan F that is very similar to mine, but there is a little less cost but a few more out of pocket co-pays. I will keep this from now until the cows come home because I know what I have to pay and will not get blind sided by co-pays or deductibles.
When I went to SS to discuss my options, before I turned 65, they did automatically sign me up for part A. I deferred the part B due to still having full coverage at work. The SS lady was great too. Gave me a chart to tell me what I would be receiving at what age if I took SS. Again, it was in my best interest to start the SS... but I waited the 3 months until Jan of 2019 because that was the year I reached full benefit age (66) and it allowed me to earn up to 46,000 in wages, as opposed to only being able to earn about 17,000 while on the year I turned 65.... which was taking it "early", because you have to pay back part of the SS if you earn too much if you take SS early. Once I "lost my ins " at work, I contacted them and they started taking out for my part B with no penalty. There is a complicated bunch of BS in figuring out a penalty .... if you don't have coverage at work, and don't sign up, then you pay a penalty for every month that you "wait" to sign up, which translates into a higher monthly cost for the rest of your life.
It doesn't cost anything to go talk to them at SS... Get some idea of what the options are.
I never made much money at a job, so my SS is not that big, but it sure is a nice extra every month now while I still work.
Find someone you REALLY trust in the insurance business, like I did with the lady at work, and let them guide you in your choices. If you have ANY health issues, possible future ones , like I did with the eventual knee and ankle replacement issues, get the most coverage you can sooner rather than later.
One thing she told me too, that since we had the 6500 deductible at work, that even if I hadn't been slated to lose my full time status, thus losing my ins through work, I was MUCH BETTER OFF, going off work ins and going on Medicare with the supplement that she steered me to. It was going to cost me about the same as I was paying for work ins, with only the small deductible of about 200 rather than our 6500 at work. She is going on Medicare this year as soon as she can because even though she is an ins agent, medicare is better than what she has at work through her company plan. Alot of that has to do with how Obamacare has screwed up the ins coverages and availability and costs.