We just ditched our company dental plan and switched to Delta Dental, as our company insurance was not a preferred provider for our dentist anyways. Don’t know if it will end up saving money, because now I need another implant, and blah, blah, blah. I have terrible teeth. It was a decent plan when our company was paying for the insurance, but costly paying on your own.
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We self pay dental and vision.
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My dental didn’t cover implants. Not sure if it covers crowns. They mainly covered cleaning and x-rays. They are not that expensive.
Also self pay for vision and dental.
We self pay dental and vision. Most of the expensive dental stuff I needed (two implants) wouldn’t have been covered by the dental insurance we had.
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Also self-pay dental.
Delta Dental does have an offering and that is worth a look IFF your dentist is a member of their plan. Otherwise, dental insurance rarely works without an employer contribution.
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We self pay dental and vision. The dentist we have had forever has her own plan for those without insurance … for the cost of two cleanings, we get all x-rays at no cost + a 20% discount on the cash price for any dental work she performs. It’s a good deal. Our eye exams include a medical component now that we’re on cataract watch, so some of the exam cost is covered by medical insurance. We buy our glasses at Costco.
I once broke a molar in half, from grinding my teeth due to stress. It wasn’t an easy extraction, so I had to go to an oral surgeon. Dental insurance was helpful, but it’s capped. Even knowing how expensive a potential procedure could be, I am okay with self insuring. I have looked at the provider lists for some dental plans, and I don’t see the providers that I would want to use listed.
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I’m part of a large group for my Medicare stuff. Our dental, vision and hearing are lumped together for coverage…about $30 a month…which I don’t think is bad. We each have a $2000 max…but that’s a lot more than the $360 a year we pay for this benefit. My cleanings and X-rays cost more than $360 these days. DH just had an implant and 1/2 was covered. So…we get our moneys worth!
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Until this year I had vision and dental heavily subsidized through my employer so getting it was a no brainer. This year my medical plan that I bought on the exchange covers eye exams and I bought dental. My dental insurance didn’t cover my implant but it did cover cleanings, X-rays, pulling the bad tooth and anesthesia. After subtracting the premiums I still saved over $1000 by having insurance.
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In general dental insurance is capped (even the plans offered through your employer).
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We pay for individual Vision Service Plan for DH, $15.66/month - and we have a local provider that works with this plan (they even were able to order his last glass frames or something quite similar - DH ‘likes’ the same…). We at least break even. Get new glasses for him every other year, and he will probably have cataract surgery before the next new glasses. Then after he has a ‘stock pile’ of glasses, we can end the VSP. That is ‘my plan’. We both go to a Retina Specialist for yearly eye health exams. I had Lasix surgery years ago which has in the long run saved me on glasses, even with a vision plan.
Once on a fishing trip, a sudden gust of wind capsized them and he lost his glasses - which he brings a second pair because his vision is bad (like 20 - 400).
Just to clarify, did you stay on the Fed BC/BS or just do Medicare? The prescription coverage is a major factor for me.
I have both Medicare A and B and stayed on the Fed BC/BS as a secondary insurance that has Rx coverage.
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Have any of you tried Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company? How does it compare to a) GoodRx; b) the cost when you purchase using your insurance?
I use Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus for a med I take that is not on my insurance formulary. I can occasionally find it close to same price using GoodRX but not when I first started getting it from Cost Plus, so I’ve just stuck with it. (I recheck GoodRX when I need to refill every 90 days).
It’s very convenient to use. Except for one thing – they want you to have your email on the prescription as a form of ID verification and getting the doctor’s office to do that wasn’t easy. They just couldn’t understand what I was asking them to do.
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Ah, interesting - you do both part B and BCBS. Up thread I thought you said you didn’t, but I just re-read your post.
I suspect at some point federal retirees will be forced to take Medicare part B.
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Cost Plus is within a few dollars of GoodRx, so I generally just go to the pharmacy.
This is how messed up insurance/drug companies are though:
One drug I use is covered by insurance, at a cost of $650/month. The manufacturer has a program to cover everything but $175 for the first three months of the year (while I rack up $650 against my deductible) or they will pay up to $125 of the co-pay.
The manufacturer also has a program where you can get it for $150/month if you don’t use insurance.
Why is insurance company willing to pay (and make me pay via the deductible) $650/month when the manufacturer is clearly willing to sell it for only $150 or $175/month???
It’s insane.
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Our cardiologist gives us samples of Xarelto - that at least saves us some on refills. Whichever goes to generic first, Xarelto or Eliquis - that will be what DH will be on (Cardiologist said he can be on either med).
Our SIL saved over $4000 on her husband’s part D meds for 2024 – he is diabetic and on a lot of stuff. His ‘old’ plan was that much higher than something else she found. Like her, I check our drugs against the plans every year during drug plan open enrollment - easy to do on the Medicare site. I changed DH’s drug plan for 2024, but savings not as big as hers (but our out of pocket is no where near what both she and he pay either – they both have been morbidly obese for years…)
I spoke to another ‘senior’ at a function last night. Because she has a blood cancer (diagnosed 2016), she has to have lab work and lots of physician visits - labs every other week now. We both use our large cancer center/oncology group (I fortunately only visit oncologist once a year, as I am cancer free since 2010, although had treatments beyond including an oral med for 10 years that gave me fatty liver disease). Of course it is just like dialysis, you gotta do what you gotta do to sustain life and eking out the best QOL one can.
Interesting list of most affordable towns for retirement:
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We have lived in N AL for 40 years now. Living in the state (and keeping up with state news and trends), we have a pretty good idea of where to live well.
Last night at a church function, I was talking to a retired gal who moved here 1 year ago from CA - her son’s family lives in CA and her daughter’s family lives here. She moved here for affordability. She said she is just starting to feel her way around and ‘get comfortable’. She has had some big transitions - lost her husband 2 years ago, but had been retired for a while as she was able to ‘retire early’. She moved things here that she knew her daughter would want that she didn’t need; she downsized ‘stuff’ and is enjoying the downsize.
I need to have surgery in January (a surprise diagnosis - need surgery on Parathyroid) - will find out more when we meet with the surgeon. Have a very good Endocrinologist - when we first moved here, there was just one or two, and now our city has a very strong presence of specialists.
Not quite like my friend’s DH who has a rare form of Sarcoma (5,000 in the US) - however they live near Mayo, and his Oncology Specialist only treats Sarcomas.
I saw a show on HGTV about a woman who moved to NM, but then Covid and various changes as a result changed how good that ‘scene’ was for her; so she moved back to CO but had to go to a different CO city because she could no longer afford the city she had lived in. But she found what she was looking for, and I believe she paid cash for her new digs, about $400,000.
I saw an article recently (I believe it was with one of the advice columnists) where a couple moved close to their new grandchild in FL, but it turns out the parents only had them babysit grandchild once in 6 months. They realized they made a mistake and moved back to AZ to be where they had lots of friends, enjoyable activities, and was ‘home’ to them. The advice columnist was for advice on smoothing things over with their grandchild’s parents - I think the DIL had hurt feelings about their move back to AZ. Obviously low amount of communication going…
I can see where many things need to be thought through, and thoroughly discussed. IMHO if the children want you to move close, make sure that it is a beneficial thing for all parties, especially the ones doing all the lifestyle adjustments and cost absorption.