Your Medicare Advantage Gym Membership is Not What Matters

With just days left for Medicare annual open enrollment, our mailbox is full of complimentary dinner invitations to local steakhouses and glossy brochures exhorting the benefits of this or that Medicare Advantage plan: free dental care, eye exams, hearing aids, grocery cards, gym memberships!  The perks keep coming.

Medicare Advantage plans are marketed as all-in-one inclusive health plans whose benefits extend beyond what is generally covered by Medicare.  They’ve been popular, partially because of their simplicity: you only have one card and the plans look very much like the employer plans you may have had during your active working years.  They can also be less costly than the regular Medicare plans.

There is a place for Medicare Advantage plans and for some folks, they are the right solutions but choosing a plan because of a gym membership or any other perk is the wrong approach to a long-term healthcare strategy.   

All Medicare Advantage plans are HMOs.  As such, care is managed through a network of primary care physicians, specialists and hospitals who contract with that HMO.  Not all HMOs are the same.  Some restrict most of the care to a group of physicians associated with a hospital, others offer a much broader network.  The most important thing about choosing an HMO is how big the network is and how you can or cannot access care outside the network.

Forget the grocery card and the glossy presentation over a steak dinner: ask the right questions before electing coverage, read the fine print and pay careful attention to the network in your area.  If this is not your cup of tea, reach out and ask for help.

At Steadwell Advisors, we have the knowledge and experience to ask the right questions and find coverage that fit your needs.  We do not work for any insurance company.  You are our only client and your long-term well-being is our priority.  Call us today for a free consultation to see how you can benefit from personalized, independent Medicare advice.