Denise- (and Dave)- you have 3 months before you turn 65 to start the process.  Dave- you want to definitely sign up for Part A.  That's free and you just need to make sure you've met the timing requirement.  It didn't affect anything I did with my corporate coverage.

Advantage plans-  maybe they are right for some people, but my advice is to NOT go that route.  It is more like an HMO and they can deny specialists and coverage.  Also, if you travel or spend time in another state, you are out of luck usually with the providers.

Jay - wow, what a busy weekend, . . . whoops, that was only Saturday.

ps - amongst recent firsts, your daily post appearing on page two might be one too.

This morning's 33F used to be too warm for my liking for winter skiing but, at this stage, it's too cold for my liking for my morning walking but, since we don't any tornadoes, hurricanes, etc., just like the rain, no weather is ever going to stop me from doing anything I want to outside so, after exploring the routs to the east (lake), north (steepest hill in Seattle and steep hillside park we used to run along by in the Seattle Marathon), east (cityside where I won't go anymore because of stabbings, murders, druggie encampments, etc.), I walked two miles south this morning in the hopes that happy sun in the still brilliantly blue skies from yesterday might be highlighting the rusty brown leaves and yellows that pass for Fall out here in an old Olmsted park that goes down to the lake and has several old stair cases of dynamite blasted stone stepways from the century before last.

Chalked up more than five miles including the first two down to there and abbreviated the three mile circumference loops that are possible in the park and which I've done in the past to just one and then checked out the bus stop numbers and transfers on the way back so I can check the departures times on the Metro App of the departures that are only every half hour on Sundays.  Since tomorrow (and Tuesday) are supposed to be more good weather, it might we a good chance to skip the two mile walk down there and take the bus to do the saved miles in the park instead.  Still getting the hang of city life but, so far, so good or, at least, pretty good.

Dave- it is incredibly confusing (Medicare).

What's amazing to me is how bad the Social Security/Medicare folks are at explaining this stuff.

Erika / KSA - for sure. In response to my appeal on my appeal point of getting misled to delay signing up for Medicare because, when they asked me if I was currently covered with health insurance, I said, "yes" and when they asked if it was through my employer, I also say so because, since I was my self-employed employer and provided myself with health insurance I was getting from the state's PERS retirement system, including paying DVA and long-term care premiums, I said, "yes, my insurance is through my employer."  Apparently, they have no obligation to inquire further and it's up to me to ask the right questions to determine my status.  To make matters worse or, rather easier to fall victim to the system, our state separation officer, Liz Johnson who we now hate, warned us "never, never, give up your retirement insurance because they don't get much better."  Unfortunately, she forgot to tell us that, at age 65, it can get a lot worse. .

ps roch/KSA - I'm pretty sure we love our Medicare Advantage plans as, since our Swedish Hospital system are in their network for our PCP, all the specialist we've been referred to over the years have been covered too.  No ski area ticket reimbursements that I know of , though, but I'll be checking with the State's Medicare rep who's giving hour long appointments for anyone who wants at our sr. housing.

erika - however, since my DW has her same retirement insurance I do through her own vesting in state employment PERS, I had no idea I have been paying DVA for two of us all these year so it's at the top of the list to try to clarify during the current enrollment month.  Just one year's premiums would be enough to make it worthwhile to go up there and clarity. Unfortunately, I'm sure they don't give refunds.

Dave - speaking of having to ask the right question, how do you find out about the Javelina, Frankfort and Dublin live feeds on YouTube. Do you just somehow wonder about them and then look them up by name or do you get a feed on any live feeds on marathons going on in whatever geographic area you specify?  Thanks. I would even get subscriptions if I could get the Seattle Times (or NYT, WST, Japan Times, Anchorage New, etc.) to just give me link everytime they had articles on a few of my interest areas, e.g. "Seattle Marathon," "salmon," "Bering Sea," "Mt. Fuji," "Mt. Rainier," "John Muir," "Bil Rodgers," "glaciers," "Frank Shorter," "SteveP," etc.

Good to know that many don't advise the Medicare Advantage plans. FWIW my SO has had no problems whatsoever getting any specialist visits or tests approved under his plan, but I guess there may be disadvantages he hasn't come across.

My DW has been on a Medicare Advantage plan for many years - eligible early since she went on Medicare after 2 years on Social Security Disability - and really no complaints with it with multiple prescriptions, medical appointments, etc. - though that may be because she isn't with a plan that provides ski-lift passes or assistance with groceries.

I also signed up for a Medicare Advantage plan when I joined Medicare. I haven't had to use their services much, but they have been very helpful on the rare occasions I've needed to speak with them.

My friend, Anne, finished Javalina in 29 hrs. I can't even fathom!  29 hrs of running. 

Medicare Adv: My husband is on medicare and an advantage plan, although we are switching to another advantage plan for 2024 that has better benefits for him and $0/month premium. Some of the things I know he won't use, like the gym membership, etc (but if i can figure out a way for that benefit to apply towards buying a TM, I'm all over that!).  But he'll have better Rx coverage, and even a flex card that can be used for dental (he's still on my dental plan, but every year he seems to have something done that costs more than what my plan pays for), so we get more bang for our buck with that. he's never had an issue getting into specialists (cardiologist and urologist) and we've paid extremely little out of pocket. I think even when we had his heart issue, the medical bills were over $250K and we may have paid 2K, if that.  So, it's a plan that has worked well for him. 

10 miles on the trails this morning. I was out for that almost 3 hrs but so much of that was chatting. Seemed like everyone I knew was out at the trail this morning!

Dave - thanks. I guess I gotta search more. Tiktok does a good job of getting me all sorts of fun Japan creators I can't stop watching some of but I don't use YouTube unless someone posts a link to something of interest.

RCG - Mt Rainier seen from Seattle is too far to the south towards Tacoma for the full moon to be anywhere down by it from here but I went up hiking once to see it.  In the meantime, with the sun moving south along the western horizon about the same width of the sun's diameter as seen from earth, it's now slipping away behind a downtown building or two before emerging again until going.behind the next adjacent structure where we'll get another "sunset" before the real one, . . . if that's not already it hidden behind the last building kind of like the sun or moon playing hide-and-seek behind the mountains at take-off and landing.

Posie - as econo would say, "ganbare!"