Janie:

After re-reading your OP, here's a little more. If you think you may have trouble paying for dental work or eye glasses which medicare does not cover at all, consider a Part C plan commonly known as Medicare Advantage. These plans claim they cover this kind of thing but we have no direct experience. In general, though, insurance companies have no scruples. They say they cover everything when selling you the policy but when you have a claim it's, "Oh, we don't cover that."

One more piece of advice. When considering the cost of Medicare Advantage or medigap, don't just look at the monthly premium. Multiply that by 12 to get the annual cost and then by the number of years you expect to live. Also, include the fact that the premiums will increase by at least 5% per year and probably 10%. If you add all that up for, say, 30 years, we think you will be stunned by the result. That's why we decided to skip it and just put the money in the bank until it was needed to pay a medical bill.

Bev and Jerry