My Medicare Advantage Wellness Check [View all]

So, a year has gone by since the last one, so I booked an appointment with my primary care physician. I've been seeing him every year now for over 20 years. As usual, I got greeted by a nice young PA, who checked my vitals and gave me the cursory check to make sure I wasn't totally demented. The three words I was supposed to remember were the same three from two years ago. She reads them from a form. It's always one of the half dozen sets of words they use at my clinic.

So, she exited the room cheerfully and said the doctor would be in shortly. He was, and as usual, briefly. A little small talk, a look at my ears and mouth and a listening to heart and lung function. "Looks good, sounds good. Check in at the lab so we can get your blood numbers" He renewed the same three prescriptions I've been taking for the past five years. Later today, the blood test numbers will be in and I'll get a note on them from my online chart app.

I don't expect any surprises. So, is Medicare Advantage worthwhile? It is, indeed. My wife has the same coverage, but she needs a lot more attention paid to her health issues. They do all of that just as cheerfully and efficiently as they do mine. I don't need any additional services each year, and hope that continues. She often does need additional services. She gets them done promptly and almost always at little or no copay. Over the years in that particular clinic system she has had a hip replacement, neck surgery, and a host of other issues that needed expert attention. f

We're both covered. I'm a cheap date. She's not. We both get all the care we need.

See, I think Medicare Advantage can work very well. I know several other old gimpers like me who have had a great deal of medical care from the same system at no or very reasonable additional cost. So, why would I rebel against it, I wonder?