I got surplused 7/31, meet the MR75 and am eligible for Medicare. Retirees can sign up for company sponsored Medicare advantage PPO with $150 deductible and $900 out of pocket max for free. Seems like a great deal. Anybody else doing it, or are there other, better plans out there?
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@a5 Agree. It depends where you live but it's great for us. All our providers take the medical. We live in NYS so we can switch whenever we want if it gets not great or if we move to a state where it's different. Also agree with going to the retiree group on FB, good advice there.
I will say, uhc plus dental is not a great deal for us. We found a cheaper Cigna plan on the alight marketplace which our dentist takes, unlike the plus plan. Its not as good as employee coverage was but it's fine.
It's great as far as an Advantage plan goes, but like all Advantage plans, you may run into issues with preapprovals and denials. In addition, if you want to go out of network, the provider must accept the plan. My spouse had kidney cancer and the major regiional hospital treating his condition absolutely refuses to take any UHC plans, even this one. It didn't matter that the plan would pay the same as medicare... they were firmly a "no". So we went with traditional medcare/medigap instead. Be aware of guaranteed issue regulations if you want to revist your decision later down the road. Generally, if you have your Advantage plan for more than one year, and you want to switch to medigap, you can't do it without going thru medical underwriting. Some states have more protections about this than others... for example, you can do this in NY but not in most states. So find out what your state's rules are. Deciding between Advantage (any Advantage plan, including ATT UHC Retiree plan) and traditional medicare/medigap tends to have lifelong consequences, given how "guaranteed issue" for medigap (meaning you can't be turned down for medical reasons or age/gender) works. In most states, you can't switch later unless you are very healthy. This was another factor in my decison to pass on the ATT plan. You can switch under certain circumstances, such as if the plan goes out of business... but changing the terms and conditions of the plan doesn't count. That was another reason I opted out. ATT has a history of eroding retiree benefits over time, so at some point it's not inconceivable that the plan will become more expensive. On the other hand, it works well for some people- it all depends upon your individual circumstances, the rules of your state, how available networks are, etc. I live i a very rural area with limited choices, and with traditional medicare/medigap, i can see any provider in the US who accepts Medicare.
Retirees seem very happy with it overall. Better to ask this tiff in the AT&T Retiree Planning FB group..
@ba Thanks Captain Obvious -you state points that are inherent to all insurance plans, you seem bitter
It’s great deal. You won’t find anything with 900 OOP. It an Employeer Group PPO Advantage plan, unlike public offered Advantage plans you see on TV. accepted nationwide. I have it and used it several times since I retired spring 2026.
After att took away the medicare subsidy money AFTER my wife had retired, they offered this plan as an "alternative" even though it was "free". In our area, the network is horrible.... worse than an HMO. None of her doctors or dentist was in the plan. Closest network hospitals weren't all that close and weren't ones we would have chosen if we had to. She went with a medigap plan and we have to pay for it ourselves... prior to att changing the rules for already retired employees who qualified, they would have paid towards the medigap plan. I call it yet another benefit taken away after already qualifying by a company with no morals.
Now having said we didn't want it, this is definitely one of those important decisions you shouldn't just trust my or any other repliers answer. You have to look at the network, you have to consider if you are planning on moving anytime soon, whether you spend significant time away from home, your current health, etc. It is well documented that once you get in an advantage plan, if you ever want out and want to switch to another one or a medigap, they can and will look at your medical history for your cost or even if they will accept you comes into play. What might sound like a good plan today, might not have the doctors you might want in the future and you might end up stuck with preexisting conditions.
Do your research because cost is not the only consideration.
OP-I'm in the exact same situation surplussed-last day was 7/1
I checked all the MA plans and this was the best, my wife who retired early from a large global insurance company was on their similar plan -when we compared both plans she switched to this plan. The $50.00 plan with the dental $1K and some vision was the sweet spot for us.
Good Luck!!
I had a gym accident in May where I broke two ribs and my sternum. I went to the ER and had a CAT scan, then ER doctor looked at the results. Hospital showed a charge of $12K (which was later discounted). I only had to pay $135 for ER visit. So that paid really well.
On the other hand, my dentist charged $2K for a crown, UHC only allowed $750, and they paid $332. I was on the hook for the balance. I am currently looking for another dentist.
We have it as retirees. It’s best available. Thankful to have it.
have it, did a lot of research and it's the best plan out there. the biggest differentiator among all plans is the 900.00 out of pocket. Can't beat it.
A lot of hospitals dropped Medicare Advantage plans this year. Better verify first.
Ask in the AT&T retirees Facebook page.