Hi Tall guy, I follow all your posts on FEHB plans. At the moment I'm going to stick with the UHC FEHB Medicare Advantage Plan. My UHC base plan (Y83--self plus 1) went up 14%. Slightly above the average of 12% for FEHB plans. Monthly premium will be $433.35 plus $57 Medicare premium for each of us (UHC didn't increase its current $300 monthly Medicare premium rebate for the two of us). So our monthly total comes to $547.35. That's a $98 increase.I have followed your posts regarding your Advantage choice. I see that there are some relatively large premium increases in various areas for self+one and/or family coming in 2026. Does this change your interest in that plan since it will largely impact any Part B giveback? Any alternatives?
Yeah, while a fed, I was on GEHA standard initially, then went to GEHA HDHP. So, I had to switch to a new plan in retirement and sign up for Medicare. As I noted in one of these threads, I looked very carefully at the Aetna and UHC MA plans available to fed retirees. It was obvious they were the least expensive plans compared to just sticking with an FEHB plan and Part A. Yet, no other fed retiree seemed interested. So I was on my own in figuring out what to do. My choice of the UHC version was simply because my GP had an almost violent reaction to the idea of Aetna. The two plans costed out at almost the same.
I have no complaints so far, but I've only had the MA plan since February. My spouse has one regular fairly expensive procedure that needed pre-authorizations, but that went through without a hitch. We will need to go out of network in December to see some specialists at Johns Hopkins, but I have already verified with JH that they will bill UHC for the services. So, they should be fully covered. I'll breathe easier when it actually happens.
At this point, I plan to stay on it another year. It is certainly easier to deal with than the HDHP, but that probably isn't a fair comparison. The costs have been as advertised, I pay for the monthly UHC plan premium and only $35 for Medicare Part B (less the $150 rebate). The only other cost has been the copays on prescription drugs. We don't have any exotic drugs, and costs are low.
If I have a negative experience, I'll provide an update.
I suspect that the UHC and Aetna Advantage plans will still be cheapest since they were both about $1,500 cheaper than the closest competitor--the GEHA advantage plan--in 2025 (per Checkbook). Both plans were also almost $2,000 cheaper than Aetna Direct, though it looks like AD's increase was less. So, I'm going to wait till I see Checkbook's comparisons. If it is close, I'd be inclined toward AD.
Statistics: Posted by Tdubs — Sat Oct 18, 2025 7:47 pm — Replies 61 — Views 6293