Thank you for sharing your experience. My spouse is a primary care physician and I worked in his solo practice for more than 10 years.

It is a sad comment that physicians are compelled to accept or reject patients based on insurance coverage, and for years we were told that a practice with a (straight) Medicare population of 25% or more was a business death sentence.

We are now at a point where he is retiring. We have an adult daughter with Down syndrome, so all of us are Medicare eligible (actually my spouse and daughter have been had Medicare coverage for a few years, but we were covered by my spouse's employer-provided plan).

It really has been a challenge to find decent coverage for all of us, and we are coming down to the wire.

For most, the Medicare Advantage Plans can be the only option, especially if they have chronic illnesses and see their physician and/or specialists often.

Thanks for reminding me about the Part D LEP. This is one aspect I had overlooked for myself as I am not on any medications at the present time.