I have figured out the reason for Medigap plan F

[Libertarian666]

It is a cognitive test. There is no reason to buy F instead of G, if you analyze it correctly.
I failed due to time pressure. 

[ns3]

Is that what all the junk mail I've been receiving for the past few months is trying to sell me? I turn 65 in a few months and I'd estimate that I've been averaging about 5 of those letters a week and have gotten as many as 3 in a single day.

Fortunately, I'm still working and don't have to look into all these plans yet. I did get my medicare card in the mail yesterday however. Not a milestone in my life I was really looking forward to. Kind of feels like the "one foot in the grave" card.

[Libertarian666]

Is that what all the junk mail I've been receiving for the past few months is trying to sell me? I turn 65 in a few months and I'd estimate that I've been averaging about 5 of those letters a week and have gotten as many as 3 in a single day.

Yes, that's what it is. I've been getting that mail for several months and my wife started getting it before her 65th birthday too.

Fortunately, I'm still working and don't have to look into all these plans yet. I did get my medicare card in the mail yesterday however. Not a milestone in my life I was really looking forward to. Kind of feels like the "one foot in the grave" card.

That's what I thought too; then I found out that I'm going to be a contractor rather than an employee, starting April 1st. This new status has its advantages but I didn't have much time to make new arrangements for health insurance.

But as far as I can tell, Medicare + plan G (or F) is better than the insurance I currently have, and considerably cheaper too, thanks to the taxpayer subsidy included in all Medicare plans.

And before anyone chastises me for not being sufficiently libertarian, my offer to the government still stands: stop taxing and regulating me and I'll give up all future benefits, even though I have been paying for them at gunpoint my whole adult life.

[Kshartle]

And before anyone chastises me for not being sufficiently libertarian, my offer to the government still stands: stop taxing and regulating me and I'll give up all future benefits, even though I have been paying for them at gunpoint my whole adult life.

This would be an amazing deal for younger people if they understood it.

At some point, hopefully very soon they will, at least subconsciously.

[Pointedstick]

And before anyone chastises me for not being sufficiently libertarian, my offer to the government still stands: stop taxing and regulating me and I'll give up all future benefits, even though I have been paying for them at gunpoint my whole adult life.

This would be an amazing deal for younger people if they understood it.

At some point, hopefully very soon they will, at least subconsciously.

I'd take it. And I know a lot of other people around my age--even liberals-- who express skepticism at the idea of social security and medicare being good deals for them or even still existing when they're old.