{"id":118,"date":"2026-10-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/?p=118"},"modified":"2026-10-23T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T12:00:00","slug":"us-retirees-need-medicare-gap-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/23\/us-retirees-need-medicare-gap-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"US Retirees Need Medicare Gap Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-zmyer\">\n<div class=\"video-frame-zmyer\">\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.roomvu.com\/agent\/embed\/deb-webster\/suze-orman-medicare-8ee0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><br \/>\n        <\/iframe>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"video-description-zmyer\">\n<p>A planning estimate put average retirement health care spending for a 65-year-old retiring in 2026 at $185.5K, showing medical costs can extend well beyond Medicare.<br \/>\nResearch found more than half of pre-retirees mistakenly expected Medicare to cover all retirement health expenses, even as premiums climbed faster than retirement benefit adjustments.<br \/>\nOriginal Medicare excluded routine dental, vision exams for glasses, hearing aids, and long-term custodial care, leaving retirees to plan for major uncovered needs.<br \/>\nCovered services still carried costs: Part B reached ~$203 monthly in 2026, plus a deductible, ~20% coinsurance, and added surcharges above income thresholds.<br \/>\nThe guidance: review Medicare gaps early, compare Medigap options during the one-time enrollment window, and use health savings accounts to build reserves before eligibility.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A planning estimate put average retirement health care spending for a 65-year-old retiring in 2026 at $185.5K, showing medical costs can extend well beyond Medicare. Research found more than half of pre-retirees mistakenly expected Medicare to cover all retirement health expenses, even as premiums climbed faster than retirement benefit adjustments. Original Medicare excluded routine dental, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webstersinsuranceagency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}