Medicare Help for Boca Raton, FL

Boca Raton first incorporated in 1924 under the spelling "Bocaratone," then again as Boca Raton in 1925. Architect Addison Mizner set the city's look in the 1920s, which is why so many buildings carry Mediterranean Revival tile roofs and arches. IBM built its first personal computer here in 1981, and Florida Atlantic University and Lynn University both call the city home. The 2020 census counted 97,422 residents. Plenty of people with a Boca Raton mailing address actually live outside city limits, out in West Boca along State Road 7.

The city has two full hospitals. Boca Raton Regional Hospital sits on Meadows Rd. and belongs to Baptist Health South Florida. West Boca Medical Center is on State Road 7 and is not a Baptist Health hospital. A Medicare Advantage plan picks its hospitals one by one, so a plan that lists one of them may leave out the other. Write down which one you'd want in an emergency, plus your regular doctor's group, before you compare plans. Medigap plans like Plan G and Plan N pay at either hospital, since both accept Medicare.

Many Boca Raton retirees spend the summer in another state. That makes travel the first thing to settle. Advantage plans cover emergency and urgent care anywhere in the country, but routine visits up north are usually out of network, and most plans can drop you if you're away from the service area for more than six months in a row. Medigap pays the same way at any U.S. doctor's office or hospital that takes Medicare. Plan G and Plan N also pay 80 percent of emergency care outside the country after a $250 deductible, up to a $50,000 lifetime limit.

Veterans can use the Boca Raton VA Clinic at 901 Meadows Rd., right by the hospital. The Boca Raton Public Library has two buildings, downtown at 400 NW 2nd Ave. and the Spanish River Library at 1501 NW Spanish River Blvd. Out west, the county's West Boca Branch is at 18685 State Road 7. Palm Tran buses cost $1 a ride when you show your Medicare card. For free, unbiased counseling, call SHINE at 1-800-963-5337, or call us for a side-by-side look at plans.

If you'd like someone to look over your coverage, call for a free review by phone. We compare your doctors, prescriptions and monthly budget with the plans we offer in Boca Raton. Each fall, from October 15 to December 7, you can check that your doctors will still be in network next year and change plans if they won't. You can also read up on Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement plans and Part D drug plans, or check your turning 65 timeline.