What does Medicare not cover?

Original Medicare was built around hospital and medical care, so the gaps are consistent: cleanings and dentures, spectacles and routine eye exams, hearing aids, and the long-term help with daily living that most families mean when they say nursing home care. It also pays almost nothing outside the country.

Some of those gaps can be filled. Many Advantage plans include dental, vision and hearing allowances; stand-alone dental plans exist for people who keep Original Medicare; travel medical policies cover trips abroad. Long-term custodial care remains the largest exposure, and it is a planning problem rather than an insurance product for most households.

An estimate for planning, not a quote. Medicare and the Marketplace set your real figures.