Category: Health and Wellness Issues
July 28, 2015 -- There is at least one good thing about getting to the ripe old age of 65 - you are eligible for Medicare! It pretty much removes the worry of finding health and drug insurance coverage, and you get this benefit at a very low cost. But if you make some of these common mistakes, you might not be eligible for it when you want it, or it might cost you more money than it should.
We think this article will be useful for people who have not yet signed up for Medicare as well as those who are already in the program. It is part of our series on Medicare and health care insurance. See the bottom of this page for links to the rest of the series.
But before we launch into the worst Medicare mistakes, here is a tiny background about Medicare:
What is Medicare, and who is eligible?
Medicare is health insurance for people 65 years or older, under age 65 with certain disabilities, and any age with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or Lou Gehrig's disease. Medicare has four parts -- Part A, which is hospital insurance, Part B, which is medical insurance, Part C, which is Medicare Advantage Plans, and Part D, which
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Published on July 27, 2015
Comments 93
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
November 4, 2012 -- Note: This is Part 2 of our Medical Insurance for Retirement Series. See Further Reading at end for links to Part 1 through 5.
The result of last month's member survey about Medicare are in. We are pleased that you have ideas on a plan to fix Medicare, something that differentiates you from our elected leaders in Washington. When asked to rank your ideal fix from a list of 9 choices, limiting benefits to the most affluent was the number 1 choice, closely followed by 4 others (see detailed results below). Vouchers and lifetime benefit caps were the least popular choices in the survey. Elsewhere in the survey results, most of our responders have opted in to Medicare and its component parts. The sole exception is Part C (Medicare Advantage), where more folks are not in the program than are.
We are so grateful to the more than 550 people who took to the time to answer our 9 questions about Medicare. While we can't say that any of the findings are particularly surprising, the results do shed
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Published on November 4, 2012
Comments 69
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Updated May 17, 2016 -- Note: Although the basics about Medicare are unchanged, the amount you pay in premiums and deductibles changes over time. This article is both Module 9 of our Retirement 101 Online Preparation Course and the first in a series on Medicare.
-- Believe it or not, there is some good news about your turning 65 - you are now old enough to be eligible for Medicare! Cheer up, the worst of your medical insurance worries are over, particularly if you retired early and are not covered by an employer plan. Most people in the Medicare system are grateful for the coverage and peace of mind it provides.
This 101 article, part 1 in a series, is meant to address the concerns we know many of you have about how to get started with Medicare. Using information from the very helpful Medicare.gov site and in particular its FAQ feature, we'll explain exactly what the program is and outline the many options it can provide, so you can both rest
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Published on October 8, 2012
Comments 118
