Understanding The Four Parts Of Medicare Without Quadrupling Your Stress

When you are what our work-obsessed society calls a working aged adult, you feel like you can never catch a break.  You spend all your waking hours on your job and your gigs, only to find yourself another day older, with ageless content creators mocking you for being ugly and obsolete, even as they beg you to like and subscribe.  Certainly, you get a break when you turn 65, don’t you?  At minimum, you can get the senior breakfast at Denny’s, although, given the price of food ingredients, there is no telling whether you will be able to afford it.  Becoming eligible for Medicare when you turn 65 sounds like a sure thing, though.  Medicare is far less expensive than what you are currently paying for healthcare, but it is not a freebie by any stretch of the imagination, and navigating the various parts of Medicare takes as much patience and strategy as solving a Rubik’s cube.  For help choosing an affordable Medicare plan and figuring medical expenses into your retirement budget, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.

A Is for Altruism

Medicare part A is the closest thing you can get to free healthcare.  It pays for hospitalization and brief stays in nursing homes.  You do not pay premiums for part A, but you do pay copays and deductibles when you use its services.

B Is for Bureaucracy

Think of Medicare part B as a retiree’s equivalent of employer-provided health insurance.  It pays for the same things that your current employer-provided health insurance covers, such as doctors’ office visits, medical devices, and outpatient medical procedures.  The array of choices for Medicare part B plans is astounding, and you must balance the costs of premiums, deductibles, and copays with the services you think that you are most likely to use.

C Is for Capitalism

All seniors must carry Medicare part A and part B, but Medicare part C is optional.  It covers the services that policymakers seem to think of as luxuries, such as hearing tests, hearing aids, and exercise physiology-related services.  Whether you should buy a Medicare part C plan depends on which of these services you are likely to use and whether the amount you save by going through Medicare is worth the cost of the Medicare part C premiums.

D Is for Drugs

Medicare part D covers prescription drugs.  The percentage of the cost it pays for the drugs varies according to which medication it is.  Generic versions of inexpensive, widely used drugs are free to Medicare part D beneficiaries, but the more expensive the medication is, the more of the cost Medicare part D expects you to cover.  Since most seniors take at least one prescription medication on an ongoing basis, most people find it worthwhile to carry Medicare part D coverage.

Contact Gierach and Gierach About Budgeting for Medical Expenses in Retirement

An estate planning lawyer can help you plan realistically for your retirement, when you will be eligible for Medicare to subsidize your healthcare expenses.  Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

medicareinteractive.org/get-answers/medicare-basics/medicare-coverage-overview/original-medicare#:~:text=Part%20A%20provides%20inpatient%2Fhospital,D%20provides%20prescription%20drug%20coverage