Are You Creating Your Medicare Recipe?

“Medicare” is not a single insurance plan for retirement

Introducing Creating Your Medicare Recipe, a book by yours truly

I often ask clients if they’re ready to spend many hours learning about Medicare. It takes several hours, or more, to learn the basics. And a tremendous amount of patience. After the first hour together, I know they’d rather be doing just about anything else on the planet. They’re really quite stunned. And mad.

Just at the point in life when they want things simple and easy, they now need to figure out this Medicare maze? It’s crazy.

To address this very real dilemma, I decided to take a fresh look at Medicare. I wanted to make it easier to enroll on time without the penalties everyone is worried about.

You need the right ingredients—and there are a dozen or so of them. Then you need to know when to mix them together, or not, and in what order. And if you don’t want burnt cookies, getting the timing just right matters.

For some unknown reason, I’ve become quite the Medicare “chef”

It was no grand plan on my end to spend the last fifteen years researching the ins and outs of Medicare. My research started with Social Security. Then, a few years later, I landed on Medicare.

Turns out, Medicare and Social Security are two ingredients of the Social Security Act. That’s the law that governs both federal programs. Who knew?

Importantly, the decisions you make about when to claim Social Security can significantly affect Medicare. But only some of the parts. And your Health Savings Account contributions. Are you eligible to contribute or not? When must you stop?

Furthermore, the Medicare law is filled with technical jargon. There are parts, pieces, and penalties. The process for getting into Medicare is nothing short of nuts.

Most folks around age 65 have only given themselves a few short weeks to figure out what to do and when to apply. That’s not enough time. 

But Medicare doesn’t stop with parts and pieces

Creating your Medicare recipe is just not that easy. There is much more to it than parts and pieces. Enter the insurance companies, hospital systems, doctors, outpatient service providers, and nurses. Add in drug manufacturers, drug insurers, pharmacies, and PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers).

Let’s not forget the actuaries, hedge fund managers, and lawyers who are deeply involved. And the cherry on top of this Medicare sundae is none other than our Congress.

Have you noticed I haven’t mentioned a key ingredient in this crazy collection of rules and regulations? What’s missing is us. We, the people. The American retirees who have worked 40 to 50 years. It’s all of us who expected to be afforded a simple, clear, comprehensive health insurance program that supported our aging bodies, minds, and needs.

Oh, wow, we were really wrong.

Creating your Medicare recipe wasn’t always so convoluted

Medicare was much easier and more affordable at the outset. Back in the 1960s and 1970s. There were only two parts. Medicare Part A covered hospitalization. Medicare Part B covered doctors and outpatient procedures. Almost all workers retired—or had to retire—at age 65. They claimed Social Security right away, and Medicare Parts A and B automatically started. Done. One short application and you were done.

Key to starting your recipe is figuring out when to apply for Medicare Part A. You magically need to know that it’s retroactive in some cases. You’ll need to enroll in Part B at the appropriate time to avoid a permanent penalty. (That’s an additional charge on your monthly premium for your entire retirement.) Then, you’ll select a Medigap plan and a standalone Part D plan. You’ll get cost savings on your prescriptions with the Part D plan.

Those are the basic ingredients to creating your Medicare recipe.

Now you’ll need to figure out all the other ingredients

Additional ingredients include cost-sharing plans for dental, vision, and hearing. But do you really need them? You’ll need a budget for out-of-pocket costs for podiatry, upgraded private rooms, acupuncture, over-the-counter drugs, and more. If you go on adventurous trips, you might need travel insurance.

Or you might decide to substitute your homemade Medicare recipe and buy a packaged box of chocolate chip cookies. In that case, you’d choose Part C that wraps in a Part D plan. But you can only do that after you enroll in Medicare A and B.

You might find this earlier post helpful to see a visual of all these pieces and parts. You’ll find a free worksheet you can download. It’s a good starting point to understand what you are up against. For both the number of ingredients in your Medicare recipe and how to plan for costs.

Don’t get too bogged down. There’s help out there

Are you lost yet? I know I was when I first started researching Medicare.

When I started writing this book, I thought about calling it “Medicare’s Mysteries & Mayhem.” Or “The Medicare Mess.” But those names, while true, won’t really help you.

Instead, I wanted to focus on consumer advocacy. My goal was to make it easier for you to apply for Medicare. I’ve watched too many folks glaze over and slump in their chairs. It is daunting to slog through the layers of Medicare muck. It’s really not fair.

However crazy the system is, it’s the only one we’ve got. Like it. Hate it. Frankly, it just doesn’t matter. One thing most of us agree on is that the healthcare system in America is terribly broken. We’re not here to fix it.

Rather, we need to understand Medicare as a law. It’s a completely dysfunctional system with ridiculous levels of confusion. We’re not going to meaningfully fix any of it in our lifetimes. So, we’d better figure out how to use it correctly now. Because it only gets more complex as we get older.

My book can help you with Medicare

I specifically laid out this book with an orderly structure. It’s much like following a recipe for something you’ve never baked before. I’ve broken down each part of Medicare. Explained the pros and cons of your decisions. And focused on helping you understand when to apply. Lots of folks should not claim at age 65.

Spend a couple of hours reading this book. You’ll have the best possible chance to create the Medicare recipe that works for you. Inside you’ll find:

• Some basics about the Medicare law and why it works the way it does.
• Explanations of the various parts and pieces of Medicare. You need multiple parts to ensure you’re getting comprehensive, complete health insurance in your older years. Medicare is not just one thing.
• Examples and scenarios to show you how to figure out how much your health insurance may cost you. And how to plan for future costs. There is nothing affordable about healthcare in America today.
• A “recipe card” so you can build your plan for how and when to enroll in each Medicare ingredient on time. This way, you avoid any gaps in health insurance coverage. And, importantly, avoid any penalties for arriving late to this party.

This is the best way I have found to help people tackle this Medicare maze. It’s a matter of knowing the right ingredients, taking the right steps in the right order, and setting the temperature correctly. I’m so happy to share it with you.

Let’s get started on our baking project. Set the timer. You’ll be 65 before you know it!