This is the time of the year when everyone in the left-wing press (that is, every newspaper and magazine you read) falls all over themselves to supposedly help us "old folks" with Medicare. Almost all the advice you read in such sources is useless (such as in this article in the Christian Scient Monitor), wrong because the author is clueless (see American Grandparents Association errors noted here) or totally politicized wrong (see this crap from some guy named Muleshine out of New Jersey).
The one thing none of these millions of useless words by ditzy reporters ever mention is that the October 15-December 7 annual "Medicare open enrollment" timeframe has nothing to do with Medicare. It's only about Part C Medicare health plans and Part D standalone drug plans. You already have to be enrolled in Medicare to do anything about Parts C or D. And only about 20% of the people on Medicare are strictly affected by the six-week timeframe because the law makes a lot of exceptions and a lot of people get retiree medical insurance.
The really important news is hidden by the government. What is actually new with Medicare itself? The answer is nothing. There are still lifetime limits. There is still no catastrophic coverage. There is still no important preventative tests. Medicare still sucks.
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