On this blog, I have written -- here and many times over the year that this blog has existed -- about some of the problems those of us who depend on the Medicare bureaucracy have with it and other difficult aspects of using Medicare and the multiple supplemental policies you have to get because Original LBJ/Democratic-Party Medicare is so limited. Sorry but I'm just like everyone else; I tend to be critical but not always constructively.
So I decided -- before the annual Medicare Part C and Part D enrollment period begins next week -- to make a list of the best things about Medicare. But after this post, I'll go back to pointing out all the system's faults and what to watch out for as you review your coverage for 2015
- You already paid for most of your Medicare. Don't believe the propaganda from both the left and the right that you are a moocher who is getting something for nothing. You paid taxes for 50 years, both payroll and income, and it's financially demonstrable that those taxes at net present value -- plus the pooling effect of everyone else's tax payments and the Medicare premiums you continue to pay until they put you in the ground -- cover what you will get out of the Medicare system unless you live to be well over 85. (And if you do live that long, it's OK to mooch in my opinion.)
- Medicare reminds you to use it. Actually Social Security reminds you to use your Medicare. It's important to get annual checkups and tests and looking at that Medicare premium deduction from your SS check every month should remind you to get the checkups and test. (Granted not all Medicare supplements cover annual check ups and not all the tests are that useful but more on that in future posts. The important thing is to get you up off your duff and into the doctor's office before the EMTs have to come to your house and take you screaming down the Interstate in an ambulance.)
- Medicare is fairly easy to use. Or at least, it's no more difficult to deal with than the Registry or the IRS. (Notice I underlined use. It's not so easy to choose, which is why I write some of these blog posts.)
- Almost every doctor and hospital accepts Medicare. There is a lot of publicity about the fact that doctors might drop Medicare patients1. I believe in what I call the Willie Sutton effect when it comes to doctors dropping Medicare patients. Willie Sutton supposedly said he robbed banks because that's where the money is. I think doctors will keep taking us Medicare patients because we're the ones that get sick.
- There is all kinds of assistance if you need it. There is assistance to help you sign up at most senior centers. And there is assistance to help you pay for both Original Medicare insurance and Medicare supplements if you need that assistance. Again, you paid for it for 50 years; don't be afraid to ask.
1There has been a lot of publicity particularly concerning dropped hospitals and doctors in Connecticutt. That publicity shows that the dropping usually works the other way: insurers drop the doctors. Either way, check with your doctor and favored provider regularly to see what insurance they accept. I support legislature from an otherwise far-left-wing loon from Connecticutt that says plans can't drop doctors and hospitals during a plan year.