As "Medicare time1" starts again, it's worth a short post on "Why?"
OK, it's obvious you say but in fact it is not. Most people -- including we seniors -- buy healthcare insurance to cover small or relatively small gaps in the low end of the health-care cost equation. If that's you it's as if you are buying auto insurance to pay for oil changes in your car. It's OK if you want to do that but that is not the reason you buy any kind of insurance (and it is not very cost effective).
Unfortunately there is no easy way to say this: You buy supplemental Medicare insurance because Original LBJ/Democratic-Party/"Medicare as we know it" Medicare sucks. If you're unsure of that statement, remind yourself that over 90% of us on Original Medicare get some kind of Medicare supplement. We can't all be wrong. (The other 3%-6% or so must be very rich or betting we are going to be very, very lucky.)
In what way is Original Medicare crappy insurance? To answer that, remember why you buy any kind of insurance -- fire, auto, theft, disability, etc. It's to protect yourself on the high side against getting wiped out financially. Original LBJ//Democratic-Party Medicare ("Medicare as we know it") does not provide that protection. Original Medicare limits the benefits it will pay out over your lifetime in general and in particular it does not provide catastrophic coverage or include annual out of pocket spending limits. It's only coincidental that Original LBJ/Democratic-Party Medicare also has very high co-pays and deductibles compared to any healthcare insurance you have had over your working lives and so is crappy on the low side too. But protection on the high side why you buy supplemental Medicare insurance.
There are all kinds of supplemental Medicare insurances and I'll post about their how tos and why not tos during the next 30-40 days. But whatever choice(s) you make, you want to make sure that you do do something when it comes to supplementing crappy Democratic-Party Medicare.
1Everyone calls October 15 to December 7 "Medicare open enrollment time." It's not really. It sounds like a nit on my part I know but calling this time of year "Medicare open enrollment time" may confuse people not yet on Medicare. And supposedly there are tens of thousands of people in their early 60s lining up every week to join those of us over 65 in "old age." So just in case you're 64 (or 63 or 62), now is NOT the time you sign up for Medicare. It's the time when you review Medicare supplemental insurances you already have in preparation for next year IF you do not get supplemental insurance from a former employer or union or IF you are not getting Extra Help from the Federal government to pay for some or all of your Medicare. (That's right: I said Medicare insurances, plural. See other posts on this blog. Welcome to old age in America.)
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