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Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
What are the steps we Villagers should take as we move to the 65 year mark with respect to Medicare?
I have almost a year thought to plan.
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The main initial steps are learning about the byzantine Medicare system and choices you have. It’s complicated.
Two areas you might think about to get a fuller understanding of Medicare are: (1) healthcare insurance and (2) healthcare providers. Your personal choices of healthcare providers (e.g., which physician you can see, which cancer center can you go to) may be determined by what Medicare insurance plan you choose.
You can put Medicare consultants into two groups: compensated and not compensated. Generally, the non-compensated Medicare consultants will give you more unbiased information. The State of Florida has an agency that others have mentioned, SHINE, that offers free information for seniors including Medicare information. I believe many compensated Medicare consultants are biased toward Medicare Advantage plans (versus traditional Medicare) because there is more profit for the insurance companies and large health systems, and those organizations have big marketing budgets and pay their agents.
I suggest starting by reading a lot from not-for-profit sources that seem competent (Medicare choices are complicated and overwhelming when first learning about the system). AARP, although they get advertising dollars and tends to get somewhat biased at times, is a relatively good place to start reading about Medicare choices. Then read from there.
The last place I would start learning about Medicare is asking for personal opinions. Start with people who have been trained in that complicated system.
Good luck.