In a quick, bold move on a hot July day, my family’s world went from employed to retired.
In that moment, there were a lot of questions that needed attention and answers, but to the uninformed (my husband and I), these questions did not immediately present themselves.
Fortunately, our Retirement Road has had wonderful effects on my husband… more relaxed, less stress, physically getting enough sleep and feeling better. The strain of a manufacturing job at the age of 66 is a hard reality. Unfortunately, the same road has been a puzzling series of twists and turns that have required many opportunities to educate ourselves on unexpected topics.
Our first stop on the Road was a trip to Social Security where my husband checked into Medicare since we lost our insurance coverage in this move. He was given immediate help to get signed up and it took a load off our minds to know that he would be covered almost immediately. (Fortunately he retired at the end of the month, so his new coverage started within days.) That left me to pursuing my own coverage through my workplace. It took a month to kick in, but we were covered and things were back on track.
Check off the insurance need on our Retirement Road checklist!
But… several months later, we discovered that we had NOT covered our bases completely. Medicare has many parts that we were not sufficiently educated about.
There are 4 parts to Medicare that need to be considered when getting signed up. Briefly they are:
- Part A – Hospitalization
- Part B – Medical
- Part C – a combination of B (medical) and D (prescription)
- Part D = Prescription
face penalties.
We had signed up for only Part B which placed us in the position of facing possible penalties which we were not aware of, not to mention the loss of hospitalization and prescription coverage which is obviously of extreme importance.
The downside that we found ourselves facing were penalties that would be charged because we did not have continuous prescription coverage. Our missing 4 months of non-coverage has yet to be determined as to the penalty, if any, that we will need to pay. We now wait to see how much we may have to pay as the wheels turn slowly.
The next decision we had to make was whether to take Part B and Part D or to sign up for the combined Part C. In a nutshell, Part C is Medical and Prescription coverage which is apparently cheaper that B and D together, but the benefits that they pay out are fewer. If we have very few medical claims, which we do, this might be a good choice and one that we considered for awhile. As we age, that situation will most assuredly change, though. So… simple solution… get Part C for now and change to the more expensive B and D later.
Yes???
NO! It turns out that once you take Part C, you are no longer eligible to change to Parts B and D. Locked in! This would not work for us personally.
Another detail in signing up for the coverage was finding an insurance company that would cover our choices. Holy, Toledo!!!! So many choices!!!!
We looked through the options and checked out the benefits and made as good a choice as we could. We did check with our doctor and pharmacy to make sure that what we chose would be accepted by them. It was no surprise that our doctor would not accept just any insurance. This piece of information actually limited our choices, which didn’t necessarily give us the “best” choices, but did make our decision easier.
Fortunately, we do have the option of changing our insurance company once a year in November when open enrollment starts. At least, we will only be locked in for a year and can tweak our choices if we find that there are better options.
At this point, 4 months after retirement, we have our insurance needs met, hopefully with a plan that will be affordable and workable for us.
In the long run, we learned several VERY important things about Retirement and Medicare:
Don’t assume that anyone you are talking to is giving you the complete information that you need. Do your own research. Talk to friends and family who have already walked this road. Seek out counseling from trusted individuals. The internet can be your friend if you carefully watch your sources and compare the information you are finding.
Medical insurance (Part B) is NOT the only insurance you need. Think ahead as to whether Part C or a combination of Parts B and D will work best for you. Don’t forget to consider Part A.
Check with your doctor to see what insurance companies are accepted at their facility and look for the best option within those choices.
Get prescription coverage right away to avoid the possibility of being charged penalties for not being covered.
In truth, I talked with a wonderful lady on the phone with Medicare who helped walk me through many of the specifics of these choices. I had learned many of the pitfalls I had already fallen into, but she was very patient in helping me filter through the website and the tools they have available to help you make your choices. I was not totally impressed with the help we originally received from our Social Security office in regards to Medicare, but it did reinforce the truth that we need to be informed when we make such important decisions. They may have assumed we already knew what we wanted. Talk with several individuals before deciding you have done all that needs to be done. I have received MANY, MANY pieces of mail in the past few months offering help in choosing our Medicare coverage. While we didn’t use any of these services, I’m convinced that some of them would have been very helpful if I had not already done some research before.
Retirement can be a wonderful journey, but don’t forget to light your path while you are smelling the roses.
Stay tuned for more insights on our Retirement Road in future posts. If you are beginning your own journey, good luck in finding the options best for you. But most importantly…
Enjoy your journey!!!
My parents retired about 18 months ago and it was such a big process to have everything organised. They aren’t tech people either so I had to help out a bit.
Great that they had a daughter that could step in with the tech end. I’m sure they were so grateful.
My parents are entering the age where this is all necessary to navigate. I suppose it’s helpful for me to be aware, too.
It definitely is something to learn about. I helped my parents a tiny bit. I wish I would have learned more as they went through it.
It’s very good for one to be familiar with these information. As you may never know what benefits are out there if you don’t take time to read up or find out.
Totally agree
This is such good information. I’m only 33, but it’s important to learn about the options that are available when I reach retirement age. Thank you!
Your welcome, Candace. Never too early to begin educating ourselves. Glad you liked it.
I have no earthly idea why this kind of thing is so confusing. But I think it is ridiculous. I’m not anywhere near the age of needing this stuff, but when my mother applied for it, it all seemed so crazy. I always wonder how older people navigate this stuff. Obviously you did your research, but I’m talking about the older than you group. Who don’t use the internet, have trouble hearing on the phone, don’t have an advocate of some sort to help them. It has to be scary or quite challenging for them. This is a great article explaining the differences in coverage though. I know many people who will benefit from this post!
I hope it will help. I know my parents dealt with it years ago, but I think it’s getting worse every year. My husband can hardly hear over the phone, so that observation of yours really applies to us, too. I hadn’t thought about that, but it certainly has made things more difficult as I have to do all the calling and internet stuff. I had not researched much before needing it and I think that is where many, many people are.