Did you know that around 44 million people are enrolled in the Medicare program in the United States? If you are looking into Medicare for yourself because you qualify but you are not sure which plan is best for you, you are in the right place! Keep reading our Medicare guide below to learn the ins and outs of the program.
What Is Medicare?
Medicare can get confusing rather quickly because of all the terminology and all the options when it comes to medicare supplement plans. First, you want to keep in mind that Medicare is for anyone that is 65+ years old that is a citizen or a permanent resident that has lived in the U.S. for the last five years.
To make it easier we have broken down the four main parts that Medicare is divided into to help you understand it a little better.
Part A
This is the hospital coverage in the policy you choose. This coverage will pay for your room and board while you are in the hospital or in a skilled nursing facility. When you apply for Medicare you will automatically be enrolled in Part A so you don’t have to worry about figuring out whether you need to choose this option or not.
The majority of people do not have to pay a premium for Part A because you have paid into this system via your Medicare tax deductions during your working years.
Part B
Part B is your outpatient coverage. This includes everything from doctors’ visits to lab work to surgeries to equipment plus more. If you are still working and you have insurance through your job you can opt to defer signing up for Plan B to save yourself some money.
Plan B, unlike Plan A, will have a monthly premium, an annual deductible, and you have to pay 20% of the bills.
Part C
This is called the Medicare advantage which is the private health insurance alternative to the original Medicare. This is an option you can choose if you want to make sure that you are covered for extras such as shower grips, wheelchair ramps, meal delivery, etc.
Part D
If you know that you will need prescription drugs then you can buy Part D through a private insurer. With Part D, Medicare will pay for some of your prescription drugs.
Most of the plans have monthly premiums and copays or other out of pocket expenses plus annual deductibles.
Keep This Medicare Guide Handy
Now that you have this handy medicare guide, make sure that you bookmark this page to have as a reference in the future. Although Medicare can seem overwhelming and right out scary at first, we hope that the blog post above has made it a little less intimidating.
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