Preparing For And Living With Medicare 2006: Sample Chapter

Free Sample Chapter:

"Why Medicare May Not Be Enough"

I’ve got Medicare and it’s costing me $88.50 a month. Why do I need anything else? We get asked that question a lot. Many seniors think that Medicare is supposed to take care of most or all of their medical needs once they get ready to retire and take life easy.

Not only doesn’t it cover nearly as much as one would hope for, it is extremely complex and confusing. Instead of taking life easy when it comes to healthcare, you have to be even more alert and on your toes. Ouch! The rules are much more complex than almost any prior coverage you may have had.

Take for example the fact that COBRA isn’t considered as active insurance in determining certain Medicare eligibility periods. Or learn that foreign travel isn’t covered, and, oh yes, that cruise to Alaska on a cruise ship registered to a foreign country is likely to be considered foreign travel.

Most commercial insurance policies have a deductible followed by a period of shared expenses, often a 20% 80% sharing with you contributing the 20%, after which they take over and pay 100%. With Medicare, the 20% can go on forever since, unlike most individual and group policies, there is no upper limit.

Medicare Supplements and Medicare Advantage plans are designed to cover many of the medical expenses that Medicare alone does not cover. Even these supplemental plans do not cover everything and some of items not covered may surprise you.

Take a look at this chapter to see that you have to be one of two things to survive Medicare coverage alone. You either have to be healthy, thereby not needing any medical services, or you have to be extremely wealthy to take on the risk of what Medicare doesn’t cover. See for yourself.

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