Signing up for Medicare

Two Days left until I retire!

A big step in preparing for retirement, for those of us over 65, is lining up Medicare.

Today, let's talk about my experience with Medicare..

...and all the possibilities and parts offered by Medicare.. 

...and after having secured all of the necessary parts, how grateful I am that I have a background in procuring medical benefits for others over the past 41 years.

When you reach the time to sign up for Medicare, and all of the parts, make sure to find someone you trust to walk you through it.  My head spun with all of the choices.

The process sucked. I was instructed by the Medicare site to wait until December 1, 2022, to apply for benefits to start on January 1st. I sent my packet in on November 23rd asking for a start date of January 1st. I was told that it would take 60 days to process. So, wait, I can't submit earlier than 30 days before I need it but it takes up to 60 days to process? That's crazy making. And even though I'm healthy today, WHAT IF I'M SUDDENLY SICK BEFORE THE COVERAGE KICKS IN???

The good news is that by December 16th our coverage was actually approved effective January 1st. Which frankly means my worrying window of November 23rd until January 31st was totally cut short.

I am grateful that Joe and I are healthy. 

I do know that Medicare and our supplemental package will be costing us 1/5th of what my employer has paid to cover us over the past eight years.

A shout out to those of you already on Medicare:  I admire you. You are a warrior! Signing up for Medicare is not for the faint of heart.