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Sixty-five can be considered the golden age because once you hit it, you don’t have to worry about all your retirement going towards health insurance. It’s hard enough planning for retirement and trying to decide how much money you will need to live off of comfortably for the rest of your life; and adding healthcare costs into the equation can get extremely overwhelming. There is good news though, everyone over 65 qualifies for Medicare. If you are thinking about retirement soon or just curious about how Medicare works, we have it all detailed out for you on what it is, how it works, and the major financial benefit it can have for you.

 

What is Medicare?

Medicare is affordable health insurance exclusively for seniors. You can apply for Medicare 3 months before you turn 65. You may be eligible to sign up and start receiving benefits a little earlier if you have a qualifying disability. There are multiple different subtypes of Medicare plans available to enroll in and all you have to do is choose the plan that best fits your current healthcare needs.

 

How It Works

Medicare is divided into 4 different parts; part A, B, D, and Medigap. Part A is essentially hospital insurance. It covers anything from hospital visits, nursing facility care, and home health care. Part B is more of your basic medical insurance. It helps to cover your normal doctor visits, outpatient care, home health visits, medical equipment like wheelchairs and walkers, and preventative services like vaccinations and screenings. Part D is your prescription drug coverage. This can be paired with your Medicare Plan selection or added to private insurance if you have it and helps to save money on your prescriptions your private insurance otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Medigap is Medicare Supplemental Insurance. This is extra insurance you can purchase from a private insurance company to help with the cost of your bill. Some states refer to Medigap as plan G or K.

 

The Financial Benefit

Private insurance is usually offered at no cost to you or at least a discounted rate through your employer. This is because the company purchases the insurance for a large group of people, i.e. your whole company, so they basically get a buying in bulk discount. Once you retire, if you decide to keep the same health insurance your employer has offered to you, the rates go up because you will no longer be included in that group of people. Medicare helps seniors who have retired get affordable healthcare so all their retirement isn’t gone in one instant if some unforeseen health problem occurs. Of course there is a cost to having Medicare, but the cost is much less than private insurance or paying out of pocket for medical expenses. If you don’t like the thought of having another payment to worry about each month, you can elect to get the bill deducted from your social security check.

 

Medicare is not for everyone, and you may not need it right away. Take advantage of the plans and parts that can help you and know that it is always there if you find yourself needing it sometime.

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