Medicare is your health insurance after the age of 65 in the U.S. Unless you are still covered by your employer’s health plan, you must enroll in Medicare before you can get additional private Medicare supplement coverage.

Part A is medical insurance for hospital visits and is free for most people.

Part B is medical insurance for doctor visits and other health care providers and is not free. Current monthly premiums are $104.90 in 2014 or higher if you’re wealthy.

Part C: See below

Part D is insurance for drug coverage to help lower drug costs.

Enrollment in Part A & B through the Social Security Administration

There are 2 enrollment periods.

*Initial enrollment period: You have a total of 7 months, 3 months before and 3 months after your birthday month.

* Special enrollment period: For people with employer coverage, you can do the initial sign up right away or within 7 months after your group coverage ends.

If not, you still can enroll during the General Enrollment period, January 1 to March 31 of each year. Late enrollment penalties will be assessed.

After signing up with Part A & B, you can sign up with Part D.

This is the insurance plan you buy to pay for the “gap” that Medicare does not cover such as deductibles, copays, and coinsurances.

Benefits are standardized among all the plans. So whether you buy from Mutual of Omaha, Blue Cross, or AARP, the benefits are the same. Thus, it’s important to find a cost-effective plan that could save you money.

This part includes all the benefits and services covered under Part A & B, It also usually includes Part D.

Part C is an alternative to the original Medicare. Insurers for Part C receive a per capita amount from Medicare to provide this coverage.

Advantage

Put simple, if you want a HMO like Kaiser, you will go to participating doctors and hospitals of their plan in their plan in their network. In this case, you would choose Medicare Advantage (Part C), which is usually cheaper and sometimes no cost.

But if you what to go to the doctors, specialists, and hospitals of your choice, you are better off with a regular Medicare supplement, and you must pay more.

To make it simple:

• If you think about Medicare, you think PPO.
• If you think about Medicare Advantage, you think HMO.

Every year, from October 15 to December 7, you can change your plan during this Annual Election Period if necessary to fit with your health care needs.

Due to the high cost of health care in the U.S., it’s a big concern to both the government and our senior citizens.

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