Master The Medicare Maze

Making a wrong move when dealing with this health insurance giant can cost you plenty. A retirement expert guides you through the system’s twists and turns.

 

- Philip Moeller

MEDICARE IS “complicated and often opaque and impenetrable,” says MONEY contributor Philip Moeller, coauthor of the bestseller Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security. That’s a shame, given the impact Medicare—the health insurance program covering more than 95% of Americans 65 and older— can have on your life. Medicare households spend 15% of their budget on health care, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation, compared with the U.S. average of 7%. The wrong coverage or a missed deadline can not only cost you thousands but also threaten your health.

To guide you through the morass, Moeller has written Get What’s Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs, due out on Oct. 4. In the book, Moeller walks you through the system’s many complexities, including sign-up windows, coverage options, and provider quality.

On the following pages are five key pieces of advice drawn from Moeller’s new book. They’ll help you save money while ensuring you get the quality care you deserve.

Know Your True Deadline

Signing up for Medicare can cause a major brain freeze. The circumstances under which you do or don’t need Medicare at age 65 are often unclear. And you face potentially harsh financial penalties if you get the decision wrong.

Let’s say you are 65 or older and are covered by a current employer’s group health insurance policy, either through your own job or your spouse’s. In most cases you don’t have to sign up for Medicare. Only once your or your spouse’s coverage as an active employee ends does the clock start ticking. You have eight months after that to sign up for Medicare.