As a young lad from Liverpool once sang, "It was 50 years ago today..."
Well, maybe not exactly today, but this summer, Medicare will have been around saving lives and improving health outcomes for 50 years. Incredible. I've had a special relationship with Medicare during my career. When first working with Medicare consumers about 15 years ago, I saw how flawlessly (relatively) it worked compared to my own healthcare plan at the time. When I later went to work on the advocacy side at the Medicare Rights Center (a wonderful and smart NYC-based organization), I think it's safe to say I went full-blown Medicare nerd. I even wrote a policy brief on it. And when not fulling my role as a geriatric care manager in NYC, I spend my days on the provider side at NY Presbyterian Hospital, and have been able to see more clearly the Medicare issues that affect doctors, and how that, in turn, can impact care.
Through it all, I remain a major fan of the program, and have no problem saying that I think people are living longer, and not going broke as often in old age, because of it. It's an exemplary social program.
In honor of it's birthday, I wanted to post a couple helpful Medicare tips and facts for anybody on Medicare, or for people who work with Medicare consumers.
I can talk about baseball, long-distance running, Sichuan food, my kids, and Medicare pretty much all day. Feel free to contact me sometime and we'll chat about it.
Maybe you've guessed I also like the Beatles. You didn't think I'd start a blog post with a song lyric and not link to the song, did you?
Through it all, I remain a major fan of the program, and have no problem saying that I think people are living longer, and not going broke as often in old age, because of it. It's an exemplary social program.
In honor of it's birthday, I wanted to post a couple helpful Medicare tips and facts for anybody on Medicare, or for people who work with Medicare consumers.
- Though relatively inexpensive as far as health insurance programs go, there are so many ways to help keep your medicare costs down, particularly if you are in the dreaded (yet slowly shrinking) "donut hole". Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help are two of those ways.
- Do you have original Medicare with a Medigap supplemental plan? Did you know that once you find the Medigap plan "letter" you want, that you should pick the cheapest one? It's true, all Medigap plans of a single letter are basically identical as far as coverage goes. Don't go for the one you saw advertise on TV. Guess who's paying for that ad? Yep, it's you! Here's a handy chart of current Medigap costs by plan letter.
I can talk about baseball, long-distance running, Sichuan food, my kids, and Medicare pretty much all day. Feel free to contact me sometime and we'll chat about it.
Maybe you've guessed I also like the Beatles. You didn't think I'd start a blog post with a song lyric and not link to the song, did you?
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