Oh my goodness! I assumed signing up for Medicare would be straightforward. After all, I'm reasonably organized, I make lists, and I generally like knowing exactly what I'm supposed to do.
When I turned 65, I signed up for Medicare Part A. Signing up for Part A wasn't difficult nor very time consuming. Since I am still working full-time, I didn't sign up for Part B. I continued on my employer's plan - a major plan plus a gap insurance.
Let me just say this from the very beginning. I realize I am spoiled when it comes to health insurance. When I was young and worked for a very large international corporation, I had excellent insurance. When Laura and Glenn were born six weeks early, there were two of every specialist in the delivery room. We arrived at the hospital in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and stayed until Sunday afternoon - all three of us! The bill was large, but all we had to pay for was the TV and telephone. That was it! (also, how funny - no cell phones! We had to pay for an in-room phone!)
When I became a SAHM, all three of us were on Mark's insurance. He had a hefty monthly payment to cover all of us but the three of us stayed on his policy. When Glenn got married and was gainfully employed with benefits, he came off the policy. When Laura had good insurance through the state (school teacher), she came off Mark's policy. At that point, I came off and went on the church's insurance. Over all of these years, our coverage has been great except for one year - I think Mark's company changed to United for a year. Thank goodness that only lasted a year! It was not great!
This summer, it was time to sign up for the next part of Medicare. My quest to change started mid-June. I tried to register online . . . but my information would never load. I finally mailed actual pieces of paper to Medicare. It took forever for them to receive it and to process it.
Finally, about a week ago I was able to have a very long phone appointment with our insurance broker. She gave me three options and I chose one. I received a new insurance card today. Woo hoo!
Navigating the Medicare road was time consuming and it was not easy. I hope I made the right choice. Was this process easy for those of you who are now on Medicare?
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