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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Stacey Hyde
and I'm back for another episode

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of Better Financial Health in
15 Minutes or Less, and today's

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topic is going to be geared
toward those of our listeners

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who are a little bit older
either early retirees or

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soon-to-be retirees that are
looking toward Medicare, and the

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reason they are is they're like
my medical insurance will

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finally be free.

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I've been paying into Medicare
all these years and now I won't

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have to pay for it.

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Well, that's not exactly true,
and also people get confused

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because there's so many
different parts of Medicare.

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Medicare Part A is free for
most people because you've paid

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into it over time and that
covers hospital stays and bills,

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but there is a deductible of
$1,600 per hospital stay.

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And then you have Part B.

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This is your doctors, your
medical tests, things of that

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nature.

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It has a premium of just under
$175 a month, so definitely not

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free.

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And then there's also all sorts
of co-pays and out-of-pockets

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depending on what you're doing
that are set by Medicare Too

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many to go into.

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Medicaregov is a great site.

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I would encourage you, if
you're looking for information

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on Medicare, to actually type
that into your browser

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Medicaregov.

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That way you know you're not on
some other site, because a lot

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of sites try to spoof that.

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So I think you're safer, rather
than doing a Google search,

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just type that into your
browser's address bar and get

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the real thing and it'll show
you exactly what your

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responsibilities are.

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And then part D is drugs.

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Well, you might say, stacy, you
skipped C.

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What is C?

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Part C is Medicare Advantage.

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Those are the all-in-one plans
where you still have to pay your

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Part B premiums, but it groups
together your A, b and your D.

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The difference between that and
traditional Medicare is the

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insurance company creates a
network of doctors that may or

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may not include your doctor, so
it's more similar to what you're

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used to when you're employed.

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As far as being limited to you
know one hospital system versus

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another.

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Certain doctors groups are
included, certain ones are not.

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They also tend to be very
location specific and have

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limited benefits outside of your
particular area.

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They got real popular for a
while because the insurance

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companies were making a lot of
money on them, and so they

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started offering vision benefits
and some dental benefits and

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things of that nature.

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As I've said here on the
podcast before, not really a fan

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of them.

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And then there's also, if you
have traditional Medicare and

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you have A, b and D, you're.

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We also recommend that you have
a supplement plan, and what the

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supplement does is it steps in
and pays those out-of-pocket

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co-pays the $1,600 that we
talked about for hospital stay,

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the other testing co-pays, that
sort of thing and those run

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about $150 a month, depending on
your age and whether you got it

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during your initial enrollment
period.

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So then you have obviously your
premiums that we talked about.

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You'll have your Part B
deductible, which is rents in

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the low 200s.

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But if you have a Plan G
supplement, most everything will

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be covered after that.

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So, adding that up, you're
looking at about $400 a month

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per person for just the premiums
and then you have the Part B

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deductible and then you have any
drug cost.

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But what a lot of people miss
are if your income is over as a

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married couple, over about
$213,000, over as a married

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couple of over about $213,000,
not your taxable income but the

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big adjusted gross income on
your tax return you have to pay

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higher Medicare premiums and
they can be substantially higher

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, you know, four times the base
premium, which can really add up

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for a couple.

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Also, dental and vision and
hearing are generally not

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covered.

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Some Medicare supplements will
have limited dental.

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They may cover cleanings and
they may offer some discounts

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for vision.

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I will say for the plans that
I've looked at the dental and

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vision plans they don't make a
lot of sense because you're

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paying in premium essentially
almost what the maximum that the

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policy would cover anyway.

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You're better off talking to
your dentist, particularly if

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you've been going to that
dentist for a long time and

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saying, hey, I don't have dental
insurance anymore.

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If I agree to pay you, you know
, at the time of service you

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don't have to chase me for a
bill Will you give me the same

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discounts that you were giving
my insurance company?

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And most of the time they will,
because they're happy to not

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have to deal with the insurance
company.

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And then for vision, you know
you can go to the Costco or the

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Walmart.

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I've had great personal
experience with Costco Vision

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Center, great pricing there.

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But I still go to my long-time
optometrist for my exams and

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that sort of thing.

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And then you've got inflation
and these premiums do go up

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every year, both for Medicare,
part B and your insurance.

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So you need to plan for about
$6,000 to $10,000 per year per

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person, even in retirement on
Medicare.

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If you were fortunate enough to
have a HSA during your working

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years, guess what.

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You can still pull money out of
that and use it to offset these

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costs, which is a big reason
that we oftentimes tell people,

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if they can afford it, let their
HSA grow during their working

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years and use it for these
premiums in retirement.

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And in many cases it makes
sense to coordinate your Social

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Security start date with your
Medicare start date so that you

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can have your Medicare premiums
deducted from your Social

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Security benefits.

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So that would be starting at 65
versus 67.

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If you don't want to start it
then pulled out to get the

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maximum benefit, then you will
actually have to mail in your

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Medicare Part B premiums on a
quarterly basis.

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They don't allow you to pay
monthly.

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You have to pay them quarterly.

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So Medicare is not a free ride
but it can be a pretty

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predictable and you definitely
don't have the assuming you have

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traditional Medicare and a
supplement.

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You don't have the risk of huge
out-of-pocket costs like you

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used to have, especially now.

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Some people would have large
prescription drug costs, but now

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those are capped at $2,000 a
year currently.

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So review your Medicare cost
open enrollment for if you're

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using Medicare Advantage open
enrollment and if you have a

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prescription drug plan which I
hope you do both of those open

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for enrollment in October and
goes through.

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I believe it's December 7th.

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So it's important to go and
look and make sure that, even if

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you like your plan, to make
sure that there's no changes

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coming for this year, that the
doctors haven't changed, the

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networks haven't changed and
some of the benefits haven't

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changed, because what I'm
reading is that some of the

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insurance have dialed back some
of the benefits.

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So you really want to make sure
you pay attention this year.

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You don't just assume that
everything's going to be okay.

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So happy shopping for Medicare.

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It is a great program, but you
definitely need to pay attention

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to the details.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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This has been another episode
of Better Financial Health in 15

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Minutes or Less.