August 27, 2009
Letters advertising Medicare supplement insurance started to swamp our snail mailbox in the spring, just months before my husband would turn 65 in mid-August.
He did not want a birthday party, no gifts, no big deal made of his birthday; he certainly did not want to hear about Medicare.
Just let this milestone pass into oblivion, he insisted.
"I don't want to be reminded of my birthday," he reiterated, "It's already bad enough that I am the speed limit on U.S. 50 Highway."
Whether he wanted it or not, an avalanche of Medicare letters deluged upon us all saying the same thing.
"Birthday alert. Birthday alert! Have you signed up for Medicare?"
Technically speaking, signing up for Medicare is not mandatory, but good luck if you don't.
We wondered what he should do? What Medicare "Part" should he take? Part A? Part B? Part D?
"There are just too many "Parts," hubby said.
Eventually, he acquiesced to the relentless direct mail pressure and trekked down to the closest Social Security office to sign up.
In truth, Medicare is really quite simple, according to the government. Here is an explanation of an abridged version:
If you have either or both Part A and Part B, you will need a Part D, that is unless you have a group plan already. If you do not get on a plan when first eligible you can only get on a plan from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31 of each year with an effective date of Jan. 1. Then comes the penalty, 1% of the national average of all Part D plans for each month you are without it.
The penalties for Part B and Part D are permanent and will be added each month forever, so if you are eligible and delay it, that can add up to a lot of dollars.
Confused yet? We are, still.
And, to make a long story short, as the saying goes, the direct mail barrage did not stop long after hubby signed up for Medicare and a supplemental insurance plan.
Bored with too much information, he quit reading the mail and began throwing most of it in the trash, day after day.
To our surprise about two weeks after he enrolled, we received a 10x12 official-looking packet of information from hubby's new supplemental insurance company. The letter referred to Part J insurance cards, his I.D. number, and how to use the Part J card.
You should have your Part J cards by now, the letter added.
"What is Part J?" I asked, completely unfamiliar with the term.
"I don't know," the spousal unit agreed. "Oh yeah, I remember now. Some insurance cards came the other day that said Part J on them, but I thought it was a joke. Some sort of con. How many Parts can there be, so I threw them away."
I think we might be starting over.
