Medicare For Dummies - Barry Patricia

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      Patricia Barry

      Medicare For Dummies®

      Medicare For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

      Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

      Copyright © 2015 by AARP. All rights reserved. AARP is a registered trademark.

      Published simultaneously in Canada

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      Library of Congress Control Number: 2015945379

      ISBN 978-1-119-29339-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-29658-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-29659-1 (ebk)

      Medicare For Dummies, 2nd Edition (9781119293392) was previously published as Medicare For Dummies, 2nd Edition (9781119079422). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

      Introduction

      For most people, turning 65 or otherwise becoming eligible for Medicare feels like stepping into alien territory without a map. The signposts you think should be there often aren’t immediately visible. When you ask for directions, you can’t always be sure you’re being pointed down the right path.

      Medicare For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is the map you need. It gives accurate, practical information about Medicare in plain language. It shows you how to skirt pitfalls and avoid wrong turns that can cost you dearly. My goal is to help you make informed, confident decisions that take you where you want to be. How can I promise that? Because this book is, in essence, the result of thousands of questions I’ve received over the years from people just like you.

      I know from many of those questions that people eligible for Medicare often receive incorrect information from sources – such as government officials – they should be able to trust. That’s why, in these pages, I not only give you info that’s firmly based in law but sometimes also identify certain specific regulations (by name, number, and website) that you can use if you need to prove to an official the legal authority for a particular point about eligibility, enrollment, late penalties, and so on. You can’t find these useful references, which I offer as a kind of consumer empowerment, in other guides.

      Confusion about Medicare is almost inevitable for two main reasons. Its regulations apply to different people in different ways, according to their specific circumstances, so the decisions you need to make may be unlike the next person’s. Also, it offers an array of choices that can be bewildering if you don’t know how to sift through them to get to the one that’s right for you.

      So think of your Medicare card as your passport into the terrain of guaranteed health care, where you’re welcome regardless of income or preexisting medical conditions, but you still have to find your way around. And consider this book the road map that helps you navigate the highways and some of the more obscure byways of that system and keeps you on track.

About This Book

      Medicare For Dummies gives you a lot to chew on, but don’t worry; you can take small bites. What you personally need to read depends on your situation and on whether you’re using this book to help yourself or somebody else.

      In this book, you find out what you need to know to get through the Medicare maze and get the most out of your coverage. You find answers to some questions that are barely addressed – and sometimes not touched upon at all – in official consumer publications about the program. You discover where to turn for additional help, if you need it. And, as in any For Dummies book, you can easily locate and understand the specific information you’re looking for because of the reader-friendly organization and straightforward language.

      As you may expect from a program run partly by a federal bureaucracy and partly by private insurance plans, you’re going to meet some unavoidable jargon in this book. These terms are worth getting to know because notices you get from the government or the plans – or any to-and-fros you have with either – will be easier to understand. So I use the following conventions:

      ❯❯ I explain new terms in Medicare-speak the first time they appear in the text. They’re also defined in the glossary in Appendix B.

      ❯❯ When you see the word Medicare used on its own, it usually means the whole Medicare program (as in “When you join Medicare …”). Sometimes it means the federal agency that runs Medicare (as in “Medicare may send you a notice …”). The agency’s official name, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), appears as the source of information in some tables.

      ❯❯ I typically refer to the basic Medicare program (Part A plus Part B) as “traditional Medicare.” I call the private plans that comprise the alternative Part C program “Medicare Advantage plans” or “Medicare health plans.”

      ❯❯ I use the terms Part D and Medicare drug coverage interchangeably to discuss the Medicare prescription drug program. I refer to the plans that provide this coverage as “Part D plans” or “Medicare drug plans.”

      Feel free to skip anything marked with the Technical Stuff icon as well as the sidebars – those chunks of text that appear in shaded boxes. They’re not necessary to understanding how to find your way through Medicare. Still, you may find them interesting. Ever wonder how on earth Congress dreamed up some of the more oddball bits of this program? You can find the answers in sidebars scattered throughout this book.

      Within

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