Whether you’re wealthy or not, Medicare is a critical decision to get right. The mistakes are COSTLY no matter what your income and savings are.
I was recently working with a client who was sent to me by their financial planner, and they were in a bit of a mess. The wife stated that her husband “went rogue” on his Medicare decision and joined a plan a friend recommended.
After getting a $5,000 bill from his doctor, he realized that his Medicare plan was not covering his medical expenses.
Even though this family is worth easily over $100 million, none of us want to waste money.
Mistake #1: Getting ALL of the plans you can have.
Usually, I see people get Medicare Advantage or Medicare supplement while they have creditable coverage from an employer plan. They assume, “I can afford it, so why not.”
That’s a big mistake.
Not only can it waste a lot of money, it has long-term implications on the Medicare plan that you can pick if you don’t do it right the first time.
Just because you can afford to get all the health insurance available, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should.
Medicare has very specific rules as to which health insurance is primary, and which one is secondary. They also have very specific insurability rules about changing plans once you’ve already made your first choices.
There IS a methodical process to making your Medicare decision because of how Medicare’s primary and secondary rules work.
Mistake #2: Taking advice from your friends or from insurance agents,
I know that all of our friends have good intentions, but they likely don’t know your whole story. So just because it’s a good plan for Bob doesn’t mean it’s a good plan for you.
Just because agent Suzy wants to sell this plan to you doesn’t mean it’s right for you, your situation is more complicated, and it needs to be thought about accordingly.
Mistake #3: Not getting your doctor’s information before you join Medicare.
The very first step in making your Medicare decision is asking your doctor and other medical providers what type of Medicare they accept.
So again, the plan that Bob had might be great for him. But for my client in my example, it was horrible for many reasons, especially because his doctors, his providers did not take that plan.
Due to insurability rules, you may not get a second chance to get in a plan that covers your medical needs.
So please be careful when you go into Medicare.
Whether you have $50,000 to your name or $50 billion, Medicare is still important to get right and the same rules apply to ALL of us.
To get help with your Medicare decision, you can register for my next free online Medicare workshop by going here: https://join.themedicarecoach.com/free-workshop
