Original Medicare: I Can't Be Completely Critical

On this blog, I have written -- here and elsewhere -- about some of the problems those of us who depend on Original Medicare have with it and other difficult aspects of using Medicare and the multiple supplemental policies you have to get because Original Medicare is so limited. Sorry but I'm just like everyone else; I tend to be critical but not always constructively.  

So I decided -- as the annual Medicare Part C and Part D enrollment period begins -- to make a list of the best things about Original Medicare. After this article, I'll go back to pointing out all its faults and what to watch out for as you review your coverage for 2014

1. You already paid for most of your Medicare. Don't believe the propaganda that you are a moocher that is getting something for nothing. You paid taxes for 50 years, both payroll and income, and it's financially demonstrable that those taxes at net present value -- plus the Medicare premiums you continue to pay until they put you in the ground -- cover what you will get out of the Medicare system unless you live to be well over 85. (And if you do live that long, it's OK to mooch in my opinion.)

2. Medicare reminds you to use it. Actually Social Security reminds you to use your Medicare. It's important to get annual checkups and tests and looking at that Medicare premium deduction from your SS check every month should remind you to get the checkups and test. (Granted not all Medicare supplements cover annual check ups and not all the tests are that useful but more on that in future posts. The important thing is to get you up off your duff and into the doctor's office before the EMTs have to come to your house and take you screaming down Route 16 in an ambulance.)

3. Medicare is fairly easy to use. Or at least, it's no more difficult to deal with than the Registry or the IRS. (Notice I underlined use. It's not so easy to choose, which is why I write these blog posts.)

4. Almost every doctor and hospital accepts Medicare. There is a lot of publicity about the fact that doctors might drop Medicare patients (see Note). I believe in what I call the Willie Sutton effect when it comes to doctors dropping Medicare patients. Willie Sutton said he robbed banks because that's where the money is. I think doctors will keep taking us Medicare patients because we're the ones that get sick.

5. There is all kinds of assistance if you need it. There is assistance to help you sign up at most senior centers.  And there is assistance to help you pay for both Original Medicare insurance and Medicare supplements if you need that assistance. Again, you paid for it for 50 years; don't be afraid to ask.

NOTE: There has been a lot of publicity here in Worcester County about Atrius/Reliant/Fallon-Clinic dropping the Fallon Community Health Plan Part C Medicare Advantage health plan. That's their choice. But that does not mean Atrius/Reliant/Fallon-Clinic up on West St. dropped Medicare. Make sure you understand the difference and ask someone if you do not understand what the two companies are telling you. (I have never seen so much confusing stuff coming from two directions on the same subject. Actually that's not true. All this propaganda on the Casino is much more confusing than Medicare.)