I would just like to take a moment and apologize on behalf of the Federal Government here.
They really are trying to help – in their clunky way.
Signed into law in 1965 by President Johnson, Medicare began with only two parts: A and B. Things stayed that way for quite a long time.
Fast forward to 1997 (!), more than THIRTY YEARS LATER, and a program called Medicare Choice came into effect with the Balance Budget Act. Medicare Choice was later renamed Medicare Advantage Plans. Now folks could outsource their Medicare benefits to a private insurance company.
Tada! Now we have Medicare Part C.
Six years later in 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act.
This is when Medicare Part D was created for prescription coverage.
I talked to my co-worker the other day, and it shocked her to learn the reason that Rx coverage wasn’t deemed necessary back in the sixties: not many people took prescriptions back then!
Medicine has seen astronomical change in the last 60 years. And I expect the next twenty years will bring even more unforeseen change.
All of this change has forced the Federal Government to tack on extra parts to Medicare.
Trying to stay caught up with the tide of medical and financial changes in culture is complicated. And when you add politics into the mix – phew!
As if all this wasn’t enough, there is a slew of different enrollment periods and late penalties that you can accrue if you don’t sign up at the right time.
Ray Martin, my dad, saw his parents and other seniors trying to unravel this complicated mess. His desire to help others birthed Martin and Associates back in 1988.
He passed this love for educating and helping others with complicated retirement and healthcare decisions to my brother Mohan and me.