Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Money Crashers: How to Get Help Paying Your Medicare Premiums and Other Costs

Money Crashers has just posted the third article of my four-part series on Medicare. I didn't set out to write a four-part series, mind you: I was supposed to write just one article providing a general overview of the program and how to enroll. But enrollment proved to be such a complicated topic that I ended up splitting it off into its own article.

Then I started on the first article, planning to include such information as what Medicare is, how it's funded, what it costs for users, who's eligible, what all the different parts are for, and how to choose coverage. But before long, it became clear that the material on Medicare costs was going to be long enough to make a separate article, so I split that one off as well.

In my first draft of that piece, I noted that out-of-pocket costs for Medicare are more than some patients can afford and included some info on programs to help with payment. But my editor decided that this, too, was a big enough topic to turn into a separate piece. So I went in, cut out that section, moved it to a separate article, and expanded it to provide more detail on these various types of programs: Medicaid, Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help, and PACE.

This is that third article. The fourth of the series, covering the topic of how to enroll, is still to come, and it's a doozy. I mean, if you thought doing your taxes was complicated, you ain't seen nothing yet.

How to Get Help Paying Your Medicare Premiums and Other Costs

 

No comments: