What do ya'll think when you hear "medicare"? We pay into it all our working lives, there's no choice, it's automatic. I don't want to guess how much I paid into it. But for some reason, I thought I was paying in to a benefit to carry me into my "golden years". Not so.
To my surprise in the mail today, I got a bill for Medicare Part B. And it's much larger than the amount I pay for health insurance through work. I can see now why some who are up in their years keep working. This stuff can be a huge burden of paperwork to understand and wade through. Much easier to go to work, let your company take health benefits deductions your pay and not worry about the rest. My bill for three months is nearly $600. Most of the time, this charge is removed from your social security payment, but since I haven't officially stopped working, I don't have social security at the moment. It's all so weird!
I tried to fill out the SocSec form online, to let them know I wanted to retire in July, but I can't use "a future date" when filing. So now I have to wait ?? Because if I fill it out as retired in June, which is still considered a future date as of today, because it's a month prior to my 65th birthday, it "may" cause my monthly $$ to be $30 less every month than if I wait until the end of July. I know, it's government work, but sheesh. Talk about making it harder for us little guys!
So I saw a doc today, I have a touch of arthritis in my knee, we're trying a cortisone shot as that's the easiest; the rest of the treatments involve much more. So we shall see. Today I'm resting, reading and just letting my mind wander for a bit. Thought I could take care of some of the online work, but nope!
Of course all of these changes make a person just WTH is next! We shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment