Reply #33: Medicare's confusing sometimes

[Prism]

My parents never consciously used it, as my dad wasn't SS age and my mom was covered under his union. Once my dad retired in December they needed to compensate for the reduction in his employer's/union's coverage. Figuring out how it all worked with Parts B and D, what payments were required, what they were eligible for, etc, wasn't the most enjoyable experience. They were confused and scared (both have serious pre-existings and the retirement was forced as the company started to collapse). The people over the phone really seemed to exacerbate the entire experience.

I'm still not sure they really understand all that Medicare entails.

But if you had asked my mom a year ago if she was on Medicare, I'd bet quite a bit that she would have answered no.