{"id":1723,"date":"2019-07-17T15:07:17","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asbury.org\/bethany-village\/blog\/2019\/07\/17\/what-to-know-about-medicare\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T15:07:17","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:07:17","slug":"what-to-know-about-medicare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asbury.org\/bethany-village\/blog\/2019\/07\/17\/what-to-know-about-medicare\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Know About Medicare"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"momThis guest post comes to us from Anne Tumlinson, author of Daughterhood.org, a blog she founded to support and build confidence in women who are managing their parents\u2019 care.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad doesn\u2019t have Medicare!\u201d a friend said to me on the phone a few months ago. \u201cWhat?\u201d I responded. Pretty much everyone over 65 has some form of Medicare and my friend\u2019s dad is at least 90 years old, so this seemed unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad has something called \u2018Blue Cross advantage,\u201d he said. \u201cAh ha,\u201d I thought. My friend\u2019s father had \u201cMedicare Advantage,\u201d a plan offered by private insurers that seniors can choose in place of traditional Medicare.<\/p>\n

Medicare Advantage plans often fill in the gaps of Medicare coverage, like vision or prescription drug coverage. Often offered at a lower price than the supplemental \u201cMedigap\u201d policies older adults typically buy to get these benefits and cover Medicare co-pays.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder my friend was confused. Given that traditional Medicare is a complicated alphabet soup of different parts that Congress keeps tacking onto the program.<\/p>\n