Social Security and Medicare

Two systems, one birthday, and deadlines that do not forgive.

Turning 65 opens a seven-month window in Medicare. Only three of those months start your coverage on time. Miss the window without a qualifying reason and the penalty is added to your premium for as long as you hold the coverage, which for most people means for life.

Meanwhile a decision you made about Social Security at 62 quietly determines whether Medicare enrolls you at all. A tax return from two years ago sets what you pay this year. And a six-month window for Medigap opens once, at 65, and never reopens.

None of these are visible from inside either system alone. That is why this book covers both.

What you will be able to do after reading it:

• âœ" Work out what claiming early or late actually costs, in percentages, with the arithmetic shown
• âœ" Know which claiming decisions can still be undone, and for exactly how long
• âœ" Put your seven-month Medicare window on a calendar, and know which three months matter
• âœ" Tell the difference between employer coverage, COBRA and retiree coverage, which Medicare treats completely differently
• âœ" Calculate the Part B and Part D penalties before you incur them
• âœ" Understand why your premium went up two years after a good year, and use the three routes to get it reduced
• âœ" Compare Original Medicare with Medicare Advantage knowing what the brochures leave out
• âœ" See whether spousal, survivor or divorced-spouse benefits apply to you, and why you get the higher one rather than both
• âœ" Find out whether your benefits are taxable, before December rather than in April

What makes this different

Most guides to this subject simplify. Simplification is the minimum, not the difference. This book's difference is that every figure in it names the federal publication it came from and the date it was read, so you can check it yourself. The sources are the Social Security Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Internal Revenue Service. Nothing else.

No product is recommended. No insurer, plan or broker is named anywhere in these pages. The author does not sell insurance and does not advise clients.

Honest about what it is

There are two questions readers ask constantly that the federal pages do not answer, and this book says so plainly instead of guessing. Amounts that change every year are kept in one appendix, so the rest of the book stays true and one section gets replaced annually. And one chapter is about two provisions that reduced benefits for teachers, firefighters and police officers for forty years and no longer apply, because most of what is still in print about them is confidently out of date.

Who it is for

Anyone approaching 65, anyone deciding when to claim, and any adult child helping a parent through it. No prior knowledge is assumed.

This book is NOT for you if you want someone to tell you what to do with your money, or a promise about how much you will receive.

305 pages, with a deadline calendar by age, a glossary, an analytic index, and an appendix listing where to verify every chapter.