Medicare Is Kind of Scammish
The Old Bait & Switch
Being that I'm sneaking up on 65, this morning I looked into the specifics of Medicare. I found on the official website that there is a free part of Medicare (for those who have paid enough of the corresponding tax during their working life), namely Part A, helping with Hospital coverage, and there is a non-free part, Part B, helping with medical expenses, which costs $165 per month.
However (there always seems to be a however), you can only get the free Part A if you pay for Part B. In other words, you can’t opt for Part A only, and so you end up paying $165. You can see the details here. Specifically, it says there: “You also have to sign up for Part B to buy Part A.”
As I virtually never go to the sawbones (haven't been in years), and I already have some insurance through my wife's employer, I am probably going to opt out of Medicare altogether — I don't think it's worth the $2,000 per year for me.
So, it seems that all those taxes I paid toward Medicare coverage over the decades won't help me at all as far as Medicare goes (OTOH, I do receive the monthly Social Security check since my retirement, which took effect the day I turned 62, and I do appreciate that ROI).
P.S. It turns out that we might actually benefit (no pun intended) from paying the $165 per month and dropping my insurance from my wife’s employer — but still, saying Part A is free when it’s really not (you can’t get it by itself) seems a little sleight-of-handy, IMO.