(uplifting music)
- Hi, we had a really
sad question this week,
and that is, the man
called in and he said,
"My mom is five years older than my dad.
And my mom was always a stay at home mom,
so she didn't work and pay into Medicare.
She can't qualify for
Medicare until her dad,
her husband, his dad, becomes age 62.
So she's just stuck
waiting for him to age in.
Now she's 67, so now she can apply
for Medicare, but now
she gets the penalty.
So, is there a way around this?
And the guy said,
I'm thinking about
contacting my Congressman
to get help because this is really unfair
that she was a homemaker,
she didn't pay in.
She was married to
somebody who didn't pay in,
so she will get benefits as a spouse.
But now she has this
penalty for late Part B
and late Part D that she's gonna have
to pay for the rest of her life.
Is that fair and is it legal,
and can she get out of
it, and the answer is no,
it's not fair, I guess
the answer is no yes no,
it is legal, and no she
can't get out of it,
and no, calling a Congressperson
will not help you at all,
this is the way the law is written.
So this is why it's really important
that you spread the
message to your friends
and family that aren't watching
these educational videos
and are getting ready to age into Medicare
to help educate them that they
don't make these mistakes.
Now this woman, this
homemaker that stayed home
and never paid in, she
could have at 65 paid
for Medicare Part A.
Oh it's really expensive,
I don't know how much
it is right now, over $400 a month.
She could've paid for
Medicare Part A until
her husband aged in at 62.
Then she would've gotten
benefits under him.
But she didn't have the money to do that,
so she just waited.
Now she has a penalty.
So if you look at the math
on the penalty forever,
maybe her kids should've loaned her
the money so she could've gotten
A back when she first aged in at 65.
So, the one thing people think of is,
Medicare is a government program,
so it must make perfect sense.
One plus one plus one equals three.
And if it sometimes equals four,
just call somebody and
they'll help you make
it equal three and that's not.
My experience in Medicare
is that one plus one plus
one equals 8.5, it's crazy,
it's not logical, it's just
a big hotchpotch of laws
that have been made over the past 54 years
that are really confusing.
And the best advice is before you turn 65,
well before, that you sit down
with a trusted professional, call us,
email us, text us, however we can help
you worry over the phone
to figure out the lay of the
land based on your situation,
because once you call us
when you already have made
the mistakes, so this lady
already waited five years.
I can't fix that now.
The penalty is a factor that she will have
to deal with each and every month
for the rest of her life, okay?
So, Medicare is confusing,
it's job security for me.
It's frustration for
you, the American public.
Call us, we wanna help.
