Richard Chan

That's correct.

Medicare doesn't cover long-term care.

And in many cases, it doesn't really cover assisted living or any of the costs associated with that.

Yeah, the first is Medicare is not free.

I think a lot of people understand that there's an amount taken out each month that supports the Medicare program.

But when you turn 65, there is a premium that you need to pay unless you have low-income assistance.

For some high income earners, depending on your bracket, it's as much as three times the standard rate for someone who is on Medicare.

So that's important.

Number two is that there are very specific enrollment windows.

So you don't want to miss them.

As soon as you're about six months out of 65, whether you are intending to stay on your work insurance or not.

You should proactively approach that decision around whether you are going to go into Medicare or not, really because there are situations where maybe your work plan isn't considered as good as Medicare's, and so therefore you would still incur penalties for staying on that work plan.

Yep, exactly right.

It's based on your income from two years ago.

Yeah, so that's a good question.

The answer is somewhat.

So Medicare itself is a mandatory program, so it is funded by existing laws, which generally means that they don't require an annual vote through Congress to continue operating.

Having said that, generally what that means is only critical services are continued, and so I think the expectation is about 50% of the staff at Medicare would be furloughed during this period.

So as it relates to how it impacts...

people who are making a decision, you can still select a plan, you can still switch.