Two letters are in the mail. One says your plan is changing for 2027. The other says your plan is going away. How to tell them apart, what happens if you do nothing, and where to bring your questions.

Two different letters are landing this month. One says your plan is changing. The other says your plan is going away. They carry different deadlines and different rights, and the most expensive mistake is treating the second one like the first. Plus the one door that only opens if you go to Original

Sep 14, 2026

Medicare & Healthcare

The Medigap door locks behind you. Leaving Medicare Advantage for a Supplement later can mean health questions, a denial, or a higher price.

Advantage plans let you switch every fall, no questions asked. Supplements do not. Nine in ten Advantage enrollees have no guaranteed right to buy one later. The 12-month trial right, the six-month window at 65, and the one thing Nevada has that Arizona does not.

Sep 12, 2026

$You take no medications. Here is why skipping the drug plan can cost you every month for the rest of your life.$

Medicare & Healthcare

You take no medications. Here is why skipping the drug plan can cost you every month for the rest of your life.

Healthy, no prescriptions, so why pay for a drug plan? Because the penalty for going without one is permanent, it grows every month you wait, and the window to fix it opens once a year. I am an engineer, not an advisor, so I did the arithmetic with 2026 numbers.

Sep 11, 2026

Medicare & Healthcare

You have the VA. So why would a $0-premium Medicare Advantage plan be worth a look? Three reasons, and one is a number Original Medicare does not have.

The VA is excellent at the VA. Outside it, you are on Original Medicare, which pays 80 percent with no ceiling. A $0-premium Advantage plan (you still pay the Part B premium) can add a yearly cap, care outside the VA, and dental, vision, and hearing, and your VA drug coverage means no Part D penalty

Sep 10, 2026

$You are 65 and still working. Your spouse is 63. Here is the math on splitting up, and the tax return that decides it.$

Medicare & Healthcare

You are 65 and still working. Your spouse is 63. Here is the math on splitting up, and the tax return that decides it.

Keep the family plan at work, or move yourself to Medicare while your spouse waits a year? I am an engineer, not an advisor, so I did the arithmetic: the family premium, Part B, a supplement, an IRMAA surcharge set by a two-year-old tax return, and the HSA rule that quietly voids contributions.

Sep 9, 2026

Medicare & Healthcare

COBRA does not stop the Medicare clock. Here is the math, and the trap of trying to keep both.

The company hands you 18 months of COBRA on the way out and it feels generous. Medicare's 8-month clock started the month you left, COBRA usually costs more than Medicare would, and no, you do not get to keep both. An engineer shows his work.

Sep 8, 2026