With June rolling around, I checked to discover that yes, indeed, I should be signing up for Medicare as I am within a little over 60 days from my birthday. There is a special provision for military because we no longer qualify to be seen at military facilities except in a very few places; none of which are near here. We don’t qualify for VA because neither of us have enough disability.Quite frankly, that’s not a bad trade-off.

Anyway, we have a special process we go through – well, actually I guess it’s just an additional step we have to take. I found the 44-page brochure I downloaded and will read through it this coming week. Once I’ve got that part figured out, I’ll go onto the government site to register. Several high school friends who post on Facebook have already done so. With an August birthday, I’m later in the year. Like most people “in the range” we have received a huge number of phone calls and mailings about all the different choices. I do hope it isn’t as confusing as it seems at first look. We currently have a supplement we have to pay, but they’re among the people we haven’t heard from. My impression is they don’t operate in that particular area. I suppose I should ask the direct question.

A friend who is approaching a birthday that shall we just say is above the 65 mark doesn’t like to acknowledge the number. She also hates to be reminded of the saying, “You only have two choices”, so we don’t make that comment. In actuality, you can choose to ignore your age and only respond to the question when it is needed for medical purposes. Although it doesn’t take any years away, it is an option.