The Old Monrovia Man and the Sea of Medicare

– Courtesy photo

Explaining the inexplicable in Monrovia

By Terry Miller

Once upon a time, when your body turns a pungent “old” age of 65, your government starts paying you back for all those years you paid into the Medicare bank during your entire working life.

Consider it a no interest savings account that you had to have for the past 40 years.

Now you’ll get a little help from your friendly feds.

For most Americans, a nominal fee will be deducted from your monthly social security check when you decide to retire or become disabled.

Seems simple and logical, right?  Hold the phone. You’ll probably have to—as you may be on eternal hold if you try and call anyone in the government. “Your call is very important to us. Due to an unusually high volume of calls we may not ever be able to comfort you but please stay on the line in perpetuity.”

There is a plethora of Medicare information out there, and some of it may actually be useful.  However, when my wife recently attempted to delve into some research abyss on the best way to transition from Covered California to Medicare once her 65th birthday arrived, she literally was lost in a sea of paperwork. Confusing, enormously frustrating and it consumed the best part of her day for a couple of months.

So there’s a Medicare alphabet and probably a lot more madness to this jigsaw puzzle. Pretty much everyone automatically gets parts A and B.

AARP has some good information but there’s no one program that’ll benefit all.

Or is there?

We finally opted to talk to friends about the dilemma my wife and I faced. I was referred to Nancy Bond Insurance Services right here in Monrovia by a friend, Hal Leavens.

Brilliant! Although Nancy Bond doesn’t specialize in Medicare, she and her staff knew exactly the right person to help unravel the tightly wound web of medical confusion that has been weaving through our collective minds.

Enter Dan Tirado a soft-spoken and knowledgeable Medicare licensed independent agent specialist who knows how to explain the inexplicable.

We scheduled an appointment for him to come to our house in Monrovia. This, in itself was extraordinary: who makes house calls these days?

My wife was ready to ask a billion questions when he arrived but only took a few seconds to realize this is the man with the answers, especially when he understood her medical needs.

This whole time I’m thinking this is going to cost a bundle of Benjamins that have yet to be delivered to my vast and ever-so-thirsty Monrovia bank vault.

If you are confused about Medicare and what your rights are, I highly recommend consultation with the experts. Our experience via Nancy Bond in Monrovia and then ultimately Dan Tirado to whom we were referred, proved invaluable. Tirado, who is a licensed

independent agent can be reached at (626) 808-3353.

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