Medicare problems
Recently, I attended a presentation on Medicare changes for 2026. Our cost is rising from $185 to $206.50 per month. The presenter said the cost increases of Medicare and supplemental health insurance would be offset by the cost-of-living adjustment. But what about increased costs of prescription coverage, housing, food, clothing, automobile insurance, maintenance and gasoline, and all the other needs and some wants of our lives?
Retirees are falling behind in income yearly. Those who did not have high incomes to set-up hefty savings plans are struggling with living expenses. Some people limit food purchases and scrape by until the next Social Security check.
Medicare sounds wonderful until you are on it and the cost increases, usually yearly, and supplemental health insurance climbs higher, taking the COLA, leaving one without increased funds to offset other life expenses. Many people work to feel worthwhile and to earn money to take care of what Social Security does not. The poor can be on Medicaid, but those not on Medicaid keep paying too much to meet expenses. Prescription plans need watching: a 90-day supply of a drug in my plan is going from $7.39 to $53 in 2026.
Each person on Medicare has to carry coverage. There are no two-person plans. A couple pays as much as two singles, then they have to purchase supplemental health insurance coverage. If you are younger than your spouse, you have to have health insurance coverage until you are old enough to apply for Medicare. Keeping up with Medicare and supplemental health insurance is a yearly task. You either pay up front for good coverage or you take a supplemental plan where you are always facing co-pays for medical services. Medicare, supplemental and prescription plans are constant monthly costs changing yearly, and usually upward.