Welcome to the Medicare Basics video series. We developed these videos to simplify the 4 basic parts of Medicare (A, B, C & D) to help make your Medicare choices easier to understand. The information for this series was taken directly from the official government Medicare handbook and was reviewed for accuracy by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS Region VIII). Below are down-loadable PDF’s of the handbook and other publications referenced in the videos as well as direct links to the Medicare and Social Security websites for your convenience.

Part 1 - Overview: The first 7 programs cover the Medicare basics and are titled; Overview, Eligibility & Enrollment, Medicare Parts A & B,  Choosing a Medicare Plan, Medigap & Advantage Plans, Medicare Part D, and Your Medicare Rights. The final two videos explain the Annual Enrollment Periods (AEP) and Special Enrollment Periods (SEP).

Part 2 - Eligibility & Enrollment: Knowing when you are eligible and how to enroll in Medicare is key to getting the healthcare benefits you need. In this program, we will guide you through the process of enrolling in Medicare Parts A & B, providing this important information for a stress free enrollment into the Medicare program.

Part 3 - Medicare Parts A & B: Now that you are enrolled in Medicare, it’s important to understand how the parts work together to form your Medicare coverage. This program will give you the main components of Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (medical insurance) and what they cover.

Part 4 - Choosing a Medicare Plan: Now that you are familiar with Medicare Parts A and B and have the necessary information on how to enroll in Medicare, you are ready to decide on a Medicare Plan. Your options for coverage will be Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage Plan. This program will describe these plan options to help you choose the type of coverage that best meets your needs.

Part 5 - Medigap & Advantage Plans: As discussed in Part 4, your two primary choices for Medicare coverage are through Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan. With Original Medicare, you will pay deductibles, copayments and coinsurance costs with no annual out of pocket limits. By adding a Medigap policy to Original Medicare, or choosing a Medicare Advantage plan, you can greatly reduce or eliminate these out of pocket costs.

Part 6 - Medicare Part D: This is about the prescription drug coverage that is not provided in Medicare Part B and is not mandatory. You will learn about eligibility, enrollment, costs, and the overall complexities of how the program works. The Medicare prescription drug plans are unique to all other parts of Medicare and you will get all the basics to make an informed decision on your drug coverage.

Part 7 - Your Medicare Rights: Regardless of the type of Medicare coverage you choose, you are guaranteed certain rights and have certain responsibilities as well. This program will highlight all the necessary steps you need to take to assure that your rights are protected and that you understand your duty in protecting yourself and Medicare from waste, fraud and abuse.

Annual Enrollment Periods (AEP): Now that you understand the basics of Medicare and how to initially enroll in the program, it is important to know when and how you can make changes to your Medicare coverages. This video covers the annual enrollment period from October 15th through December 7th and the disenrollment period from January 1st through February 14th each year.  

Special Enrollment Periods (SEP): Now that you understand the annual enrollment periods, it’s important to know that you can make changes to your Medicare coverage at other times when certain events happen in your life. These qualifying events trigger what is known as a special enrollment period. This program highlights examples of the most common SEP’s and the more obscure special situations that allow you to change your Medicare plan.