Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

reasons i gave 1 star 1) more comprehensive/thorough information is on US govt.'s Medicare.gov website, available for free. this book copies Medicare.gov with no new information added. 2) Excessive Promotion of For Profit Private Insurance (i.e. Part D drug insurance and Part C supplemental insurance incl. Medigap or Medicare Advantage). the author went full throttle promoting for profit insurance as an end all solution instead she should show historical data to prove whether supplemental insurance really reduces out of pocket expenses. the book fails to reveal majority of medicare recipients never use the benefits provided by supplemental insurance. data from non partisan Center for Medicare and Medicaid shows, to realize the benefits of supplemental insurance, one needs to do 6 heart surgeries PER YEAR. guess how many Medicare recipients do 6 heart surgeries per year? for most, the "Original Medicare Part B" already covers all your needs and the dollar amount of the 20% copay would be significantly lower than the monthly supplemental insurance premium$. 3) BIG ELEPHANT in the room. the big FAILURE of this book is not educating the readers about Medicare Billing (or Medicare Approved Billing). e.g. let's say you did a surgery and the surgeon billed you $1 million. but this is NOT the real billing because Medicare is NOT going to pay 80% of $1 million. instead Medicare would approve $10,000 which is the Medicare Approved Billing. under Part B, Medicare pays 80% of this Approved Billing: $10,000 = $8,000 to the surgeon. the patient (you) is responsible for the remaining 20% of this Medical Approved Bill, which is $2,000. REPEAT! you are NOT going to pay 20% of $1 million, but only the 20% of $10,000, which is $2,000. but most people do not know that, they believe the doctor's billing is the real billing so they believe they could not afford the 20% and need Supplement Insurance to cover. NOT true, if insurance companies really did that, how they pay their million$ CEOs and marketing executives? if you purchased Medigap/Medicare Advantage to cover our surgery, Medigap will pay the 20% of Medicare Billing, which is $2,000. but Medigap insurance premium$ can easily cost more than the 20% copay. so the math doesn't work! what if in rare occasions, your doctor does not accept Medicare patient? by law, even doctors not accepting Medicare patient are restricted by federal law to charge only 15% above the Medicare Approved Billing. in our $1 million surgery, the surgeon could only charge 15% above of the Medicare Billing $10,000, which is $11,500. Medicare still pays the $8,000 and you pay the difference, $3,500. yet, this book never provides this very important information. All these are available on Medicare.Gov. conclusion: Medicare For Dummies sure makes us more "Dummy". go to the federal government's Medicare.gov website or call the federal Medicare hotline to speak to a federal Medicare agent. that's more reliable, comprehensive, trustworthy.