Medicare Plans
Medicare Mistakes To Avoid
After years sitting at kitchen tables across Pima County, from the Foothills to Green Valley, we keep running into the same handful of errors. Almost none of them come from choosing the "wrong" plan. Most come from a missed date, a bad assumption, or a decision made off a mailer.
Here's what's worth guarding against.
- Most of these mistakes are permanent, not fixable later
- Nearly all of them are avoidable with one review
- Deadlines do more damage than a wrong plan pick
The big ones
Seven mistakes that cost real money
1. Missing your Part B window
Without active employer coverage, delaying Part B triggers a penalty that sticks for life. Run the numbers with our Part B penalty calculator.2. Skipping drug coverage entirely
Not taking prescriptions right now doesn't get you a pass. Going 63-plus days without creditable Part D coverage adds a permanent surcharge to your premium.3. Assuming the network hasn't changed
Hospital and physician contracts get renegotiated every year. Verify your doctors each fall instead of trusting last year's answer.4. Shopping on premium alone
A zero-premium plan with the wrong drug tiers can end up costing thousands more over a year than a plan with a modest monthly fee.5. Letting the Medigap window close
Your one guaranteed-issue Medigap window opens with Part B and lasts six months. After that, Arizona carriers are allowed to ask health questions.6. Signing up straight from a TV ad
National ads push one plan nationwide. They can't tell you if that plan actually works with Banner, TMC, or Northwest Medical Center here in Tucson.
7. Never checking again after year one
The costliest mistake of all is set-and-forget. Plans reset every January 1, and a fifteen-minute review each fall during Open Enrollment is usually all it takes to catch a problem.
Also worth knowing
Smaller missteps we fix all the time
People add a standalone Part D plan while already on a Medicare Advantage plan that already includes drug coverage, which can knock them out of that Advantage plan completely. Others cancel a Medigap plan expecting to reinstate it later, then fail underwriting. Some never mention a spouse's coverage, and it turns out a Special Enrollment Period was available the whole time. Snowbirds who split time between Tucson and a summer address sometimes miss that a plan's network doesn't travel with them, and University of Arizona and Davis-Monthan retirees occasionally assume TRICARE for Life changes their Part B timeline when it doesn't.
None of this is complicated, it's just detail, and detail is exactly what a local independent agent handles. Just starting out? Read the Medicare overview and work through the Medicare checklist.
Protect yourself
Worried you've already made one of these?
Most of these are fixable if we catch them early. Call for a free, no-judgment review of where you stand.