I've always considered myself a reasonably intelligent person,,,,

[SheilaT]

9. Just to add my 2cents:

Go ahead and sign up for Part A as soon as you turn 65. The rest can wait until you are no longer covered by some other plan.

The penalties involved concerning the other parts only kick in if you do NOT sign up for them during the first period in which you are eligible.

I got my Part A as soon as I turned 65, last year. Then back in April I decided to quit work and after some confusion on my part got myself signed up for Part B. Even if you take no prescription medications whatsoever, you want to select a Part D, because somewhere down the road you're likely to be prescribed something, and if you don't sign up when you should, there's a penalty.

There are also various other choices that you will want to look at carefully, perhaps talk to some friends who've already been through this. I went with an Advantage Plan through Humana which covers more things than the regular Medicare seems to and at lower out-of-pocket costs than my previous excellent health care plan.

So far I've been extremely happy with my coverage. I agree, it's far more complicated than it needs to be. Yet another reason why some sort of single payer or universal coverage would be good.