Monday Medicare Series Part 4: How Much Does Medicare Cost?

Written by Alex M. Hendler, Founder, Ontolawgy, LLC This is the fourth and final part of a 4-part series about Medicare. This part describes how much Medicare costs. There are links throughout these posts to some of the laws and policies that dictate how Medicare works. You don’t have to follow those links to understand what’s going on, but they may help you to understand why it can be difficult to get a straight answer about what Medicare does and doesn’t do, and how much it could cost you. There are five basic types of costs that a Medicare beneficiary typically encounters. These are: Premiums; Deductibles; Coinsurance; Co-payments; and Out-of-pocket limits What are these, and how much are they? Before getting to specifics, here are some definitions that should be helpful. Definitions Premiums Regular payments that you must make for insurance to cover you. In some cases, you may not have to pay Medicare premiums. Deductible After you have paid premiums (or you ...