MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN
Making Medicare Almost Fun Since 2013
By Douglas B. Jones, CLU, RHU
Medicare snuck up on me. Today my job is helping people navigate the most confusing government program in history—but it was a rocky start.
For decades, health insurance was my profession—my expertise. Medicare should have been squarely in my wheelhouse. Instead, when Medicare time came for me, I found myself staring at a pile of government publications and insurance company brochures, wondering how something this important could be explained so poorly.
After considerable study, I figured out what actually matters in Medicare and what is just noise—conclusions that put me at odds with most of my fellow agents. I also discovered that the whole subject, properly explained, is far simpler than most professionals would have you believe.
That realization became a book—Medicare for the Lazy Man—now in its ninth annual edition. It became a podcast with over 930 episodes. Now it has become this column.
I am writing for the benefit of two groups of people, and you might belong to one of them.
The first group is approaching Medicare eligibility—either due to an upcoming 65th birthday or because an employer’s plan is about to disappear. If this is you, welcome.
Right now, you may be buried in insurance company mailers and wondering how a program designed to help you has managed to cause this much anxiety before you’ve even enrolled. It doesn’t have to be that way. Make the right decisions—in the right order—and you will have excellent, lasting protection at a very reasonable cost.
The second group is already on Medicare but has begun to suspect that something is not quite right. Perhaps the coverage is more restrictive than expected. Perhaps the costs have crept upward in ways that were not anticipated. Perhaps a friend mentioned a type of plan you have never heard of, and your own agent was not helpful in addressing your concerns. If any of this sounds familiar, you may have more options than you realize, and this column will help you understand what they are.
Each week, or as often as your editor allows, I will answer readers’ Medicare questions—including the ones that are too obvious to ask, the ones agents have dodged, and especially the ones that are difficult to articulate due to the confusing subject matter.
No question is too basic. In my experience, the basic questions are often the most important ones, precisely because straight answers have been hard to find.
I am an insurance agent licensed in all 50 states, and I earn commissions—something I mention not as a disclaimer but as a fact. My first loyalty is to you, the reader, which is why the advice in this column will sometimes differ from what other agents recommend. My clients tend to appreciate that distinction. I hope you will too.
Medicare does not have to be intimidating. With the right guidance, it can even be—almost—fun.
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Douglas B. Jones, CLU, RHU is the author of Medicare for the Lazy Man, now in its 2026 edition, and host of the Medicare for the Lazy Man Podcast. His services as a Medicare insurance agent are always free of charge. Contact him at www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com
