Hey there? So one thing we've never talked about on this show, Medicare. You know that free health

care thing you may expect to get when you turn 65? It has been on a list of things where I've been like,

that's too big.'s too complicated I can

get my arms around it just now and that's especially because there's this thing

called Medicare Advantage it's a kind of privatized version run by insurance companies seems

controversial and really complicated. So I've been like maybe someday. And that

someday is today or at least we start today. Mainly because a colleague of mine just did a bunch of reporting that we get to piggyback off of.

My name is Sarah Jane Tribble and I am Chief Rural Health Correspondent with KFF Health News.

And as Sarah Jane reported on Medicare, she was surprised by how much she didn't know.

And how much other folks didn't know either.

At Thanksgiving when I was working on some of these stories,

I have friends who are nearing retirement.

They're not really close, but they're close enough to care and they're

avid NPR listeners and they were like, wait wait so what's the difference between Medicare

advantage and Medicare and I was like they should know wait who's gonna tell

them right that's us I guess this show will help tell them I hope so I hope so because this

traditional Medicare versus Medicare Advantage it is a high stakes decision it happens

when you first signed up I mean here's the big thing that Sarah Jane learned.

If you sign up for Medicare Advantage at that point

when you first get on Medicare,

you're pretty much stuck with it.

And some people end up with buyers remorse big time.

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