- Medicare doesn’t cover routine vision care – Medicare doesn’t cover neither routine eye exams or glasses. The only exception applies to an annual eye exam in case you have diabetes or eyeglasses after a certain kind of cataract surgery. But, there is something you can do in this situation, as well. There are some Medicare Advantage plans that provide vision coverage, and you can complete that by buying a separate supplemental policy to cover vision care.
- Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids – Medicare isn’t helpful when it comes to routine hearing exams or hearing aids, even though these facilities cost as much as $3,250 per year. Even so, there are some Medicare Advantage plans that you can consider for hearing aids and fitting exams, and even some discount programs that provide lower-cost hearing aids. Moreover, by saving money in an HSA before enrolling in Medicare, you can use that tax-free for hearing aids and other expenses.
- Medicare doesn’t cover medical care overseas – Medicare is not useful in any way if you travel outside of the U.S., except for very limited circumstances (like on a cruise ship within six hours of a U.S. port). Fortunately, some Medigap plans will cover 80% of emergency care abroad. But if you want to feel 100% secure, it’s best if you buy a travel insurance policy that covers some medical expenses while you’re out of the US, and may even help you with emergency medical evacuation. Emergency medical evacuation is something you definitely don’t want to leave uncovered, as it costs tens of thousands of dollars to transport you when you’re abroad with a medical plane.
- How to look up what is and isn’t covered by Medicare – If you want to learn more, you can look up all this information pretty easily. All you have to do is to go to Medicare.gov/coverage and use the “Is my test, item, or service covered?” tool. There you can check everything that is covered by the Original Medicare.
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