I sincerely hope that those of you on medicare or approaching it will read the two articles whose url's I post below. The are from a series called "Gray Matters" by Saul Friedman that appears weekly in Long Island's Newsday Newspaper.

There's lots of important information in both articles, although some of it may not apply to you. Both articles made my head whirl. What a mish-mash of a system! So many faults and loopholes and difficult choices to make.

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzsaul4486973oct29,0,6423562.column

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzsaul4496901nov05,0,5768201.column

The good news (for me) is that DH and I don't have to register for Part D!!! Here's the relevant quote from one of the above articles that helped us:

"To clarify another issue raised by readers, if they get their drugs from their current HMO, through their VA coverage, retiree insurance, or supplemental insurance, and if the coverage is "creditable" - at least as good as Part D - they will be so notified by their insurer, and they need not change."

Well, we have secondary insurance + wonderful drug coverage as part of DH's retirement contract from the college where he taught. We contacted them, and after they mulled it over for a few weeks, they just informed us that we'd be getting the important letter, to be kept forever, that tells us that our coverage is "creditable."

Trini