Your 2026 Medicare Master Class

Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

Suze Orman delivers a comprehensive master class on navigating Medicare, specifically focusing on the upcoming 2026 enrollment period. She b

Key takeaways

• Medicare Part A covers hospital stays, while Part B covers doctors and outpatient care.
• The Medicare Open Enrollment period runs from October 15th through December 7th.

Main topics

• Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D
• Open Enrollment strategies

Notable quotes

The goal of money is for you to be secure.

Conclusion

Proactive review of coverage and understanding income-related tax impl

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Hi everybody, Suzy O here. Now, what is the goal of money? The goal of money is for you to be secure. And there is no better way for you to be secure than having an emergency savings account. It is essential for your financial foundation. So all of you should be participating in the ultimate opportunity savings account at Alliant Credit Union. Go to my... Alliant.com to find out more and be secure. Speaker 2 (0:40) September 27th, 2026. Welcome everybody to the Women in Money podcast and everybody's smart enough to listen. Today is Susie's school. So therefore, get out your Susie notebooks because you're going to need to write a lot of things down. This is a very, very serious lesson that many of you out there really need to pay attention to. But before I get to that, I just want to remind everybody, October 3rd and 4th is coming up in Glendale, California at the Alex Theater, where there will be an incredible two-day event, the Empower event, celebrating the 100th birthday, if she were still alive, of Louise Hay, who really was one of the most, and is still, in my opinion, extraordinary women you ever would have met. in your life or wanted to meet. However, if you cannot attend in person, we are streaming the event. So if you just go to Suzy, S-U-Z-E, suzyorman.com slash empower, E-M-P-O-W-E-R, you can still buy a ticket there if you want to attend in person. However, We are streaming it. Over 10,000 of you have already signed up for it. It will be free if we stream it, obviously. Therefore, don't miss out. Are we ready to begin? Today, Suzy's School, I'm talking about Medicare. That's right, Medicare. And there's a very specific reason why I am doing this Suzy's School right now. Speaker 2 (2:34) October 15th through December 7th, Medicare has open enrollment. That is only approximately 18 days away. But I don't know when you listen to the podcast. I don't know, do you wait a few days and then you listen to it? So I wanted to give you plenty of time to make sure that you listen to this. particular episode of this podcast. You write everything down that pertains to you and that you really take in everything I'm about to teach you. Now, listen, if you're already on Medicare, I do not want you to think, but Susie, I already have Medicare. I don't need to listen to this. Really, everybody? Because you may be the person who needs to listen to it the most because you got to get this, everybody. Medicare is not necessarily something you choose once and then you forget about it for the rest of your life. Your plan can change. Your prescription drug coverage can change. Your premiums can change. Your deductibles and other costs can change. Your doctors can change networks. Your medications can change. And your own financial situation can change. There is not a year that goes by that Katie and I don't go through it in great detail. What worked for you this year may not necessarily be what you want for next year. And for those of you who are not 65 yet, well, I want you to listen as well. Because there are decisions you can make before you ever enroll in Medicare that can affect what Medicare eventually costs you. Today, I want to answer four questions that I think you need to know the answers to. Number one, if I already have Medicare, what should I be doing during open enrollment? Two, when do I actually have to enroll in Medicare? Three, what happens if I'm still working at 65 and contributing to an HSA, which is a health savings account, everybody? And four, why can two people with Medicare pay dramatically different amounts for essentially the same Part B coverage? That last question will bring us to something called IRMA, I-R-M-A-A. And that stands for the income-related monthly adjusted amount. And by the time today's Susie School is over, all of you are going to understand exactly what that means. Are you ready? Let's begin. Now, before I can talk about this, I have to make sure that you all know what Medicare is. So therefore, what you have to get is this. Medicare has all these letters, A, B, C, and D. And if you don't know what those letters mean, everything else I'm going to teach you today is going to be far more confusing than it needs to be. So let's make this simple. Medicare Part A pays for your hospital. Think about it as hospital insurance. When you go to the hospital, and it generally helps cover inpatient hospital care. It can help for a short period of time, care in a skilled nursing facility under certain conditions, hospice care, and some home health care. And what you have to understand is most people do not pay a monthly premium for Part A because they or their spouse paid Medicare taxes long enough while they are working or while they were working. But I don't want you to hear no monthly premium and think free. Part A has deductibles and other potential out-of-pocket costs. But for Part A, I want you to think hospital. So write down Part A, hospital insurance. Medicare Part B. I want you to think doctors and outpatient medical care. Write that down. Part B generally, not all the time, but generally, helps cover things such as doctor visits, outpatient care, preventative services, and certain medical equipment and services. But what you really have to get is unlike premium free part A, Part B normally has a monthly premium. And in 2026, this year, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month, over $2,000 a year. Write it down. But in a little bit, I'm going to show you why some of you pay considerably more than $202.90. And that's where Irma comes in. So again, Part B, I want you to think doctors and outpatient care. Now, Parts A and B together are what we call Original Medicare. Speaker 2 (8:32) But original Medicare does not pay for everything. Why? And I said it before, there are deductibles, coinsurance, other costs, and original Medicare generally does not include routine outpatient prescription drug coverage. Now, I'm going to say outright just here before I even go on, if you can, I would really prefer if all of you had original Medicare more than anything else. Just write that down and know that. But that brings us to the next thing, which is Part D. Now, what is Medicare Part D? Just think about the letter D, and the D stands for drugs. Part D is prescription drug coverage that's offered through private insurance companies that contract with Medicare. So, if you have original Medicare, which is what I want you to have, and want prescription drug coverage, you can generally purchase a separate Part D plan. And that is exactly why those of you who are already on Medicare need to pay attention. during open enrollment because your prescriptions can change, the drugs covered by your plan can change, your costs can change, and the plan that worked beautifully for you this year may not necessarily be the best fit next year. What is Part C? Speaker 2 (10:15) Part C is Medicare Advantage. Now, why? Since I know the alphabet is A, B, C, D, why did I choose to tell you first about A, B, and D Medicare? Because those are the three that I want you to have. If you choose Medicare Advantage, okay, but you have to be seriously careful. So, part C is Medicare Advantage. And this is where people, I'm telling you, you get confused. Medicare Advantage is another way for you to receive Medicare benefits. These plans, they came about years ago. I'll never forget when they first came out. They are