Medicare with all its parts and options intimidates a lot of us – with good reason. But Host Josh Bretl, Founder of FSR Wealth, and his prize pupil, Co-Host Dave Schmidt, have got our backs!

In the first of what will be a two-part blockbuster, the Retirement Equals Freedom team is bringing us the ins and outs of a federal health care benefit from which we all stand to, well … benefit.

The trick is figuring out how Medicare works and the right strategy for our individual situations.

You’ll learn on this episode about the difference between Parts A, B, C and D as well as key safeguards to consider when putting together your plan.

So don’t shy away from Medicare. There are people who can help you sort it out and ensure that you own your health care – how much you spend or waste as well as your quality of coverage in retirement.

Taxes, investments, health insurance – it all matters and R=F is here to turn those dreams of freedom into your retirement reality!

Stay tuned for next week when we get more granular in Pt. II of our Medicare debrief. You’ll meet trusted advisor Dave Wylly of Medicare Solutions Network and have more fun learning this stuff than you can possibly imagine!

Because it is such an integral part of people's

lives and retirement, it's something that we talk about

with every single client that walks in the door, and

it's probably one of the biggest questions people have.

Medicare is something that people should not be afraid of,

it's not something that they should run away with fear, but

it's something that they need to look at every single year.

It's something that, if they're truly going to

own their retirement, this is part of that.

This is not something you want to bury your head in

the sand, this is something that you want to be proactive

in that planning process.

Medicare, with all its parts and options,

intimidates a lot of us.

And for good reason.

But your host of the show, Josh Bretl, along with his

prize pupil, yours truly, well, we got your back!

In the first of what will be a two part blockbuster, we're

bringing you the ins and the outs of a federal healthcare

benefit from which we all stand to, well, benefit.

The trick is figuring out how Medicare works, and

the right strategy for your individual situation.

You'll learn on this episode the difference between parts

A, B, C, and D, as well as key safeguards to consider when

putting together your plan.

So, yeah, don't shy away from Medicare.

There are people who can help you sort this out and ensure

that you own your healthcare, how much you spend or waste,

as well as your quality of coverage in retirement.

So taxes, investments, health insurance, it all matters.

And the Retirement Equals Freedom Podcast is here to

turn those dreams of freedom into your retirement reality.

This is The Retirement Equals Freedom Podcast.

Your host, Josh Bretl, is the owner of FSR Wealth Strategies.

And for the last 20 plus years, Josh has helped fine

folks like you gain the confidence to make retirement

the best part of your life.

And me?

Well, hello hello!

I'm Dave, Josh's longtime friend, co-host and fan of

those delicious, crunchy and super unhealthy snack rolls

at Thornton's gas stations.

All right all right.

Enough of me talking.

Let me let you let me end my introduction so we

can get on with Medicare.

FSR Wealth Management is a registered investment advisor

located in Elmhurst, Illinois.

Information and opinions contained in this audio

have been arrived at by FSR Wealth advisors.

All information herein is for informational purposes

and should not be construed as investment advice.

It does not constitute an offer, a solicitation or recommendation

to purchase any security.

FSR is not providing legal, tax, accounting, or financial

planning advice in this audio.

These views are as of the date of this publication

and are subject to change.

Oh, man.

Josh, happy Tuesday, man.

It's been a minute since we've recorded a podcast.

Yeah.

I'm a little sad today.

A little Debbie down today, why is that?

Yeah.

I'm a little Debbie down today, because I saw what we're talking

about, I saw the show notes.

This is not your favorite topic.

No, it's not.

So hopefully, you'll be able to get me back into a better mood.

And, by the end, we'll be doing a song and dance.

I will actually say this is a topic that scares a

lot of people, because it has a major impact on their lives.

But before we get into that topic, can I talk about

something else that scares me?

Dave Schmidt:

Yeah, a little bit.

Dave Schmidt:

Sure, go ahead.

So I did something that I was afraid

of this last weekend.

Bathing?

No, I'm good with bathing, I'm good with bathing.

I have been for a couple years now.

But I went to a circus with the children.

I'm not really a circus person, and in my head I was thinking

like Ringling Bros or whatever.

So let me back this up, my wife says to me last week sometime,

she goes, "Did you see that Triton College," which is a

small junior college not too far from us, "is having a circus?"

It's their 50th anniversary of this circus, they call

it the Triton Troupers.

I was like, "Sure."

We're at a point in the spring right now where it's

been miserable for a while, anything we can do to get

the kids out of the house.

I'm sure you were doing the same thing.

Yep.

So I said, "Yeah, let's go to the circus."

Tickets were six-dollars, so we're not breaking the bank on

this, it was in this gymnasium of Triton College, which is

smaller than the high school gym you and I played basketball in.

Glory days,

Glory days.

The gym I tackled you in?

Yeah, that gym.

It was smaller than that.

But I have to say it was a super pleasant experience.

Tell me more.

So this is not Ringling Bros, this is not

people who are professional circus ... Are they actors?

Performers?

Oh, how dare you?

Yes, performers.

These are people like you and I.

There is every age, there is every body type there is

the this was their passion and they did it on the side.

There were clowns, but these weren't your creepy clowns,

these were friendly old people clowns and friendly young people

clowns and clowns on stilts.

They were friendly though, not like creepy in the woods come

out of a sewer type of clowns.

I don't know what kind of circus you've been

to prior, but usually those clowns are not like Pennywise

coming out of the forest.

But clowns don't usually interact with me

usually in a circus, but they're waiting for you at

the door, they're helping you get in line for tickets.

But the performers, there's multiple trapeze artists,

there was guys climbing the chairs that got stacked on

top of tables, there was the spinning wheels that

people spun themselves around in, the rope artists

hanging from the ceiling.

But these are all people that just do this on the side,

all live in Chicago, and once a year they perform.

There was a ringmaster who sung this opening number.

Everyone there was happy, from the performers to the audience.

They served popcorn and cotton candy and

everything was a dollar.

You weren't getting jacked around for that.

It was a little long, it probably was about half-an-hour

longer than it needed to be.

Okay, I feel that.

But if that's my only complaint,

this was fantastic.

There was probably 2000 people that were in there doing this.

Wow.

So watching the circus, and they had two

performances that day, I'm sure the second one sold out as well.

So if anyone's listening, the Triton Troupers Circus

was something that I would highly recommend if you

have children, or even if you just feel like a child.

First of all, a lot of people are listening,

so I wouldn't say if anyone is listening, of course,

people are listening to this.

It was more like, if you feel like a child or if

you have children, if you're listening and have that.

So I feel at home with carnies like that.

Those are my people, because like you said,

they are normal people doing what they love to do.

I'm sure they're not getting paid a whole

lot of money to do that.

Not at six-dollars a pop on admission.

No, definitely not.

I just hope it was covering their cost.

It was truly, it was cool.

Carnivals and circuses pop up a lot in my

universe, my universe of creepy movies and shows, and I just

have a deep, deep love for it.

Actually, maybe this was a moment over

the weekend where I had my inner Dave come out.

I felt like I was part, I was really enjoying it.

It was cool.

You had been taking more strides

in life to be like me, which I do appreciate.

We're going to meet in the middle someday.

Someday way down the road.

In return, I'm drinking out of your

University of Illinois mug.

I have noticed this, the last two days

you've been stealing my coffee cup in the office.

Mm-hmm.

couple reasons, one, I want to be like you when I grow up, but

two, I like the matte finish.

It's just a nice feeling mug.

It's a nice size, it's wide, but it also

narrows in the middle so the heat doesn't escape too bad.

It's a good coffee mug.

It reminds me of Medicare Part D.

Medicare Part D.

Medicare.

Medicare, baby.

So that's our topic today.

Yeah, yeah.

People are well aware of that.

I've been putting it off for a while, it's not

something that ... Actually, Medicare is not something

that we do in our office.

We don't sell Medicare, we don't participate.

We do, we have people here who are of Medicare age,

my father being included.

But we don't, this is not something we do for our

clients on a normal basis.

But because it is such an integral part of people's

lives and retirement, it's something that we talk about

with every single client that walks in the door, and

it's probably one of the biggest questions people have.

I bet.

It seems very confusing.

Well, when someone turns 64, I don't know why 64 is

the magic age, I think they want to give themselves 12 months,

they start receiving more mail, junk mail about Medicare than

they could possibly imagine.

From who?

People that want to sell them Medicare.

You know the stereotype that used car salesmen have?

Mm-hmm.

Medicare people may be worse on a whole.

It's hard to find a good Medicare person.

We're not going to talk about that, you already

know this, but there's a part-two to this series here.

Part-two, we are going to do our first live interview,

and we, for years, have never referred out Medicare

stuff, because there wasn't anyone we could trust.

There was no one out there.

We finally have found a wonderful Medicare person.

The way it happened was my father was turning 65, he was

becoming of Medicare age, and he didn't know who to turn to.

He had a really good friend from high school

who said to him, "Hey, I had this great experience

with this guy Dave Wylly.

You should sit down with him."

So he did and this was life-changing, because we

get approached all the time by Medicare people, "Hey,

send me your clients."

No, thank you.

But Dave Wylly has been a life-saver for our clients

and for us, he really does a great job and his

knowledge is second-to-none.

So part-two of this podcast series I spent 20 minutes

talking to Dave about really the inner workings of it.

So today, I want to talk about how it impacts retirees

in some of the higher level stuff, so that when people

listen to part-two with Dave and myself, they have,

not you, Dave, they have a better understanding of it.

Let's get going, baby.

Now, just so you guys know, if Dave sounds really

excited during this podcast, this is probably the one topic

that we talk about that bores the absolute snot out of you.

I think it has to do with the fact that it's almost more

nuance-y than the tax code.

Hashtag tax nerd.

So Josh, what I do appreciate about you

though, it's such an enthralling topic, you didn't even bother

involving Erin, because she would have fallen asleep.

You took the time to write out a nice bullet point list of what

we'll be talking about today.

I did.

I wanted to hit some of the high level stuff, before Dave and I

dig into it on part-two here.

But planning for healthcare in retirement is a

significant component of anyone's retirement.

We talk about our own retirement planning process, and there's

five components to it.

One of them is healthcare, even though we don't work

with Medicare here, healthcare is a major component.

It's going to be a big expense for a lot of people, and taking

control of it really matters.

So depending upon when you retire will depend upon what

your healthcare looks like.

If you retire prior to age 65, you're going to have to find

some private insurance, maybe continuation of your company

policy, maybe we have to go over to the Exchange and find

some health insurance that way, but that's part of it.

But when you turn 65, almost everyone in this country

will be impacted in some way, shape or form by Medicare.

Can I interrupt?

This may be one of the few times I have a question,

because you say almost everyone, who is not part of that?

Or is that not something you want to get into?

No, that's a good question.

In fact, as I said that, I'm in my head going,

"It's never everybody, but it's a pretty good chunk."

So when I say almost everybody, a lot of times

if people are still working, they won't get Medicare.

We have clients that we've talked about before

who are moving overseas, they won't use Medicare.

If you die before you get Medicare, you

won't use Medicare.

But other than that, almost every single person will

be impacted in some way, shape or form by Medicare.

We talk about Social Security, there's a chunk of our

population who doesn't get Social Security because they

have some other private pension or some other public pension.

But Medicare, it touches everybody.

So it can become extremely important in knowing

some of the rules and stuff that go into there.

So did that answer your question?

That's where my head was at.

I figured it was just nuanced, it was more based

on if you're still working or dead or things like that.

No, that's the big one.

People worry about Medicare, it's a government sponsored,

it's a government run program, and some people

get really hesitant about government run programs.

For the most part, it's actually pretty darn good insurance.

Unless you're coming from some amazing insurance policy,

Medicare is not bad Now, the problem with Medicare is not

every person will accept it.

Not every doctor?

Physician, not every doctor, provider will accept it.

The reason they don't is because if they accept

Medicare, they have to play by Medicare's rules.

Now, the vast majority, vast majority accept Medicare.

Even in Chicago, some of the biggest hospitals, Northwestern,

Rush, University of Chicago, they're all Medicare facilities.

So one of the things that happens though is if they

accept Medicare, they follow Medicare's rules.

If they accept Medicare, it doesn't matter what they think,

what they want to do, they have to play by Medicare's rules.

Sure.

So the first thing you have to do is

you have to find a provider that accepts Medicare, and I

will tell you most providers that people are used to have

probably accepted Medicare.

So if that's the case, let's talk a little bit about it.

The magic age for Medicare is 65 years old.

You're looking at me like, " Confirm that, Dave."

As if you want me to fact-check you.

Can you be my Medicare fact-checker today?

Check the Google, Google says yes.

That's what next week with Dave

is for, Dave Wylly.

But 65 years old is the magic age.

Now, there are ways that people get it younger if

they're disabled or have certain medical conditions,

but everyone at 65 years old becomes eligible for it.

Okay?

Yeah.

Now, there are three parts to Medicare,

and I'm actually going to go off of our notes here.

Our notes say there are four parts.

They say, "A, B, C, and D."

I'm actually going to take C out of it, C is

not technically a part of Medicare, it's a different

option as that comes in.

We're going to talk about that in depth next week with Dave.

Okay.

But A, B and D are all federally run

Medicare programs, they all cover different parts.

So A is free, everybody gets A, it doesn't cost anything.

A is your hospital coverage, it covers the building

that you walk into.

B, you have to sign up for, you have to apply

for it, and B costs money.

It doesn't matter who you are, every month,

B, you will pay for B.

Same with D.

Now, B covers the person inside the building, so it covers

your doctors, your nurses, things along those lines.

D, which is the newest form of Medicare, covers your

prescription drugs, so it covers the medications that you take.

There's different rules with it, you can enroll

in A and not B and D.

A lot of people do that, A, being free, might as well

have some additional coverage.

A lot of people will wait to enroll for B or D until

they retire or need it or whenever that comes into play.

If you don't do it in a timely manner, there can be penalties

and things along those lines, but just be aware of that there.

C is what we call a Medicare Advantage Plan, it's not run

by the US government, it's run by private insurance.

So if you take C, you don't get A and B.

We'll get into that next week, but when people

talk about C, it's not truly federal insurance.

Got it.

Run by the Blue Crosses of the world?

Yeah, private insurance companies.

Now cost and coverage, our bullet point here on cost

and coverage, Medicare can be costly, and it is

important to understand true out-of-pocket expenses.

So looking at your own individual situation, you

want to look at premiums, deductibles, co-payments,

and coinsurance, and Medicare has all of those.

But also, how much you pay determines on your income.

So as we're doing tax planning for people, one of

the additional taxes that people have is the increased

Medicare cost, we call it the IRMAA thresholds, Income

Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, I think is what

IRMAA stands for there.

Oh, two As at the end.

Yeah, there's two As.

I always forget if it's two As or two Ms, it's

either IRMMA or IRMAA.

I think it's the second one, I'm not positive.

If Erin was here, she'd correct me, she corrects me every

time, but I never remember.

So it's like spelling restaurant, I can't

spell restaurant.

You can't spell restaurant?

No, it's start with an R and ends with a T.

There's stuff in the middle, there's a U, there's an A,

there's an R, what order it goes in, I can't spell

it for the life of me.

No, I am a former spelling bee champ,

2nd, 3rd and 4th grade, so I'm a little embarrassed to

be sitting across the table.

You eat at so many restaurants.

Yeah, I can probably spell the name of

the restaurants more than I can spell restaurant.

Dave Schmidt:

Spell Fogo de Chao.

F-O-G-O D-E C-H ... I don't know.

Dave Schmidt:

You're like, "Meat."

Dave Schmidt:

All right, perfect.

Dave Schmidt:

Moving on, moving on.

Dave Schmidt:

He can't spell restaurant, folks.

Now, Medicare only covers certain components,

there's a limit to what Medicare will cover, so that's where the

co-payments, the coinsurance, that comes into play.

What a lot of people will buy on top of Medicare is a

Medicare supplement, sometimes referred to as a Medigap Policy.

It makes up the differences, and those are sold by private

insurance companies, so the Blue Crosses of the world, United

Healthcare, all of that stuff.

So all of that junk mail that I told you people were

getting, it's not coming from the US government, it's

coming from these insurance companies that want to sell

people those Medigap or Medicare supplements, as well

as the Medicare Advantage.

A lot of it's Medicare Advantage, they love to

sell Medicare Advantage, big commissions in those.

Sure.

Now, for some people they work well, but you want

to make an educated decision as that comes into play.

I've started researching that for when

I retire and get my calf implants, I need to have

specific Medigap insurance.

I've seen your calves, you don't need implants.

But I want them bigger.

You want them bigger?

I think they have reality shows about that out in

Los Angeles somewhere.

I'm sure they do.

Now, for A and B, you're not usually looking

to review that every year.

Now, you might review your Medigap coverage or

your supplement there, because the pricing could

change, there are different things that could happen.

Now, the nice thing with Medigap insurance,

Supplement?

The supplement, is every company is required

to cover the same things.

Okay.

So every company's policy is identical, but

they may have different premium amounts, so they

may cost different amounts.

So looking at those on an annual basis becomes important.

Are you locked into terms or contracts?

I'm going to get into that next week with

Dave Wylly a little bit.

When you first sign up, be it age 65 or whenever you retire,

you can go to any company you want, they can't limit you

based on preexisting conditions.

But if you change companies, they can run

you through a medical.

So the first decision you make, you have to

be well aware of that.

So if you change, if you want to switch at 75 years old and

you've been on it for 10 years, they can actually decline you.

Okay.

Now, there is one company here in Illinois, Blue

Cross Blue Shield that does not, they'll take anybody,

so it's nice to have that one advantage or that one plan

that's out there for that.

Now, the other part is prescription drug coverage.

Part D.

Part D, that is something that you want to

look at every single year.

The reason for it is because the drugs you take every year

could change, each company covers drugs differently.

There is no federal mandate to say, "Hey, you have to

cover this drug by this much and that drug by this much."

Every company gets to determine that.

Oh, wow.

So it's like line item by line item.

Line item by line item, and this happens in the

fourth quarter every year, you need to look at that.

They cover it with different amounts, so one company

may say, "Hey, this is a five-dollar a month drug."

The other company may say that same drug, the same prescription

might be $50 a month.

That could change year to year?

Year to year.

Wow.

So just because it was cheap this year,

doesn't mean it's going to be cheap next year.

So Every year that is something that needs to be

re-looked at, and Dave has a great strategy of how he does

that and what he recommends.

So Medicare is something that people should not be afraid of,

it's not something that they should run away with fear, but

it's something that they need to look at every single year.

It's something that, if they're truly going to

own their retirement, this is part of that.

This is not something you want to bury your head in

the sand, this is something that you want to be proactive

in that planning process.

I like it, because it sounds a lot like

when you talk about taxes.

You retire, you have all this control with your taxes, and

with Medicare, same thing.

You have all this control in your retirement, you've just got

to make sure you actually do it.

Yeah.

It's your life, this is a time when you actually have the

power to do something about it.

Taxes, investments, health insurance, it's all-

Sushi restaurants that Josh can't spell.

Sushi, I can spell sushi.

Well, yeah.

You can spell sushi.

S-U-S-H-I.

Restaurant?

Mm-mm.

What's the plural of sushi?

Sushi's.

I don't know.

But no, that is the joy of Medicare.

Didn't I make that painless for you?

You did, and actually we're doing

really good on time too.

I'm really quite impressed.

You thought I was going to drone on and on.

I thought so.

I thought you'd be like, at 24-minute mark, still

on bullet point two.

That's what next week's for, I knew we

were doing a two-parter.

Yeah.

I encourage everyone to come back for next

week's, or the next episode, it won't be next week, but

next episode, because we've already recorded it, it's

a fantastic recap there.

Perfect.

Well, you did cover all of our bullet points.

Anything else you'd like to say on Medicare or are you good?

No, I want to get to know you.

Josh, it's so forthcoming of you.

Yeah, what?

What?

Okay.

Hey, Mister Josh, let's take a break.

You've been talking for so long and my ears are sore.

Let's not make them snore, listening shouldn't be a chore.

Nope.

So let's get to know Josh and Dave-

Okay.

and watch our ratings soar!

Cheep, cheep.

Aw, yeah.

Were you planning that, or was that impromptu?

No, I actually was not planning that, but

as I was listening to the song, I was thinking, "What

bird can I do this time?"

I went, "Cheep, cheep."

You would be a great candidate to take

classes at Second City, the way you come up with these

bird sounds is just majestic.

Oh, yeah.

Me and improv, I can roll with anything.

You do love to talk.

So all right, we've got Pod Decks over there, you did not

go through it, so I assume you have a question for me.

I did not, but like the bird sound, I came

up with a question and it's something that I don't know

about you that I'd like to.

Again, very forthcoming.

I appreciate that.

So if you were to be in the circus, what

part of the circus would you like to partake in?

Oh, my ... That's a great question.

I've considered a career in the circus, believe you me.

I actually do believe you.

Oh, absolutely.

It would be amazing.

So apart from me not having horns on my head

or being eight-feet tall-

yeah, the circus didn't have any of that.

Are you going to spin yourself around?

Flip upside-down?

No, no.

Ooh, you're the strong man.

Definitely not the strong man.

So you've played basketball with me a few times in your life.

A couple times in the past.

Do you remember what our good friend Kevin

used to say about me?

You couldn't get a piece of paper under your legs?

Yeah, I have a negative vertical jump.

So if I were part of the circus, I would be the Cirque de Soleil.

I'd be the acrobats up in the air doing flips, the trapeze

artist, because it would be like I'm floating on air and

my big massive body would be flung around by people.

Can you imagine the girls who'd try to catch you,

like you're flying at them.

If I'm retired, I'm going to

have my calf implants, so I'd be even heavier.

Just like I've never been able to dunk, something about

being able to just float and fly, that is what I'd be.

I think if I remember the names right, Dick Grayson in

Batman, I believe he was the Robin in Batman, his family

was trapeze artists and that's how his parents died actually.

Oh, that's sad.

Yeah, very sad.

Let's bring it down.

Let's make everybody cry here, Dave.

Yeah, that's how we do it, Josh.

How about you?

Well, I definitely don't want to fly,

I have a fear of heights.

I get motion sickness.

In fact, the last act were these ladies on ropes spinning

themselves around like crazy, and my son Alex looks at

me, he goes, "I'd throw-up."

I was like, "Yeah, me too, buddy."

That's awesome.

I'd want to be the ringmaster.

Oh.

Would you sing?

Oh, yeah.

I'd sing.

If you're flying through the air, I'm singing.

Here's why, and again, I've never been to the circus

before, but this guy comes out in the first act and it's like

everyone's out there and he is singing, he is getting the

energy up, and he has command.

He was the first person to make everybody happy, and

I was like, "I want to make people happy like that guy."

You want to set the stage.

I want to set the stage for it.

So I want to be the ringmaster.

It is funny how-

that will surprise nobody.

My mother will listen to this thing and go,

"Yep, of course you do."

You have to control everything.

I too have a fear of heights, and I get

motion sickness as well.

I just think it goes back to, if I'm in the circus,

I can be somebody who I'm not in my day-to-day life.

I can be flying like a soaring eagle through the

air going, "Ca-ca" like you.

Cheep, cheep.

Yeah.

Maybe poop on a few people in the audience.

That's a really great impromptu get-to-know

Josh and Dave question.

I'm glad, the cards are way down there,

I couldn't reach them.

Speaking of can't reach, I can't

really see the screen.

Hang on.

Oh, hold on.

Hashtag tax nerd.

Nope, that's not the one I want.

Wrong button.

Yep, wrong one.

Is this the one?

Dave relates to retirees.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I didn't walk over the top-

No, I appreciate that.

Okay, so despite Medicare being really boring to me, I have

two takeaways about Medicare.

One is that everybody gets it, regardless of whether

or not they want it.

The second part is that you're going to have it assigned

to you, you have options, so you better optimize it for

yourself and for your situation.

Okay?

Okay.

So it's just like US history class in high school.

Mr.

Tourney?

Yeah.

Anybody that knows me, or anybody that's listened to

the podcast knows that I struggled during high school,

I was very disinterested.

Just with academics.

Other than that, you were rock solid.

Off-campus lunch and basketball

were my strengths.

So I was forced to take US history, I had no

interest, I still don't, and I'm thinking, "Okay.

Well, I've got to take this class, so how can I make

the best use of this time?"

I have two options, either I could say, "No, I'm not

taking US history, I'm going to drop out of high

school and become one of those cool kids that just-"

How close were you to that?

Oh, hours.

It was a realistic option, I would disappoint my

whole family, my parents, drop out of high school.

You get used to that after a while, I've heard.

And work at Bruegger's Bagels

the rest of my life.

Or option B, I could bully my friend Josh into doing

my homework and projects for me, so that I would

pass US history class.

I say the word bully, I really didn't, I asked really nicely.

I'm like, "Hey, can you help me with this?"

As soon as you started helping me, I walked away and let

you take over everything.

You're actually remembering it incorrectly.

Really?

Yeah.

You actually put in so little effort that I was worried about

you graduating from high school.

I tried to give myself more credit,

tell me how it really went.

No.

We were doing projects and I liked US history class, actually

I liked the teacher a lot, he was very big into technology,

we were making videos, we did all sorts of really cool stuff.

You just refused to do any of it.

You were a new budding friendship that I had, and I was

like, "Dave, do you want help?

You have to do this.

Here, let's do it."

I remember sitting up in the Creativity Lab in the second

floor of York High School, and I made you get pictures ... I

think your mother gave me the pictures to use in the

project, and I did make you sit there with me and do it.

This is coming back.

This is all coming back.

I was like, "I'm going to make you

graduate high school."

Oh, my God.

You're right.

You did ask my mom for pictures.

Why was I the only senior in that class of juniors?

Because you failed it junior year.

You did, you were take-two on this.

Oh, my gosh.

This has become very humbling.

But your background to this, I understand it, sure.

Now, I hope you take more, when it's time for Medicare

for you, or anyone who's listening, I'm sure you're not

the only one who's listening that felt the same way about a

certain class in high school.

Yeah.

But when it's time for Medicare, you need

to either figure it out on your own, or find someone

like me who's really going to care about you and make sure

that you do what's right.

Because yes, you could have dropped out of high

school and I'm glad you didn't, as is Becks, but

... Dave Schmidt: And Big Mike.

And Big Mike.

But with Medicare, you don't have a choice, and they're

not going to drop you out, there's not an option B, you

can't just do something else.

You're going to get it, and it could be a financial nightmare,

or it can determine what kind of ... If you have a health

issue or something like that, it can determine how much coverage

or what kind of care you can get afterwards, and how much

money you can waste and lose, and things along those lines.

So I do see it, and there are people out there who care about

you and will make sure that you graduate, or at least that

you get the right coverage, you don't pay more than you have

to, and you can put yourself and your family in a situation

where you own your healthcare coverage and retirement.

I'm going to give people a little inside scoop

as to what's going through my head right now, not as if I

ever hold back, but I imagine Josh and I and our friend Matt

having dinner or lunch when we're 65 years old, talking

about the good old days.

The topic will come up, Josh will be like, "Matt,

how are you doing with your Medicare coverage?"

Matt will be like, "I'm doing great, Josh.

How are you?"

Josh will be like, "Oh, I've been set for years."

The both of you will slowly look at me, I'll have a

stack of papers, I'll have disheveled hair, and I'll just

throw the papers in the air, I'll be like, "I am so lost."

Josh will be like, "David, I've got you."

That's how I see it going.

I've got you.

I've got you.

I'm also a year younger than you, so I'll

have to be proactive and make sure that you get your

stuff taken care of here.

Fair enough, man.

Who knew we'd have so much fun with Medicare?

Did you know that?

That was the most serious DR2R, we

really went back deep not talking about basketball.

I do appreciate bringing to light the facts

of how it all went down in high school, not my

revisionist history of it.

All right, Josh, let's give people ... So part-two is

coming up in a few weeks here.

Yeah, we're going to talk to David Wylly, our

local Medicare expert who we refer to in our office, and

we really break down some nitty-gritty, some of the things

that everyone needs to know.

If that's all you know, it should be enough to get

you through US history.

But it's a great podcast, it's not boring, it will not

put you to sleep like it did to Dave in US history class.

But it's a must listen for anyone who is going to have

Medicare be part of their life.

Perfect.

For some people like me, I have no choice,

I have to listen to it.

That's true, yeah.

Awesome.

So we're not saying bye anymore, instead we're

saying, "Arrivederci, Josh."

Is that how you say it?

Arrivederci.

I can't spell restaurant, you

want me to say that?

Arrivederci.

Buenos noches.

Buenos noches, I like it.

All right, cool.