I’m starting this with a personal story. My mother was a New York City public school teacher for many years. When she joined the school system, part of the deal was that, when she retired, many of the costs of her traditional Medicare plans would be subsidized by her union and by the city. So far, so good. However, now the city, in order to save money, is moving all its retirees, including the public school teachers, to a Medicare Advantage plan.
(If you don’t know what Medicare is, or the difference between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage, don’t worry about it — a lot of people don’t. I’ll explain in a moment.)
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