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- 0:00should sign up for Medicare and what kind to get. These programs support 70
- 0:04million Americans. Overall, the agency CMS is 165 million people trying to
- 0:09answer questions like this. Today, one of the ways we're going to help you
- 0:14because we're trying to be helpful is to give you a book. We sent you a really
- 0:17big book. This book cost us a hundred million dollars a year to print and ship
- 0:21to the American people. I have not yet met a person who's read it. Has anyone
- 0:24read this book, by the way? Yeah. That never once. And no one should read this.
- 0:28It's like a gag. But we shouldn't make Medicare easier to study by sending you
- 0:32a book. We should make it easier to use.
- 0:35That's the goal today. That's why Health and Human Services and again, Secretary
- 0:40Kennedy has signed on to this is proud to be a founding agency partner with
- 0:45America.gov. Lisa, give me a little
Some context on the big book Oz holds up. That’s the “Medicare & You” handbook, and it goes out every fall because Medicare has to tell beneficiaries each year what their coverage is. Nobody reads it cover to cover, and it isn’t meant to be read that way. You look up your part of it when you need it. You can already switch to the electronic copy instead of the paper one.
The real problem he’s pointing at is choosing a plan. Part B timing, whether you’re still working, drug plans, penalties that last for life. If America.gov can walk someone through that honestly, it’s worth more than the $100 million in printing. Signing up isn’t the hard part. Getting it right the first time is.