Do you or anyone you know have Medicare without drug coverage? My advice:

Hi everyone, I thought I'd send this little surprise info to any of you to whom it may be of interest.

I am 72 years old and thankfully have been healthy. Because I was employed and had health insurance with RX where I worked, I did not pick up RX coverage during my initial sign up for Medicare 7 years ago.

Life has a strange way of kicking you in the backside. Case in point.
Seven months after I enrolled in Medicare, my husband died. Between all the things necessary to pay for final expenses, legal and medical bills, I made a big dent in our savings. Four months after he died, the company I worked for packed up and moved to Alabama. We were all laid off. No more health coverage thru work. I tried for forever to find a job but had no luck. Grey hair and not very computer literate is not a good combination for a job search.

I never had drug coverage but I was aware that there is a penalty assessed for each month that I had no drug coverage. Never mind the fact that you can only sign up once a year. My dumb mistake. My funds are severely limited, Went from a paycheck and 2 SS checks per month to just one meager SS check.

My conscience has has bothered me because I have no drug coverage with my Medicare supplement. Who knows what I may need.
I just called my provider to ask some questions including the penalty for not having this RX for 7 years. Guess what. It amounts to over 50 dollars a month. That is just the penalty, not the Part C coverage.
Like so many others, I wonder how much longer I can keep up. As it is, things are very tight. Now I must add another 50 to 60 dollars a month because I was not enrolled.
Not that I didn't know about the penalty but I certainly did not expect it to be so great.
So much for trying to keep my head above water.

Please tell your friends and family to consider picking up drug coverage when they are eligible.
Saves a lot of worry when they try later.