Hints From Heloise

Dear Heloise: My husband was ill for some time and had many doctor visits, hospital stays and ambulance calls, so there was much correspondence with Medicare and the providers.

I put each year’s correspondence in a separate folder, and I took a loose-leaf notebook and listed everything in it. In the first column I listed the provider and the date, the second column was the entire charge, the third column what Medicare allowed, the next column what Medicare paid and the last one what his company paid.

If I wanted to look something up, it was much easier to look in the notebook than to shuffle through all the papers.

I hope this helps some other people who have to take charge of Medicare payments. - Jean Ricke, Estherville, Iowa Your hint will surely help anyone of any age. This is a simple way to keep track and it’s a valuable record for later on. Thanks for writing. - Heloise