My husband is turning 65 in January. He has recently begun his search for the best supplemental health insurance to go with his long-awaited Medicare. He is very excited about Medicare, not so much about the supplemental insurance mostly because of the doctors. You see, they are all…dare I say it…women. Oh, the horror!

“I may just have to go to a female doctor.” Uncomfortable words spoken by my husband.

My less than sympathetic response, “What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t want a woman touching my ‘privates’.” (Not exactly the word he used, but much more blog-writing friendly.)

The conversation continued and you probably know where this is going.

“You do realize that I go to a male doctor…for EVERYTHING. ‘Privates’ included.”

He did smile at this, but somehow gave me the impression that his situation was ‘different’. Since men and women are wired very differently, I get this. And so, his ‘search’ continues.  Each morning at breakfast, I get an update. He’s good that way.

He also gives me a somewhat begrudging update on my medical insurance status. Begrudging because I just turned 59 and will not be eligible for Medicare for another 6 years. Quite a hefty output of income for something I barely use. But, we Americans are plagued by the “what ifs” and so, we pay for peace of mind.

All of this got me wondering about how Medicare began. I like to know the history of things. I assumed it came in with one of my very favorite Presidents, FDR, but it didn’t. It was actually signed into law on July 30, 1965 by another 3 initial POTUS, LBJ. AND, the very first person to receive Medicare was, drum roll please, former President Harry S. Truman.

Personally, I have become somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of Medicare through my parents and their many and varied “ologist” appointments. It’s an interesting program to say the least. There are the alphabetic Parts, that most people are familiar with; but, there are also new legislations and referrals and donut holes. Still, overall, it seems to work and for all that may not be right with it, I am grateful for it still and look forward to the day when it will be my turn. But, until then, our income will be output for our continued peace of mind because it’s really not that big a deal!