These are the long explanations. If you have one specific question, Answers is faster; if you want to know what changed this month, the blog is where the dated reporting lives. Start here when you want to understand the rule itself — what the enrollment windows are, how a penalty is calculated, what a metal level buys you — before you make a decision that is hard to reverse.
Medicare
The eleven things it is worth understanding before you choose a plan — who qualifies, when you can enroll, what it costs, and the penalties that follow you for life if you get the timing wrong.
- Who Qualifies for Medicare Age 65, or earlier with a disability, ESRD or ALS — and what the citizenship rule actually requires.
- Every Medicare Enrollment Period IEP, GEP, AEP, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, SEPs and the six-month Medigap window — what each one lets you do.
- What Medicare Costs The 2026 Part A and Part B premiums, deductibles and coinsurance — and the ceiling Original Medicare does not have.
- Medicare Advantage vs Medigap Two different ways to deal with the missing out-of-pocket ceiling — and only one of them has a door that closes.
- Medicare Part D Drug Coverage How the four stages work, the $2,400 cap for 2027, the $700 maximum deductible, and what the cap is written against.
- IRMAA: the Income Surcharge on Part B and Part D Who pays more than the standard premium, the 2026 brackets, and the two-year lookback that catches recent retirees.
- Medicare Late Enrollment Penalties Parts A, B and D each have one, they are calculated differently, and two of the three last for life.
- Turning 65: a Medicare Checklist What to do in the seven months around your 65th birthday, in the order the deadlines actually fall.
- Working Past 65 and Employer Coverage When you can safely delay Part B, when you cannot, and the eight-month clock that starts the day the job ends.
- Medicaid, Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help Four state programmes and one federal one, with the 2026 income and resource limits — and the penalty protection that comes with them.
- How to Check Your Doctors and Drugs Before Choosing a Plan The two checks that decide whether a plan works for you, and why the premium is the least useful number to compare.
ACA / Marketplace
Marketplace coverage for people under 65: how to buy it, what lowers the premium, when you can enroll outside the usual window, and what the metal levels actually mean.
- The Health Insurance Marketplace: a Guide How to buy ACA coverage in Florida, when the window is open, and what to do if your income is too low for a subsidy.
- ACA Premium Tax Credits How the subsidy is calculated, why it is an estimate you reconcile at tax time, and the Silver-plan trap.
- ACA Special Enrollment Periods The life events that let you enroll outside November to January, and the 60-day clock on each of them.
- ACA Metal Levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum What the four categories actually describe, the cost split in each, and why Silver is not simply the middle option.
Life & Final Expense
What the policy types do, and the smaller policy people buy to cover a funeral rather than to replace an income.
- Life Insurance: the Four Types and What They Do Term, whole, universal and final expense — what each is actually for, and how the death benefit is taxed.
- Final Expense Insurance A small whole life policy bought to cover a funeral — what it is for, how it differs from pre-need, and when it is the wrong tool.
Where else to look
A guide is the long form. Two other parts of this site answer differently, and sometimes faster.
This guide explains published rules and figures, with the source for each one. It is not advice about your own situation.