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Free Medicare decision guide
A short, printable guide that explains the one choice every Medicare decision comes down to — and gives you the exact questions to ask before you enroll. No sales pitch. No email required.
✓ Free · Read the guide, then fill in the worksheet · no email
What's inside
Written by someone with nothing to sell you — and built to walk in with, not just read.
Page 1
The single choice underneath every Medicare decision — Original Medicare + a supplement, or Medicare Advantage — and the trade each one makes.
Page 2
The health, doctors, and situation to weigh before any conversation — explained here, with a fillable version in the worksheet to capture your own answers.
Page 3
A printable checklist of what you're entitled to have answered — coverage, network, prior authorization, drugs, timing — before you sign.
Page 4
The independent resources with no stake in your decision — Medicare.gov, SHIP counselors, and Fern — to verify the details and decide.
Why we made it
There's a 6-month window when you first enroll in Part B where any insurer must sell you a supplement — no health questions. And a one-time 12-month Trial Right to leave Medicare Advantage and come back. Miss them, and your options can narrow for good.
Nobody profits from telling you that, so few people do. This guide does — calmly, in clear language, with the deadlines and the questions in one place. Print it, fill it in, and bring it with you.
Two steps, in order
The guide teaches the decision — the two forks, the questions to ask, where to turn. The worksheet is where you capture your answers, costs, and questions, and print them to bring along. One to understand; one to carry.
Free · no email required · 2026 Medicare figures
That's exactly what Fern is for. Describe your situation in plain words and Fern helps you think it through — no enrollment, no commission, no agenda.
What questions should I ask before choosing a Medicare plan?
Confirm your doctors and hospitals are in the network, that your medications are covered and at which pharmacy, whether services need prior authorization, what the plan's out-of-pocket maximum is, and how a switch could affect your ability to get a supplement later. The guide walks each one in plain language.
What's the difference between the guide and the worksheet?
The guide teaches the decision and what to ask; the worksheet is the fillable page you bring to the kitchen table or any call, so you can write down the answers as you get them.