The Clearing Program
The Map
A complete view of how The Clearing helps you understand Medicare, apply it to your situation, complete the work, and return when something changes.
Use the free public layer as a map. Program membership adds guided application, Fern, continuity, and shared experience.
What this is
The Map shows the full structure of The Clearing: the public Medicare resources, the Program, the Caregiver Track, decision tools, Fern outputs, Community spaces, and verification sources.
You do not need to complete everything. Start with the situation in front of you and use only the parts the work requires.
Reading the labels
The Self-Audit and worksheets marked Free public first step are open to everyone. The rest of the Handbook, the Caregiver Track, Fern, and the Community are part of Program membership.
The Clearing Handbook
A structured path through the Medicare decision
A structured Medicare decision path from orientation through annual review.
The lesson titles below are the full member inventory. They are shown as an index, not as a required sequence.
Getting Started
- Welcome Available at launch
- How to Use This Handbook Available at launch
- Founding Member Notes Available at launch
- What Fern Can Help With Available at launch
- What Fern Produces Available at launch
Part I — Know Your Situation
Gather the facts, timing, preferences, risks, and unanswered questions that shape the decision.
- The Self-Audit Free, including the worksheet Available at launch
- SHIP Prep Worksheet Available at launch
- Sharing With Family Arrives August 2026
Part II — Understand Your Options
Learn how the Medicare paths work before comparing specific plans.
- How Medicare Actually Works Available at launch
- Routes A/B/C Available at launch
- When Your Employer’s Retiree Benefit Comes With Strings Available at launch
- Route D — Losing Employer Coverage Mid-Year Arrives August 2026
- The Extra Benefits Trap Arrives August 2026
Part III — Make Your Decision
Turn the facts into requirements, tradeoffs, and a defensible decision process.
- The Comparison Framework Available at launch
- Red Flags & Fine Print Available at launch
- Choosing A Plan Around Your Prescriptions Arrives August 2026
- Questions To Ask Before You Sign Arrives August 2026
- Building Your Blueprint
Part IV — Enroll
Prepare the questions, verification, documents, and sequence required to act.
- Enrollment Deadlines & Periods Available at launch
- After You Enroll Arrives August 2026
- When Something Changes Arrives August 2026
Part V — Manage It Every Year
Revisit the decision when coverage, costs, doctors, prescriptions, health, or life circumstances change.
- Annual Review Available at launch
- Reading Your ANOC Arrives Q4 2026
- When To Switch (When To Stay) Arrives Q4 2026
- Life Events That Change Your Plan Arrives Q4 2026
- What A Caregiver Should Know Arrives Q4 2026
The Caregiver Track
Written from the helper's position
The Caregiver Track is written from the helper’s actual position—not the main Program rewritten for a parent or spouse.
It helps caregivers learn the Medicare framework, apply it from one seat over, coordinate the people involved, preserve the person’s preferences, and understand where authority stops.
Additional lessons are being built through fall 2026.
Getting Started
- Getting Started (Caregiver) — orientation Available at launch
Part I — Know Their Situation
Separate what is known, what is assumed, what belongs to the person receiving Medicare, and what the caregiver still needs to confirm.
- The Caregiver Self-Audit Available at launch
- Legal Cover (HIPAA, POA)
Part II — Understand Their Options
Understand the available Medicare paths in the context of the other person’s needs and circumstances.
- Additional lessons Build-out through fall 2026
Part III — Make Decisions With Them
Support the person’s decision whenever they are able to make it, while making tradeoffs and family roles visible.
- Additional lessons Build-out through fall 2026
Part IV — Enroll (On Their Behalf, When Authorized)
Prepare enrollment work while clearly separating help, permission, and legal authority.
- Enrolling On Their Behalf (When Authorized)
Part V — Manage Every Year (For Them)
Preserve the record and revisit the decision as plans, health, providers, prescriptions, or caregiver roles change.
- Additional lessons Build-out through fall 2026
Worksheets
Tools that turn understanding into completed work
Grouped by the job they do — organizing the facts, comparing and verifying options, and preserving the decision so you can return to it.
Organize
- The Self-Audit Worksheet Free public first step
- Requirements List Worksheet
- Blueprint Worksheet
Compare and verify
- Plan Comparison Worksheet
- Enrollment Preparation Worksheet
Preserve and return
- Annual Review Worksheet
Fern
What the conversation can become
A conversation with Fern can become a working record, checklist, brief, or memo that helps the member continue the decision.
- Self-Audit Summary
- Requirements List
- Blueprint
- Medicare Snapshot
- SHIP Prep Packet
- Letter Translation
- Enrollment Checklist
- Decision Memo
- Family Brief
- Annual Review
Outputs vary with the situation. They are not separate products or guaranteed deliverables from every conversation.
Fern outputs do not replace official Medicare, plan, provider, legal, financial, or medical sources. They help organize what the member needs to understand and verify.
Meet FernThe Community
Shared experience inside The Program
The Handbook explains the terrain. Fern supports the private work. The Community adds perspective from members who have faced related decisions.
- Ask Anything Ask a current Medicare question and get help thinking it through.
- Medicare Q&A Focused questions on how coverage, enrollment, and the rules actually work.
- Caretaker Corner A room for people helping someone else make or manage a decision.
- Your Wins Mark the decisions that are finally settled, and the progress along the way.
- Founders Lounge A room for early members helping shape how The Clearing grows.
- Field Reports Honest member debriefs of how a related Medicare decision actually played out.
Field Reports are honest member debriefs, not polished success stories.
Resources
Sources members can return to
The Clearing helps organize and explain the work. Decision-critical facts should still be confirmed with the appropriate official, plan, provider, pharmacy, legal, tax, or financial source.
- Official Medicare sources Medicare.gov and official CMS materials for verifying rules and coverage.
- State and local assistance SHIP and local programs that offer free, independent help.
- Plan and provider verification How to confirm a plan, network, or provider before you rely on it.
- Prescription resources Tools for checking how a plan covers the prescriptions you take.
- Medicare guides and explainers Plain-language explanations of the parts, routes, and terms.
- Related coverage resources References for employer, retiree, and other coverage that interacts with Medicare.
What The Map does not show
The Map shows the structure of The Clearing. It does not display private member records, full lesson content, Fern's internal instructions, unpublished Program material, or individualized Medicare answers.
The work begins with the Medicare situation in front of you.
The free first step
Start with your situation.
The Self-Audit helps you gather the facts, timing, priorities, and unanswered questions that belong to you.
You do not need to understand the entire Map before you begin.
No login required for the public first step.