Sandra Beaumont

Healthcare Costs, Medicare & Retirement Budgeting

Age 66 · Retired hospital administrator and Medicare planning advocate

I was raised outside of Philadelphia in a family that talked about money the way most families talk about politics — too loudly, too often, and never quite resolving anything. I spent 32 years as a hospital administrator in Boston, which gave me an unusual front-row seat to how devastatingly complicated American healthcare billing really is. When I retired and enrolled in Medicare, I discovered that even I — someone who had navigated hospital finance for three decades — was blindsided by the gaps, the premiums, and the fine print. That experience turned into a mission. I now volunteer with a local senior services organization helping retirees decode their Medicare options, host a Sunday morning walking group that's now 14 people strong, and am learning, at last, to play the piano I've owned for 20 years. I write for everyone who thought they understood the system until it was their own money on the line.