This highlights perhaps a more fundamental problem. Many people of Medicare age don’t have a smartphone, and aren’t familiar with apps or comfortable manipulating screens.

According to a report from AARP, 46 percent of people in their 60s do not have smartphones. Only 29 percent of the 70-and-older crowd do. The report suggests that the trend will tick upward, with more older Americans owning mobile technology each year.

The Roneys both have Medicare Part A and B, which covers hospitalizations and doctor visits. They both have smartphones. As retired government workers, they also both have insurance from GEHA, the Government Employees Health Association, which covers their dental care, prescription drugs and some other expenses. Milt Roney gets some money from GEHA to hand out brochures at health fairs.

They consider themselves pretty tech-savvy. They have iPads, personal computers and iPhones. Lisa Roney wears a Fitbit.

But they immediately questioned the necessity of the app.

“I’d just pick up the phone and call if I had a question about what was covered,” Milt Roney said.

“I’d probably just look it up in the [Medicare] book,” Lisa Roney said, pulling the 2-inch manual from a drawer in her office.

Then came the first hurdle: downloading the app.

Searching “Medicare” in the Google app store, which is where Android users go, yielded many results. “What’s Covered” was first on the list, but it’s far from the only Medicare-related app on the platform. Same experience in the Apple app store, where it took the Roneys a few minutes to sort out exactly which one was the CMS tool. (It’s the one that says “Official Medicare coverage app,” made by the “Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.”)