I had to sign up for Medicare due to my age. My employer offers excellent health care. (I paid out of pocket 135.00 for my broken neck.}

Now when I go to the Dr am I on Medicare or my current excellent insurance?

when do I need to sign up for that "Part D" shit storm?

Any insight from the forum members will be greatly appreciated.

They probably want to move the expense to Medicare. If you are still employed, your employer may pick up the difference. I assume you are paying for Medicare ?
You may want to consult a pro as there are differences between Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan

Oh, I plan on working another five years until my wife qualifies, I robbed the cradle

I think you have to sign up whether you take Medicare or not

Unless you signed up for Parts B or D, you have only Part A Medicare, which is only hospitalization.
I'm in the same situation, and will be using my employer provided insurance until I retire and start paying for the additional Medicare coverage.

I think it may be impacted by how many employees your employer has.

My parents have employer health care, Tricare and Medicare. Would you believe they still have to pay for some stuff!

quote:

Originally posted by oldbill123:
They probably want to move the expense to Medicare. If you are still employed, your employer may pick up the difference. I assume you are paying for Medicare ?
You may want to consult a pro as there are differences between Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan

Crap, I don't even know? who will pick up the bill?? I was just notified that I got it. I do believe that I need to talk to someone that knows a lot more than me... that is why I started this thread.

It sucks to grow old

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Unless you signed up for Parts B or D, you have only Part A Medicare, which is only hospitalization.
I'm in the same situation, and will be using my employer provided insurance until I retire and start paying for the additional Medicare coverage.

So you're just staying on Part A for the time being?

Start with your HR department. They should provide help. You do NOT NEED a Medicare Advantage plan. Medicare A is hospital and if you worked for ten years costs nothing, Medicare B is outpatient services, Medicare B supplement pays the 20 percent not covered by Medicare B and Medicare D is drug plan. Seriously get some help on this.

Most of the answers you are asking about are covered is this link.
Well before you retire (and as soon as possible), you need to get a much better understanding on the subject and it shouldn't be from a salesman selling Advantage (a replacement for actual Medicare) or supplement policies. Lots to understand and much depends on you specific situation.

https://boomerbenefits.com/is-...40Sij3RoCzF4QAvD_BwE

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Start with your HR department. They should provide help. You do NOT NEED a Medicare Advantage plan. Medicare A is hospital and if you worked for ten years costs nothing, Medicare B is outpatient services, Medicare B supplement pays the 20 percent not covered by Medicare B and Medicare D is drug plan. Seriously get some help on this.

Thanks!

Medicare Pamphlet

However, if you are eligible for Medicare and your medical insurance coverage is through a current employer’s group health plan, Medicare has a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to sign up for Medicare Part B. This SEP qualifies you to delay enrolling in Medicare Part B without having to wait for a general enrollment period and paying the penalty for late enrollment. You can find more information, under the section titled “Special enrollment period for people covered under an employer group health plan.”

- Publication No. 05-10043, Jan 2021

I’m not trying to scold you but it’s not like turning age 65 came as a complete surprise to you. My wife is seven months from turning 65 and I started watching YouTube videos on the topic early last year and earnestly taking notes six months ago.

Go to Medicare.gov and start there. Eat it like an elephant; one bite at a time.

Medicare.gov will answer most of your questions.

As ZSMICHAEL said talk to your HR Dept.

If your employer plan is considered creditable then you should not have to enroll in Part B while employed. If your employer plan has creditable drug coverage then you should not have to enroll in a Part D plan while you are employed.

Did I mention talk to your HR Dept? They really should have the answers you need.

If worst come to worst call 1-800-Medicare, go through the prompts, sit on hold for a few years and then talk to a live person.

You can also call your state's Dept of Insurance.

If you do talk with an insurance agent make sure they specialize in Medicare products. If they tell you, You NEED to sign up NOW then walk away.

A good agent will answer your questions, hand you his/her card and tell you to give them a call when you are ready.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Unless you signed up for Parts B or D, you have only Part A Medicare, which is only hospitalization.
I'm in the same situation, and will be using my employer provided insurance until I retire and start paying for the additional Medicare coverage.

So you're just staying on Part A for the time being?

Yes, until I retire later this year.

You are indicating your current insurance is excellent, so as long as your employer allows you to stay on their plan (mine did) continue to use it and do not use Medicare Part A. As mentioned your HR will have that answer.

Part B (currently $144 monthly cost) will be when you retire and will not have any insurance (either from your employer, your wife's employer, Cobra etc). So you don't want to sign up and pay this if you can maintain your current insurance. When you do retire then you will use A and B, and the monthly cost for B is taken out of your monthly social security payment (or send them a check). If your retirement date is in the middle of the year, losing your employer insurance is an event that allows you to sign up for Part B outside the signup period (Jan 1-Mar 31). Just setup a meeting at your social security office to let them know the date when you want social security and Part B to start.

Same with Part D and Advantage plan, not needed until you retire. About 6-12 months before you retire you can look at the programs available and decide which one you want to use (plans from free to $50-60 a month) to include prescription, vision and dental stuff. When you sign up for one of these you will get a card from them to use and they will administer your A/B/D. These plans have certain doctors and offices, so you can check to see if your current doctors, dentists, vision will take Medicare.

Sounds like you will be working for 5 more years, so you should be set with your current insurance until then.

As a side note to this, when you reach full retirement age (FRA) you can sign up to receive your monthly social security check as well as continue to work at no penalty to your social security payment amount. You sound like you are a 1955-ish birth date - so your FRA is 66 +2 months (1954 is the last year FRA is 66 on your birthday after that is goes up 2 months a year until 1960 hits 67.) As you have seen your monthly SSN payment goes up each year you delay getting it and max's at 70. This will be your decision if you want to collect your SSN starting at 66 FRA or wait until 70 - you can do the math. Who knows what congress will do in the next 5 years.

Thank you everyone for enlightening me on a subject that I hate.

Be aware there is a penalty on part B late enrollment.

It is a lifetime penalty.

https://www.medicare.gov/your-...e-enrollment-penalty.

Be sure to do this right or it can cost you a penalty for as long as you have part B.

I am not an expert but this is what I was told at the SS office when I went to sign up.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
Be aware there is a penalty on part B late enrollment.

It is a lifetime penalty.

https://www.medicare.gov/your-...e-enrollment-penalty.

Be sure to do this right or it can cost you a penalty for as long as you have part B.

I am not an expert but this is what I was told at the SS office when I went to sign up.

The Part B (and Part D penalty) generally only apply if you do not enroll when first eligible and you do not otherwise have creditable coverage from another source (usually an employer plan).

Did anyone mention you should talk to your HR/Benefits dept?

I worked for Social Security for 42 years. We don't administer the Medicare program itself, but SSA is responsible for enrolling individuals in Medicare. After you are enrolled in Medicare, SSA has no role.

I can tell you that some of the most tragic and difficult issues I ran into were with people who made mistakes with Medicare enrollment. So I'll cover a few examples of some of the problems people run into with Medicare enrollment. I'm sure you are familiar with the basics. Part A is free. That covers and pays hospital bills. There are of course deductibles. Information on that is available at the Medicare website. The standard Part B premium amount (for most people) is $148.50 in 2021. Certain high income people may have to pay a higher amount for part B. Part B basically covers doctors bills. See the Medicare website for more more information on coverage and deductibles. Parts A and B don't cover prescriptions or dental. I'll confine my remarks mainly to part A and B, because that's where the vast majority of the problems occur. The website has more information on part D (prescription drugs). https://www.medicare.gov/

One basic fact of life is that employers and employer group health plans are always looking to reduce costs. If they can shift costs to Medicare, they'll do it. If you don't enroll in your Medicare enrollment period but need to do it later, you're out of luck. You can't enroll until the next general enrollment period (begins January of the following year.) Typical problems:

1. You're still working and covered by an employer group health insure plan. So you figure - I don't need Medicare. You're working and covered by an employer group health plan. So you don't enroll in part A (which remember is FREE.) A couple months after your initial enrollment period is over, you wind up in the hospital. You find out your health insurance will not cover a huge part of the bill, because your plan required you sign up for free part A. They will only cover the part Medicare A would not pay, even if you don't have it. (After all, it costs you nothing) So what can you do about it. Nothing. Your shit out of luck. Ignorance of the law and your plan rules is not an excuse.

To be clear, are there circumstances where you wouldn't need to sign up for Medicare part A? Sure. But you have to do your homework with your HR department before you reach Medicare age 65. You have to be absolutely certain of what is expected of you. I have actually seen cases where people have gotten bad information from their HR departments. Remember HR departments are responsible for a lot of issues besides health insurance. You may get someone who is not up to date with the rules. If it were me, I would check with BOTH the HR department AND the health insurance carrier before you decide not to sign up for part A. Since it's free, I see no upside to not signing up for part A, but that's just me.

2. Same basic issue as #1 - but with part B. Some health plans require you to sign up for part B, with the employer reimbursing you for the cost of part B. So there is no net cost to you.

Same advice as above. Do your research with HR and your health insurance carrier befor eiot's time to sign up. It's getting late. Time for bed. If I can think of anything else I might post again tomorrow.