Posted on 08/14/2010 6:45:42 PM PDT by Thom Pain
Need help/advice. I'm about to turn 65 and am still employed in private sector full time (and hope to be for many years to come). Need to know if I have to enroll in Medicare now, or wait until I retire (someday). Can anyone steer me to good info?
Happy to have paid for all that for you... not!
Ever consider learning to ride?
Sign up for Medicare A-—it costs nothing. I was working full time and covered by my employer’s insurance program which was an excellent program. If it’s not an excellent program, you can sign up for Medicare B which pays a great percentage (80%)of doctor visits etc. Medicare A covers hospitalization. Having a second insurance program like Medicare B can sometimes cover expenses not covered by your primary coverage from your employer.
Been riding my whole life.
It was a freak accident on my friends pos KDX.
Maybe if he told me the front wheel was about 10 degrees of center i would have survived.
Also maybe if i decided to put my helmet on before blasting up the path woulda helped also.
Duh!
This was goofing around after about 4 hours of riding.
I did not want taxpayer insurance, i was out of work and my governor forced me to go on it.
Exceptions to the Penalty Rules
If the person or a spouse is actively employed and the person is covered by an employer group health plan, they may not need Part B until they are no longer covered under the employer's plan due to end of employment. If the employer had more than 100 employees and the person signs up for Medicare Part B within eight months after the employer benefits end, they will not be penalized for late enrollment. Retirement coverage and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) benefits do not count as employer coverage.
For Medicare Part D, if the person has a prescription plan that Medicare considers “comparable coverage” and enrolls in Part D shortly after that coverage ends, an exception to the penalty rule is allowed. Comparable coverage is considered to be a plan, which has the same or similar benefits as a Medicare Part D plan.
You’re right, I was thinking ‘SS’!
I never understood, if one has coverage why do they require the 65 yr old crowd to drop it and take Medicare?
Sorry, I was thinking SS.
I forgot to add I am still working full time with no company health insurance policy. I do have a heart condition and pay meds out of my pocket and anything else. I have stalled the heart doctor from the 600 dollar echo test he wants to run. The meds work fine but he still wants to do it and when I see him in November I will see if I still see him or whatever.
Anyone with any common sense insight can see what is going on now with those in charge. I live with my mother whose income is only SS but she has a savings account not with a lot but has it. I help her with rent, utilities, groceries, etc. My trust in the higher and divine forces keeps my sanity because, as I have said, the prophecy of what is come is obvious.
Our private insurance required those on their plan to enroll in Medicare as soon as they were eligible - saved ‘em lots of money - maybe one issue to look into......
“I never understood, if one has coverage why do they require the 65 yr old crowd to drop it and take Medicare?”
First, “Medicare has special rules that apply to beneficiaries who have group health plan coverage through their own or their spouse’s current employment. Group health plans of employers with 20 or more employees must offer these people the same health insurance benefits under the same conditions that younger workers and spouses receive.” http://www.medicare.gov/choices/employer.asp
But for employers not bound by this rule, the rationale is because 65-year olds cost much more than the average employee. Thus, it’s cheaper to rely on tax-financed health care as the primary payer and just use the employer coverage as supplemental coverage to fill in gaps in Medicare (e.g., to cover deductibles and cost-sharing or services not covered by Medicare).
I have a close family member getting SS Disability for Parkinson’s Disease. He has to wait 2 years for Medicare, but is covered by his wife’s insurance. He is only 51 and would be so happy if he could still work.
This is a good site for Medicare questions. My spouse and I have Medicare and United Healthcare as secondary.
http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11038.pdf
“I was referring to Medicare part B”
By law, the $110 monthly you pay for Part B coverage only covers 1/4 of the true cost of the benefit (the rest is subsidized by taxpayers). Thus, unless you are unusually healthy or have employer coverage, it generally pays to take Part B, as the premium you’ll pay generally would be well below what it would cost out of pocket to get those services were you lacking Part B coverage.
If a company has more than 20 employees, they must continue offering their employee (or retiree) the same plan at 65+?
Or just supplemental to Medicare and Medicare is then primary?
“The justice or injustice of Medicare was not the point of my post.”
I wasn’t trying to be critical of you. You presumably already had figured out Part B was a good deal, so my comment about the premiums covering only 25% of the cost really was for the edification of others faced with this decision.
Except for those who might have moral qualms about accepting government-paid insurance (for which they themselves would have been paying payroll taxes over many decades), the decision about whether to buy Part B generally is a no-brainer. Very few elderly would be better off “self-insuring” their Part B expenses.
I am sorry to hear you suffered such a serious accident and am glad you were able to get health care you needed. That must have been a life changing event!
When you get near eligibility the feds will send you a booklet MEDICARE AND YOU. It's massive and tries to spell things out. On pp19-20, there is a chart of Part A covered services. Blood is covered only when you're hospilized, and you pay a little if the hospital has to pay for a private source. It does sound like Part A doesn't pay for the doctor while you're in the hospital. Part B covers lots of stuff, but you have to pay a premium, deducted from your Social Security. Page 39 summarizes what's not covered by parts A and B.
One thing that's been suggested to me...if you travel in a group that offers it (like a cruise or tour) get the health insurance they offer. Why? If you ever have to be transported for medical care in an emergency while on a trip, it could bankrupt you.
What are your penalties if your employer that had more than 100 employees when you turned 65 and now, because of the bad economy, your employer that has less than 100 employees.
Do you have to go the the Medicare office with you employer books to prove that he had more then 100 employees 5 years ago ?
Part A is free, but I don’t know if you can sign up for it if you are still working and covered by a group policy. It seems to me that if you could sign up, your group carrier would like that since Medicare becomes the primary payer and they only need to pick up what Medicare doesn’t cover. They will nip your Social Security payment for Part B. If you are still working and have work coverage, you do not need to sign up for B when you turn 65 and your payment should not increase. However, if you delay signing up past when you retire, they will nip you for a higher payment to make up for what you would have paid if you would have signed up right away.
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