Yep, same thing happened with my parents. They had a primary insurance (american postal workers, and no they weren’t postal workers but were able to get into the insurance plan many years ago). They paid into it, premiums, etc. Once they qualified for Medicare, that was it...medicare became the primary insurance even though they had private insurance with American Postal Workers. My parents kept telling me about this but I didn’t realize it until I took over their care, including medical care. I learned it was the Law. Medicare, whether they wanted it or not, was their primary and their private insurance was their secondary.
Whenever they needed some kind of medical care, and I’d be told that medicare doesn’t cover it, I’d say well they have private insurance, bill them for heavens sakes. It took tons of paperwork, countless amount of time, until it went through. All because medicare becomes the primary insurance regardless of private insurance. My parents always said Medicare was a scam (as well as SS) and I learned it was.
“My parents always said Medicare was a scam (as well as SS) and I learned it was.”
The worst part about this is that is a senior wants to go to work for a small company to supplement his or her SS, the small company gets hit with the whole insurance bill if they have less than 50 on the plan.
It would be nice if the fact that the senior was on medicare would be an advantage to hiring the senior employee but it turns out just the opposite. It raises the cost for the small company to hire the senior because he or she is old and that drives up the small companies group rate.