<p>Just trying to figure out pros & cons of buying Medicare B with the retiree’s federal health insurance. I know it will cost an additional premium and that it will be more if it isn’t purchased when the person turns 65 or retires, whichever comes first. Just trying to figure out financial pros & cons of purchasing it IN ADDITION to keeping the federal health insurance.
Thanks for anyone with knowledge.</p>
<p>I’ll be interested to see the responses, but in the mean time here are some articles from a quick google search:</p>
<p>[News</a> Articles: Medicare and Federal Retirees: Part B or Not Part B?](<a href=“http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1613/medicare-federal-retirees-part-b-not.html]News”>http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1613/medicare-federal-retirees-part-b-not.html)</p>
<p>[Which</a> is better, a federal retiree plan or Medicare Part B?](<a href=“http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2011/06/should-we-keep-our-federal-retiree-plan-or-sign-up-for-medicare-part-b.html]Which”>http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2011/06/should-we-keep-our-federal-retiree-plan-or-sign-up-for-medicare-part-b.html)</p>
<p>Yea, for sure we will need to keep FEHB family plan, because H is the only one qualified for Medicare. Have mixed feelings about Medicare Part B. </p>
<p>On the one hand, 10%/year premium penalty forever if you don’t enroll timely is pretty hefty. On the other hand, we’ve been pretty happy with the coverage we’ve always gotten from FEHB & don’t have much in co-payments (of course that could change as we age). One other unknown is that no one knows what will happen to Medicare or even FEHB down the line, I suppose.</p>
<p>The penalty is waived if you had equivalent insurance during the period.</p>
<p>I just attended a retirement seminar and they implied we should definitely get Part B right after we retired–even if we were keeping our FEHBP insurance–not only because of the penalty, but because you could only get Part B at a certain open season time–and you might develop a serious medical condition for which you would need part B you would not be eligible. I think the waiver for equivalent coverage is only for Part D (the medication plan). I’m a little bit away from retirement so wasn’t listening too closely but I’d definitely check it out with your HR people because the person at at seminar was pretty adamant.</p>
<p>We are in a similar situation, as my husband retired from federal gov’t just over 3 years ago and he is over 65. I am not and still working and always been covered under his plan, along with daughters. We can still cover younger d till she turns 26 with the new plan. Older d we were able to cover this past year but she just turned 26 last month and aged out-just registered her for Healthy New York HMO, as she does not have full-time work in her field, only part-time without benefits. Prior to last year she was in grad school and had medical plan through her university. My husband did sign up initially but the following year the cost to do so was really high and he opted out. He knows that he will pay a penalty but thought better to wait until I am 65 and younger d ages out of plan. We have never had a problem with the FEP coverage, although now some of the reimbursements are only Medicare equivalent, however I picked up Flexible Spending for us from my company’s plan through AFLAC so we will see how that works out.</p>
<p>You can sign up for Part B at any time.<br>
For Part D, unless you are newly eligible at age 65, lost your equivalent coverage, or moved to a state where you current plan is not being offered, you can only sign up in November/December. Part D has a 1% per month not signed up penalty.</p>
<p>FEHB is at least as good as Medicare Part D, so that is not a concern for us. We HAVE to keep FEHB because that is our primary coverage & I would have a VERY hard time getting good coverage at decent rates with my pre-existing conditions (if I could get ANY coverage).</p>
<p>Am still mulling it over & suspect we’ll end up buying Part B for H, since we are risk adverse and can’t predict the future all that well. I shouldn’t qualify for medicare for at least a decade, so it would only be ONE premium for Medicare B as well as one premium for FEHB. Most folks who can afford it seem to have purchased it when they retired, probably just to avoid the premiums being MUCH higher when they need it.</p>
<p>Appreciate any thoughts and insights as we will have to decide all of this in the near future.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned the Flexible Spending Account. The current $5000 cap goes to $2500 in 2013.</p>
<p>Once you’re retired, you can’t have a flexible spending account at all anyway. It’s for current employees only, to the best of our knowledge. Please correct me if I’m wrong. We got tired of the red tape & stopped doing it last year & forgot until past the deadline to sign up for 2012. :(</p>