If your employer has more than 20 employees and you are still covered at age 65 you don’t have to do anything regarding Medicare. There won’t be a penalty later.
Go to medicare.gov. When you apply online it walks you through all the steps and asks you specific questions pertinent to your situation. I believe HImom is spot on with her answer.
My H had the same situation as your H. He submitted Part A Medicare at age 65 (you have to) and not Part B. His work insurance covered everything( hospitalization, clinical visits, drugs) but you have to take Part A (free) regardless at age 65.
Who is right, MomofWildChild or cbreeze? These are direct contradictions. I plan to continue working as a teacher (way more than 20 employees!) until I am 68 and I just turned 65. I love my employer-provided HMO coverage–never ANY paperwork and every penny covered. I don’t want to get involved with Medicare a moment before I have to. And I don’t want to pay a penalty for the rest of my life.
Who to believe? When I google it AARP seems to say I can wait if still working with full benefits.
@MomofWildChild Does the situation change if the person turning 65 is unemployed (but not collecting SS) and covered by the health insurance of the employed spouse?
Read your policy. Under H’s, his employer’s coverage was primary if he was still employed. We didn’t HAVE to get A bit it was free so we got it as 2dary coverage after H’s insurance paid 1st. It was fairly seamless and painless.
The only problem was they kept trying to send claims to B and we kept saying he’s not enrolled in B.
It worked out.
Also, if your employer has high deductible plan and you have a HSA (which we do) you CAN NOT be enrolled in Part A and still use the HSA.
Fendrock- I don’t know.
When I went in person to my local SS office the man who helped me gave me the local office’s diect phone number and said if I had any questions call the local office, not the main Medicare or SS national number. He said the local office answers right away. Apparently these local numbers are not easy to find. So, maybe a good reason to check in at your local office.
My understanding is that the insurance has to be coverage from an active employee. I don’t believe it matters whether it’s the person working or spouse working, but I’d double-check on that. As soon as H was getting insurance as a 65+ retired employee, his 8 month time period during which he had to get part B or pay lifetime penalty started.
Of note- I’m an HR lawyer and I don’t understand much of it…
My understanding ( from benefits department and broker) if my husband was still using my health benefits when he was 65 ,he did not need to sign up for Part A.
Just call them.
And then, regardless of what they tell you, wait two days and call again, to speak to someone different.
‘Cause – you know. Just sayin’.
I read H’s policy very carefully and scrolled thru Medicare.gov and some federal employee blogs to see what folks said.
For us with no HSA, there was no downside to starting Medicare A (no premium) and then waiting for B (part B scaled premiums based on past income tax returns).
I did read all the available info multiple times but never called HR nor Medicare to verify. H didn’t really have any HR person locally and wasn’t sure who to call nationally. The insurance policy and retirement blogs were all consistent and clear so I was comfortable. Since we were never penalized tho H bought B after he finally retired, I’m confident we interpreted things correctly for H.
More: I haven’t been following Medicare closely enough to see if there have been any changes since he retired in 12/2012.
Ask your State Health Inurance Assistance Program, which is a free service in every state to help with Medicare questions. See http://www.medicarehelp.org/state-health-insurance-assistance-programs-ship/. It’s usually super helpful and was on the federal budget chopping block, but has so far gotten a reprieve.
@MomofWildChild , if the HSA is mine as the person still employed, can I still use it for my husband’s elegble expnses once he is on Medicare?
@dragonmom, this publication might answer your question (but I’m not sure): https://www.benstrat.com/downloads/HSA-GPS_HSAs-and-Medicare.pdf
I really don’t know Medicare- just what I researched for myself, but I am pretty certain that the HSA can be used for qualified expenses for the spouse even if the spouse is Medicare entitled.
Yes, but you can no longer put money in as a married couple. You can only continue to put money into the HSA as a single if husband goes on Medicare.
But note, you may have to stop contributing to the HSA six months prior to hubby enrolling in Medicare, assuming he elects SS at teh same time.
https://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-04-2009/ask_ms_medicare_question_53.html
Thanks @rosered55 , @MomofWildChild and @bluebayou . I never thought this would be so complicated. (To be truthful, I never thought I would be old enough and Medicare still solvent to get benefits…)
You enroll for part A & defer Part B. It can be done on line but be VERY CAREFUL to check the right boxes. And, even if you do everything right, SSA can screw up – because the on line application does not go directly into the database. It has to be entered by a human being, who can make a mistake. They signed my wife up for part B even though she had deferred (since I am still working and she is covered by my health plan), and it took many letters and phone calls to straighten out. And, even then, the form they sent us had incorrect information that I had her cross out and add the correct information that she would NOT be subject to a penalty (even potentially) when later enrolling for part B because she was currently covered by my health plan and she (like me) gets a special enrollment period when I retire.
In light of that experience, I took a screen shot of every page when I signed up the following year as I filled out the on line form – just to be able to prove that any error would be in the transcription. Mine went through fine, of course, although the form letter I later received was so ungrammatical that I submitted a complaint to the Regional Administrator – and got a personal phone call from him (!!!) apologizing for the screw up and thanking me for bringing it to their attention. That was nice, although his “computer glitch” explanation was hogwash: someone had to write those absurd sentences with worse capitalization and noun/verb agreement than I would expect of an eight year old.