I will be 65 in a couple of months. I currently have a good health insurance through my employer and am not planning to retire any time soon. Do I still need to enroll in medicare? If so, is Plan A enough or do I need both Plan A and Plan B?
Plan A is automatic and it becomes your primary insurance. Your employer insurance is secondary. Check with your HR office. If you have good employer insurance plan B is not necessary.
^^Thank you very much for the information.
I just did this, although my health insurance is through my husband’s employer. You have to sign up for part A, which is essentially hospital insurance, and it is free for most people (since you’ve been contributing to it with every paycheck you’ve ever gotten.) If you have creditable health insurance you don’t have to sign up for Part B, which is health insurance (as opposed to hospital insurance.) Part B costs $104/month. But you have to be prepared to demonstrate to SSA that you have creditable insurance if they ask, and you have a window of time to sign up for Part B once you no longer have that creditable insurance (you quit or retire, etc.) If you don’t sign up for Part B in a timely fashion you will pay a penalty every single month when you do sign up. You can sign up on line and I believe you can start the process a couple of months before you turn 65.
Not all Medicare part A and B cost $104 per month.
My Medicare part A and B payment is $170 a month because our MAGI is considered high.
Also be aware that if you choose not to sign up for Part D (prescription coverage) at this time you can always sign up later but will have to pay a lifetime penalty. Just something to consider.
No penalty if you have creditable drug coverage now; the penalty will comes into play if you don’t sign up for Part D in the window after you stop having the creditable drug coverage.
You do NOT have to sign up for Part A, unless you are getting Social Security,in which case it is automatic. As long as you have creditable health insurance from your company, you don’t need to sign up for A or B until you leave your employer. You have a certain time period after you leave your employment to sign up without penalty.
Part A is free for most people, so many people will sign up anyway BUT …do be aware that if you have an HSA heath plan, you will not be able to keep that plan and also have Part A Medicare. You will still be able to use the money you already have in your HSA for medical expenses, but you will not be able to put any more tax-free contributions into the account and also have medicare.
This is the reason my Dh will not sign up for Medicare until he retires from his company, probably at 67. I will be 65 this year but will delay signing up for either part until my husband leaves his company. His employee insurance is better than medicare.
I’d advise you to go to the government website and read it carefully. As you notice, we don’t all have the same understanding, here on CC, and we can’t all be correct. AARP also has good information.