Medicare Enrollment

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
Post Reply
User avatar
Topic Author
AAA
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:56 am

Medicare Enrollment

Post by AAA »

I will be turning 65 early next year but am still expecting to be working, with employer-provided health coverage. I have not started Social Security yet.

I initially was told by my (outsourced and not always helpful) HR to enroll in Part A, but not B, C, or D, since Part A is free. Then I discovered that if I am enrolled in Part A, I am not allowed contributions to an HSA (and I selected a high-deductible plan with HSA for my coverage next year). Then I called HR again and was told my company does not require me to enroll in Part A.

So I am assuming that I will not be enrolling in any part of Medicare when I turn 65. Is there any requirement to contact Soc. Sec. and inform them of my choice or do I just do nothing until I decide to retire?

By the way, if your only comment is to refer me to the Soc. Sec. website or Google, please refrain from doing so. I started digging into this whole subject for the first time and it's a bit confusing.

Thank you.
mhalley
Posts: 10432
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:02 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by mhalley »

User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9085
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by prudent »

The second question on this page is relevant to your question.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-fin ... l-working/
User avatar
Topic Author
AAA
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:56 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by AAA »

prudent wrote:The second question on this page is relevant to your question.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-fin ... l-working/
Yes, that confirms that I don't have to enroll.

But just to make sure of the process, do I have to inform Soc. Sec. or Medicare that I am opting out of enrollment at this time, or do I just do nothing?

Thanks.
mur44
Posts: 718
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:30 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by mur44 »

While you are employed and have Employee Health Insurance from
your employer, you do NOT need to enroll in Medicare provided
your employer has more than 20 employees.

When you retire, you will have Special Enrollment Period (SEP)
of 8 months to enroll in Medicare without incurring any penalty
for late enrollment.

When you retire, it is advisable to get counseling from
a Medicare Counselor:

https://shipnpr.shiptalk.org/findcounselor.aspx


Disclosure: I am a Certified Volunteer Medicare Counselor from NJ
User avatar
Topic Author
AAA
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:56 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by AAA »

mur44 wrote:While you are employed and have Employee Health Insurance from
your employer, you do NOT need to enroll in Medicare provided
your employer has more than 20 employees.
Thanks for the clarification, but I still want to be perfectly clear on this as per my original post - do I just do nothing or do I have to contact Medicare or Soc. Sec. to inform them of my choice to decline coverage? My HR emailed me that I need to "actively disenroll from Medicare Part A." I will follow up with them but also wanted to get a second, independent opinion here.

Thanks.
kobbiemandd
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:54 pm

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by kobbiemandd »

Medicare will reach out to you by mail and you will have a choice to take part B or not. My wife is older than me and I declined part B, keeping her actively enrolled on my plan.
I know it was confusing to me and I wanted to be absolutely sure of what I was doing. I asked others that I work with for confirmation. Just be sure you understand the requirements
of your current carrier.

~ good luck
manwithnoname
Posts: 1584
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:52 pm

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by manwithnoname »

AAA wrote:I will be turning 65 early next year but am still expecting to be working, with employer-provided health coverage. I have not started Social Security yet.

I initially was told by my (outsourced and not always helpful) HR to enroll in Part A, but not B, C, or D, since Part A is free. Then I discovered that if I am enrolled in Part A, I am not allowed contributions to an HSA (and I selected a high-deductible plan with HSA for my coverage next year). Then I called HR again and was told my company does not require me to enroll in Part A.

So I am assuming that I will not be enrolling in any part of Medicare when I turn 65. Is there any requirement to contact Soc. Sec. and inform them of my choice or do I just do nothing until I decide to retire?

By the way, if your only comment is to refer me to the Soc. Sec. website or Google, please refrain from doing so. I started digging into this whole subject for the first time and it's a bit confusing.

Thank you.
I don't know what you are doing but you will automatically be enrolled in part A unless you decline Part A coverage. In order to decline to participate in Part A you must forfeit your SS benefits. There was a recent US supreme court decision upholding the SS regulations requiring forfeiture of SS benefits in order to waive part A coverage.

http://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsear ... rd=5&ct=AR&

You need to contact SS to discuss whether you will be automatically enrolled in Part A at 65 even if you don't apply for Medicare.
User avatar
Topic Author
AAA
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:56 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by AAA »

This is getting a bit frustrating as people are not reading what I wrote in my original post.

I am talking about Part A, not Part B.

I am not currently getting Soc. Sec. so there is nothing to "forfeit" by decling Part A.

The purpose of my post is to ask how to go about declining Part A - is it something I have to actively do or do I just do nothing?????
Levett
Posts: 4177
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:10 pm
Location: upper Midwest

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by Levett »

No, you don't have to enroll, but you need to know why.

So read. It's simple English.

General Enrollment Period—If you didn’t sign up for Part A
and/or Part B when you were first eligible, you can sign up between
January 1–March 31 each year. Your coverage will begin July 1.

You may have to pay a higher premium for late enrollment.


http://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/11036.pdf

Lev
Last edited by Levett on Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
manwithnoname
Posts: 1584
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:52 pm

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by manwithnoname »

AAA wrote:This is getting a bit frustrating as people are not reading what I wrote in my original post.

I am talking about Part A, not Part B.

I am not currently getting Soc. Sec. so there is nothing to "forfeit" by decling Part A.

The purpose of my post is to ask how to go about declining Part A - is it something I have to actively do or do I just do nothing?????
As I noted if you are going to "decline" part A then you must forfeit SS benefit. If you are not going to elect coverage under Medicare when you attain 65 because you have health insurance from your employer there may not be a need to take any action. I don't know why your employer is not requiring you to sign up for medicare at 65. In any event you need to Call SS as I recommended since they will know what you need to do.

I don't know the answer.
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by gkaplan »

Levett wrote:No, you don't have to enroll, but you need to know why.

So read. It's simple English.

General Enrollment Period—If you didn’t sign up for Part A
and/or Part B when you were first eligible, you can sign up between
January 1–March 31 each year. Your coverage will begin July 1.

You may have to pay a higher premium for late enrollment.


http://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/11036.pdf

Lev
In addition, the way I understand it, those who do not sign up for Medicare B because they are covered by their employer's group health insurance have an eight month special enrollment period to sign up for Medicare B once they leave their employer.
Gordon
mur44
Posts: 718
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:30 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by mur44 »

AAA,

At age 65, you do NOT need to do anything if you
decide NOT to enroll in Medicare. There is NO
need to contact Medicare/Social Security.

While you (or your spouse) is employed, Medicare
is secondary to your Employer Group Health Insurance
provided your employer has more than 20 employees.


Disclosure: I am a Certified Volunteer Medicare Counselor from NJ
User avatar
Topic Author
AAA
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:56 am

Re: Medicare Enrollment

Post by AAA »

mur44: Thank you !!!
Post Reply