Penalized for Not Signing Up for Medicare

[capnjim01]

My wife works for a company with probably over 1,000 employees. Our premium are about $300 per month and our coverage is great. I had a local agent tell me that I would have to pay higher premiums on medicare forever if I didn't sign up within 6 months of my 65th birthday and that just didn't sound right to me.

 

[goillini52]

My wife works for a company with probably over 1,000 employees. Our premium are about $300 per month and our coverage is great. I had a local agent tell me that I would have to pay higher premiums on medicare forever if I didn't sign up within 6 months of my 65th birthday and that just didn't sound right to me.

That's because it's not right. He's either a liar, or he doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[LostDollar]

My wife works for a company with probably over 1,000 employees. Our premium are about $300 per month and our coverage is great. I had a local agent tell me that I would have to pay higher premiums on medicare forever if I didn't sign up within 6 months of my 65th birthday and that just didn't sound right to me.

What the agent told you is the basic rule, to which there are some exceptions.

Medicare.gov has got tons of info about medicare.

Here is the page that refers to the specific special enrollment period for your situation-if you visit with the agent again you can tell him that your situation is an exception to the basic rule and point him to the specific page:
https://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-ch...parts-a-and-b/when-sign-up-parts-a-and-b.html

For going past age 65 on employer plans instead of Medicare part B, there is one gotcha that you and your wife both need to be aware of--this form:

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms-Items/CMS009718.html

You need to have your wife get this form completed for you when/if she ends employment with this company. She will need to do the same for herself if she works past 65 there.

This is something I wish I had known about when coverages terminated. I had to take copies of that form to both a former employer of mine and a former employer of my wife's in order to document continuous employer coverage from age 65 when I applied for part B. Both of those terminations had been a bit unpleasant so it was a bit of an awkward situation asking for this followon paperwork-it would have been much easier to have it done right when the terminations happened.

And one other thing to keep in mind is your part D situation. You will only have 63 days from the end of the group plan to get in a Part D penalty free.

You can create a mymedicare account and review Part D plan options for your zip online. I actually enrolled online through the medicare site for my Part D plan.

I find that both the mysocialsecurity and mymedicare accounts are useful from time to time.

 

[capnjim01]

I think this agent is new to Medicare, I wasn't asking about Medicare she just volunteered the information. I think whoever trained her didn't do a good job or didn't know what they were doing.


Thanks guys for the help.