Penalized for Not Signing Up for Medicare

[LostDollar]

(DS4 I would have expected a lot better from you.)

You two are the ones that need to do your home work.

Medicare part A does not start a penalty clock ticking on Medicare part D.

 

[goillini52]

(DS4 I would have expected a lot better from you.)

You two are the ones that need to do your home work.

Medicare part A does not start a penalty clock ticking on Medicare part D.

Actually, it does LD. From the Welcome to Medicare booklet I just received:

"If you don't join a Medicare drug plan when you'r first eligible for Medicare, and you don't have other creditable prescription drug coverage, you may have to pay a Part D late enrollment penalty to join later."

"You can join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan later without penalty as long as you don't go 63 days or more without creditable drug coverage."

Part A starts the clock ticking(you can decline Part B), but having creditable drug coverage pauses the clock.

 

[LostDollar]

https://www.medicare.gov/part-d/costs/penalty/part-d-late-enrollment-penalty.html

The part D penalty computation does NOT refer to Medicare part A.
It refers to the IEP.

A part D penalty is not computed on the basis of whether a Medicare insured has or does not have other parts of Medicare. It is computed on the effective date of the PDP compared to the start date of the IEP.

Just because Medicare part A is commonly obtained on the date which is the IEP start date for both Parts A and D, does not mean that there has been a definition change and part A starts a penalty clock ticking on Part D. Not true. The part D penalty clock starts ticking in the last month of your IEP (assuming one cannot get a policy until the first of the month following the application) unless there are mitigating circumstances.

I know what you are saying but you cannot teach me to take the insurance test with that instruction.

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Also in regard to part A, while it may not be common, I think you can run into situations in which Part A has been declined or just not taken at the T65 date.

Re declining, I happened on this article which talks about HSA's and declining part A
https://www.medicareinteractive.org...are/health-savings-accounts-hsas-and-medicare

And re not taking, I think I have seen something about a part A penalty computation which suggests to me that there are some that have not obtained Part A in a required manner.

 

[kgmom219]

I just turned 65 last October and I am still on my wife's medical insurance where she works. I will probably stay on there as long as I can because it is good coverage, since I didn't sign up for medicare will I be penalized when I do?

Assuming that your wife's employer has more than 20 employees (and do not guess if its close, if you aren't sure, confirm with HR and get an answer in writing) AND you are paying less than $300 for coverage, then I would hold.

If its less than 20, move ASAP.

If you are paying more than $300, get in front of an agent who can review the options. (For other agents reading this, I am moving a 67 year old woman whose spousal coverage is $1,187/month)

No matter what, I would talk to a local agent and review the options, find out what all those letters mean and look at your drug costs under Medicare.

Hope this helps and sorry you got caught up in an agent discussion for a simple question!

 

[TwoCents]

https://www.medicare.gov/part-d/costs/penalty/part-d-late-enrollment-penalty.html

The part D penalty computation does NOT refer to Medicare part A.
It refers to the IEP.

A part D penalty is not computed on the basis of whether a Medicare insured has or does not have other parts of Medicare. It is computed on the effective date of the PDP compared to the start date of the IEP.

Just because Medicare part A is commonly obtained on the date which is the IEP start date for both Parts A and D, does not mean that there has been a definition change and part A starts a penalty clock ticking on Part D. Not true. The part D penalty clock starts ticking in the last month of your IEP (assuming one cannot get a policy until the first of the month following the application) unless there are mitigating circumstances.

I know what you are saying but you cannot teach me to take the insurance test with that instruction.

----------

Also in regard to part A, while it may not be common, I think you can run into situations in which Part A has been declined or just not taken at the T65 date.

Re declining, I happened on this article which talks about HSA's and declining part A
https://www.medicareinteractive.org...are/health-savings-accounts-hsas-and-medicare

And re not taking, I think I have seen something about a part A penalty computation which suggests to me that there are some that have not obtained Part A in a required manner.

Now you're just getting technical. So let's say Part A (along with Part D) starts 4/1 so the end of the IEP is 7/31. Does it make you feel better that we say the clock starts as of 8/1 since the IEP is now over. Or do we have to go into even more detail and say the 63-day clock now starts since the LEP will only be calculated upon a 63-day gap in creditable/Part D coverage?

We're just making it easy on the layman rather than bog him down with details. Sorry you're not able to be even a little flexible in your way of thought.

 

[Chazm]

(DS4 I would have expected a lot better from you.)

You two are the ones that need to do your home work.

Medicare part A does not start a penalty clock ticking on Medicare part D.

You're just wrong. Try writing an application for a Part D plan with a part A effective 4/01/16 and a part B effective 4/01/2017 and no SEP. let me know how that works out for you. With a SEP for losing group coverage the code is Loss cred cvg EGHB

 

[LostDollar]

You're just wrong. Try writing an application for a Part D plan with a part A effective 4/01/16 and a part B effective 4/01/2017 and no SEP. let me know how that works out for you. With a SEP for losing group coverage the code is Loss cred cvg EGHB

I'll have to disagree with your disagreement given that a person could have 4 different dates for T65, Part A effective, Part B effective and Part D effective.

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https://www.silverscript.com/pdf/enrollment-form.pdf

There is a link for a paper application for the Silverscript PDP. The SEP section asks no questions relating to Medicare part A as a qualifier.

 

[Chazm]

I'll have to disagree with your disagreement given that a person could have 4 different dates for T65, Part A effective, Part B effective and Part D effective.

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https://www.silverscript.com/pdf/enrollment-form.pdf

There is a link for a paper application for the Silverscript PDP. The SEP section asks no questions relating to Medicare part A as a qualifier.

Let me try it this way with you, did you know you can just have Part A and buy a drug plan? No part B?

 

[vic120]

I'll have to disagree with your disagreement given that a person could have 4 different dates for T65, Part A effective, Part B effective and Part D effective.

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https://www.silverscript.com/pdf/enrollment-form.pdf

There is a link for a paper application for the Silverscript PDP. The SEP section asks no questions relating to Medicare part A as a qualifier.

Because that would be new to medicare when Part A starts ( on that App)

What Chazm is saying (correctly) is if one gets part A and for some reason does not get part B till general enrollment period (late Part B) and has not had creditable drug cov, He would not get SEP to get PDP plan and get LEP in Oct if he then signed up for drug cov

they would be allowed to get MAPD but there still could be LEP

It doesn't come up a lot because most times when Part B is delayed there is credible cov

 

[goillini52]

I'll have to disagree with your disagreement given that a person could have 4 different dates for T65, Part A effective, Part B effective and Part D effective.

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https://www.silverscript.com/pdf/enrollment-form.pdf

There is a link for a paper application for the Silverscript PDP. The SEP section asks no questions relating to Medicare part A as a qualifier.

LD, I'm selling myself a SilverScript Plan D as I'm typing this. On the 1st page of the app, it lists all the conditions for SEP's. Above the SEP's are AEP at the top and then IEP. There are 2 boxes to choose from in the IEP box...I am new to Medicare and ...I previously had Medicare but am now turning 65.

I enjoy your debates, but seriously, stop arguing with agents that are out there doing it every day. Take some of that time away from debating and get your license!