Dropping Group for Medicare

[toc3]

I have a lady turning 65 in a couple of months. She is still working and covered under her group. With her dropping group and purchasing a Med Sup she would have much better coverage for almost the same money being duducted from her check. The question I have is this. Can she drop her group now or does she have to wait until the end of the year? She had someone tell her that it is too late to drop out of her group coverage.

 

[Vitamin C]

My Guess is she'll have to accept part B and be willing to pay the premium. Then she will automatically have a 6-month Medigap "open enrollment" period.

did you add the $96.40 per month to your calculations plus the cost of a D plan?

I am totally new so this is not absolute information.

 

[G.Gordon]

What she needs to do is call her HR dept and talk to the benefits girl. Ask her if she can drop the group coverage at the disignated time and under these circumstances. Under special circumstances a person can leave a group if the empoloyer is not paying 100% of the premium... which her's is not.

 

[Russ]

What she needs to do is call her HR dept and talk to the benefits girl. Ask her if she can drop the group coverage at the disignated time and under these circumstances. Under special circumstances a person can leave a group if the empoloyer is not paying 100% of the premium... which her's is not.

Yup...you're right. I just wrote a lady(over 65), a med-supp + PDP and she enrolled in Part B January 1st, 2009. She dropped the group coverage through her job effective January 1st, 2009. She had to get with the benefits lady to make sure she could dis-enroll from her group coverage effective January 1st, 2009. Everything worked out okay, so far. Not saying that's the case here, but that's what needs to be checked on. She also had to contact Social Security to get the forms to sign up on part B.

 

[HealthResourceAdvisor]

she is also paying the group plan with untaxed dollars...have to factor that in as well...

 

[midwestbroker]

Each group is different so you will have to call her HR and see how it will work.

 

[azmedsupagent]

I ran into this exact situation last night infact when I wrote a med supp. She called her HR dept and they said that she can disenroll at anytime because going on to medicare is concidered a "major life event" as they called it. I don't think her employer plan can require the customer to stay on if she qualifies for medicare. Definatley have the customer contact her HR dept they will clear it up quickly im sure.

 

[toc3]

Thanks everyone, you have once again been very helpful.

 

[retread]

I ran into this exact situation last night infact when I wrote a med supp. She called her HR dept and they said that she can disenroll at anytime because going on to medicare is concidered a "major life event" as they called it. I don't think her employer plan can require the customer to stay on if she qualifies for medicare. Definatley have the customer contact her HR dept they will clear it up quickly im sure.

Employers are gleeful that employees drop group for any reason.... it saves the employer money. What you need to do is have them call HR as has been said several times... this is very important. It is HRs job to tell them what they are losing in terms of benefits. "Dropping group" usually entails also dropping dental and other benefits.... sometimes a small term life policy, too.

One of the biggest problems comes when the employee realizes that his spouse no longer has insurance, and now he has to buy a policy for her if she is under 65 and it costs big bucks!!.... and now he can no longer go back to his group. "Dropping group" is not like leaving a Med Sup.... Expect a lawsuit.

Think these things through on behalf of the client... don't let your commission drive your thoughts.

 

[GreenSky]

Keep in mind that her group plan likely has no donut hole for her drugs. That could be a big item.

Rick