The Mrs. and I just transitioned onto medicare Jan 1, after retiring. It was a confusing time sorting it all out, especially as a retiring employee of the state. I get to use unused sick time to pay for my Part B expenses but I am limited to the plans I can use for that. It took hours and hours and many phone calls to figure it all out, but now it’s working smoothly. Nice to be done with most co-pays, etc.
Through a friend, I got a recommendation to an insurance broker who specializes in Medicare issues. She was fantastic and guided us to plans that were right for us. We asked for “the best plan” and she explained that it wasn’t that simple. She told us enough about Advantage plans for us to know that wasn’t the way to go (for us). She even got a list of our prescriptions, so we’d end up with a plan that covered those the best. The process was completely stress free. We picked one, she did all the paperwork.
Yeah, we went that route too, but the kicker for us was to ensure the state used my 2300 unused sick hours to pay for premiums. That confused a lot of experts and took collaboration between our state retiree service bureau and said experts
That makes sense. That’s great you could accomplish that.
That’s great that you are satisfied. You can, however, do that online, including the part about inputting your prescriptions and seeing how much they will cost under each plan.
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Yeah, we did that and it found us some nice plans, but in the end it was cheaper to go with our state’s drug plan for employees and retirees, something that program couldn’t figure out for us. Being a ‘special’ case can be confusing. It certainly confused me.
This. I hope it’s true- just before my 65th birthday, I called the Medicare “customer service line” to find out what the latest date I absolutely had to sign up was and was informed that if I was employed and had health coverage through my company, I could wait until I retire.
I am a happy MediGap (Medicare Supplemental) customer and like others here, highly recommend it.
Freedom from insurance companies getting between me and my doctors (as done with Advantage Plans) is priceless.
I find it telling that as the mail deluge that arrives with annual enrollment - I NEVER get an ad for a supplemental plan. Tells me where insurance profits lie…
That’s exactly what I’ve claimed for years. The insurance companies purchase 30-minute infomercials to sell those plans, fer crissakes. And they hire Joe Namath as a pitchman. (OK, maybe not the best use of their money).
Last fall I even got an ad from my Supplemental carrier trying to sell me their Advantage plan.
It does not start until after you sign up for it. I never received a card. I was 67 and decided it was time for me to sign up for SS. While singing up for SS the young lady helping me Was all excited for me to sign up for Medicare, after all I had been paying into it for years. And now I am still paying into it. We sold our home and moved in 2021. And because we had capitol gains on our old home this year our Medicare will be going up by $475 for me and $475 for my wife another $850 a month.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 475 + 475 = 950 not 850.
The most time consuming part when I signed up was getting on the phone with the vendor of the Medigap plan and the the drug plan and having the rep read me the required disclosures.
I’ve been a happy Medigap customer for over 6 years. Especially useful when my wife sliced up her hand at my daughter’s, she went to the urgent care (3 blocks away, fortunately) and insurance was no problem. I think a Medicare Advantage plan would have caused all sorts of paperwork being away from home.
I signed up for A and B a couple weeks ago. Will I receive a card?
I ask because I am also trying to sign up for Medigap and Part D but I am stalled because it asks for my Medicare number.
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Speaking from the experiences of both my wife and me, yes, you should receive a card in the ‘welcome packet’ that should arrive in the mail. I don’t remember, however, how long it was between the signup day and when either of us received our packet.
We signed up four and five years ago, so things may have changed since then.
Unless you are born on the first day of the following month, in which case it starts the month before. If you were born on Dec. 1 then you can sign up on Nov. 1. Have no idea why that is a rule.
Actually, you can fight that, if the increase is due to a one time event like that. You have to fill out a form and send it in, and they can (and sometimes do) change it. I did that when I retired since they use data from two years before. Here is a helpful hint though, send these in with proof of deliver required. I used paypal. After sending in the same information THREE times I was finally told they never received it. I went back through paypal and said maybe you didn’t but the USPS says it was delivered to such and such on such and such a date (for all three). A couple weeks later they rolled back the IRMAA.
I told my supervisor last week I am retiring in a few months; panic ensued; they are trying to find an acceptable path for me to stay until year-end. But, I’m fully prepared, and here’s what I’ve learned in my situation (I’m 65+):
As JohnT reinforces, Medigap/Supplement is the way to go. On those letter plans, it seems standard Plan G is the “gold standard”, and my cost would be about $130/month. A High Deductible Plan G with a ~$2,500 deductible is about $50. Plan N, which has (for example) $20 office visit copays, starts about $100/month but does not cover Excess Charges, so with the copays and potential for E/C, Plan N probably doesn’t make much sense for us. I might start myself on G-HD and the wife on regular G, as she has more health issues (but she’s otherwise lovely).
So that $130 on top of the $170 Medicare Part B that goes directly to Medicare is $300/month for EACH of us, or $600/month for both. Drug plans that “cover” Eliquis are another $25/month or so (cover in scare quotes because it’s still about $110).
You don’t technically need a Supplement or Advantage plan, but you’d be taking a huge risk without it. That ~$170/month that Medicare takes gives you 80% coverage, but 20% of a $200,000 bill is a real bitch (and it is very easy to rack up that kind of bill).
Even though I am still working, I (as is strongly suggested) signed up for Part A (hospitalization) on the Medicare Web site, and as others said it starts on the first day of your birthmonth when you turn 65 (assuming you did it around that time), and there is no premium so no reason not to, and you should get a card in about a month.
The thing to consider when deciding on which Medigap coverage to get is cash flow. We decided on a relatively pricey one because we could easily afford the monthly bill, and were then protected from unexpected big bills sometime in the future. But this might not work for everyone.
Yes, this is exactly where my mind is at.
FWIW I am leaning toward BCBS (Plan G).
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I am on Medicaid now. Everything is covered. I am only working part time. I dont think I could afford to pay anything medically.