Medicare vs employer health insurance
I am a full time employee whose company offers Group Health Ins. I am 66 and 3 months. I would like to opt out and go on Medicare as of 1/1/2022 as my primary insurance with another supplemental plan. I will continue working full time. Can I do this ? I tried calling my local Medicare office but never got thru. Enjoy listening to you on WGN. Thank you!
Terry Says
First, this advice applies if your company has more than 20 employees. With fewer, you MUST opt into Medicare A & B.
But assuming you work for a large company, have you considered the costs of opting in to Medicare Part B plus a supplement? (Part A doesn’t cost anything and you can apply for it easily at age 55.) So figure out what your company requires you to pay for their health insurance. Then go to Medicare.gov to see what your premium would be (based on previous two years’ earnings) AND search for a Medicare supplement (Plan G) and add those together. And if you take meds, search out what those would cost you on a Part D policy.
Do you still want to opt out of the company plan? Why?? Unless your company plan restricts your physicians and hospitals, and as long as their plan gives broad coverage, why would you want to do this? After all, your company-provided healthcare should cost less since they likely subsidize this benefit for employees.
AND, if you lose your job and benefits, it automatically creates a special enrollment period for Part B and your supplement and Part D.
After all of this, yes, you can enroll in Medicare Part B, supplement, and Part D right NOW to start on Jan 1, 2022 — if you still want to do that! (Your employer will likely be thrilled to save the money!) But do it ALL, the supplement too, so there is no chance that a future illness will keep you from getting that best Plan G supplement.
