Must I Sign Up for Medicare? (Vanity)

[Thom Pain]

Need help/advice. I'm about to turn 65 and am still employed in private sector full time (and hope to be for many years to come). Need to know if I have to enroll in Medicare now, or wait until I retire (someday). Can anyone steer me to good info?

[fatnotlazy]

Only thing I know is that I’m on SS disability and if I stay on SS, I will be eligible next year for Medicare (2 years from date of disability as determined by SS) — even though I’ll only be 58.

[mowowie]

Oh yea i forgot.
I live in MA and under Romney care i was forced into haveing insurance or face a 2 grand fine.
Hence the Medicair.
Acually it was pretty fortunate that i signed up in retrospect, I’d be facing 10’s of thousands of dollars in bills right now.

[beaversmom]

It was a TOTAL nightmare!

Isn't Obamacare gonna be so much fun. Good luck to you.

[savedbygrace]

#3 here:

http://www.medicare.gov/basics/socialsecurity.asp

[mowowie]

One doc told me if i showed up without insurance i would of walked out with a cast on my wrist instead of the titanium plate with 10 screws holding it together.

[InvisibleChurch]

dude, you rock

[bboop]

Glad you asked. I am dealing with that, too. Husband’s insurance person said I could stay on. Doc suggested I join the local hospital’s group (similar to Kaiser), and he could still be my doc. Then that group handles the Medicare for you, I understand.

I hate Obama and I do not want to have anything to do with Medicare. Not sure what to do either; meanwhile I am stubbornly holding out and ignoring the whole thing.

Nice to have this thread posted. AND Happy Birthday.

[dalereed]

When we turned 65 our private insurance was canceled and we had to go on Medicare.

[Stentor]

1-800-772-1213. You'll be transferred to the immediate claims taking unit if you ask. Call between 7:00AM and 7:00PM. You'll get Part A for free. You don't need to take part B if you are actively employed and covered under a group health plan. You can enroll in part B at any time while employed or within 8 months of when your employment ends and you won't be penalized for late filing for part B. This is called a special enrollment period. You'll need a letter from your employer when you retire or terminate to verify that your employment has ended. After age 66 you can get full benefits whether you are working or not. You can also volunteer to not take monthly benefits and they'll adjust your benefits upward. Ask them when you call.

[dalereed]

“For me that was 65y2m, but I had to wait for 67y2m and got about 10% more starting benefits.”

That’s Social Security and hasn’t got anything to do with Medicare.

[Kirkwood]

If I were you, I would check to see if your current doctors accept medicare. Many are quietly opting out now.

[mowowie]

Yea i know.
Especially the part where i was calling Medicaid medicair.

Welfare insurance.
Too bad it didn’t come with free food stamps and section 8 housing.
Then i would really be living the dream.

[lunarville]

Went through this with my wife who went on disability before age 65. Had to take Medicare Part A (hospilitzation) but didn’t have to take Part B. (normal doctors visits and tests) However, if you didn’t take Part B, our private medical insurance would not pay for the amount that Medicare would have paid. You should check with your private insurance company before refusing, it could cost you!!!

[Stentor]

Prompted by other posters, if your GHP is terminated, you’ll need to file for part B to avoid penalty. You have to be both employed and covered to wait to file for part B.

[petertare]

Government what? Congrats. You are now, at best, a serf.

[bill1952]

Perusing the posts on this thread, it is evident that there is a lot of confusion on the issue.
Contrary to popular belief -which is pushed by the government - you should research the risk to benefit ratio of the earliest possible claim on SS & Medicare.
Partial or not.
If, for example, you can retire with partial benefits at 62 vs. full benefits at 65, then I would go for 62.
Unless you believe that you are going to live far past the median Life Expectancy, you accrue more during those 3 extra years than you receive in increased benefits. (usually)
Do the math & decide what seems right for you.
As far as Medicare, you need to sign up at 65 or you will have great difficulty in ever getting anything at all from the US government.

[Kenny]

This cleared it up for a friend of mine.

Medicare Penalties and Medicare Savings Programs

[spokeshave]

"When all said and done 3 MRI’s and 7 days later at one our most expensive hospitals and much physical therapy later i received ZERO bills, nothing at all about it in the mail, it's like it never happened."

Ha..you got lucky....somewhere there is an illegal immigrant who stole your SS number with a big bill

[InvisibleChurch]

I was referring to your accident and subsequent recovery

[Roccus]

I would advise you to pay little attention to most of the posts here. Many seem incapable of separating SS benefits from Medicare coverage.

If the insurance you now have is employer paid, check with your employer to see if it will remain your primary insurance after 65. If you are paying for it yourself, check with the insurance company yourself.

If your present insurance will drop to that of a supplemental, absolutely sign up as soon as you get the notice.

If your insurance will remain as primary after you turn 65, you can wait to sign up for Medicare, but it will cost you a higher monthly premium for Medicare once you do sign up.

I have employer paid insurance, it is part of my retirement package. But once I turned 65 earlier this year, it dropped to a Medicare supplemental policy. I signed up for Medicare as my primary three months before I turned 65. My monthly Medicare premium is $110.