Spousal insurance vs. Medicare

[Telly]

This has some moving parts!

I'm now less than 2 years away from being eligible for Medicare. DW is one year younger than me, and working. We have insurance through her employer (a higher deductible PPO, premiums now $7,700 a year for us together).

DW's future retirement medical - A good plan, her monthly premium would be $0, adding me on is a small monthly amount. As an aside, she has been paying a small sum every pay period into the retirement medical system as long as she has been an employee. She also pays into Medicare, as did I.
She can't start this retiree medical plan until she turns 65, and we will both have to register for Medicare and pay Part B premiums to get the low retiree plan premium, as the plan is secondary. I believe we will need to get a drug supplement on our own.
With this info alone, I figured I (being older) would hold off registering for Medicare until she was eligible for her retirement medical plan (and her Medicare too), as I am covered under her active work plan.

This is where it gets complicated...
Very shortly after DW turns 64, another path possibility opens up. She will then have enough points in her pension plan, to be able to retire with retirement medical... however, her retirement medical plan cannot be started until she actually turns 65. So an interim option if she retires at 64 would be to continue her work insurance, but no employer contribution (not COBRA, it's a subset of the big medical retirement plan, an after-work plan for those who retire but are less than 65, the total premium for similar coverage would be at least $11,000 a year today). And the thought was I would then hold off on Medicare enrollment and stay in her after-work plan until she's 65. Then we both go to her actual retirement medical, and Medicare.

An immediate question the reader may have is, "why doesn't she just hold off retirement until she turns 65, and make it all simpler?" And the answer is... we are thinking of moving to a retirement community, and not waiting almost another complete year between her 64 to 65 has it's advantages! And it is too far away to commute

So... Am I missing something here? I assume I CAN hold off enrolling in Medicare until she qualifies for her retirement medical, as I would be covered by her work insurance.

Anyone else done something like this?

 

[Teacher Terry]

From what I have read if you don't take Medicare when eligible you will pay a higher price for it for life. they want to penalize people for some reason that put off taking it. I would look into this before making a decision.

 

[Pilot2013]

From what I have read if you don't take Medicare when eligible you will pay a higher price for it for life. they want to penalize people for some reason that put off taking it. I would look into this before making a decision.

I have heard this too. Definitely do some research!

 

[Chuckanut]

IIRC, some insurance companies will automatically switch people to the Medicare supplement plan when they reach 65. If you don't sign up for Medicare, that is your problem. The insurance will only pay for what Medicare would not pay for if a person had signed up. In other words, you become your own primary Medicare insurance. Just be careful and know exactly what is going to happen.

 

[travelover]

From what I have read if you don't take Medicare when eligible you will pay a higher price for it for life. they want to penalize people for some reason that put off taking it. I would look into this before making a decision.

Worth investigating. I believe an allowance is made for people that work past 65 and have employer supplied insurance. May be similar deal here if you can show that you were insured.

 

[Peter]

If you can show that you have 'creditable insurance', you are not penalized if you delay signing up for Medicare.

I did this, no problem, just filled out the forms and supplied the details from my wife's employer-based health plan. Medicare premiums are what they would be if I had applied when first eligible.

 

[Bigbass]

From SS site:

Special circumstances (Special Enrollment Periods)

Once your Initial Enrollment Period ends, you may have the chance to sign up for Medicare during a Special Enrollment Period (SEP). If you're covered under a group health plan based on current employment, you have a SEP to sign up for Part A and/or Part B anytime as long as:

You or your spouse (or family member if you're disabled) is working.
You're covered by a group health plan through the employer or union based on that work.
You also have an 8-month SEP to sign up for Part A and/or Part B that starts at one of these times (whichever happens first):

The month after the employment ends
The month after group health plan insurance based on current employment ends
Usually, you don't pay a late enrollment penalty if you sign up during a SEP.

Note
COBRA and retiree health plans aren't considered coverage based on current employment. You're not eligible for a Special Enrollment Period when that coverage ends. This Special Enrollment Period also doesn't apply to people with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).

 

[athena53]

If you can show that you have 'creditable insurance', you are not penalized if you delay signing up for Medicare.

I did this, no problem, just filled out the forms and supplied the details from my wife's employer-based health plan. Medicare premiums are what they would be if I had applied when first eligible.

When I retired, DH was 76 and had been on my employer's plan since turning 65. We got letters of creditable coverage from the previous employers (I'd changed jobs once) and had no problem getting him on Medicare without any penalty.

 

[Brat]

My understanding is that when you turn 65 Medicare is automatically primary (unless, maybe, you are still working and have health insurance through your employer) and you pay nothing. The impact is that your health care providers are subject to Medicare rules and reimbursement. You pay extra for the alphabet soup of additional Medicare options (B through whatever). If you have employer health insurance you need to get a letter from them that their policy is at least equal to Medicare B and the Medicare drug coverage else you pay a make-up rate for Medicare Advantage or Medicare gap policies.

 

[meierlde]

When I retired, DH was 76 and had been on my employer's plan since turning 65. We got letters of creditable coverage from the previous employers (I'd changed jobs once) and had no problem getting him on Medicare without any penalty.

Be careful since having a person over 65 as a spouse costs the employers money, they are beginning to ask if you have dependents eligible for medicare, and kicking them off company plans. The megacorp I worked for did this a few years ago. I do suspect that more and more companies will do this, since in general the company contribution for one person is less than for a person and spouse.

 

[Brat]

Here is my experience (yours may differ): I retired from the Feds with Federal Employee's health insurance. When I turned 65 (retired) Medicare became primary notwithstanding the fact that I continued on my former policy. Specifically, I had GEHA insurance but because I was a retiree providers needed to comply with Medicare provisions. When I moved and needed to find a new primary care provider my options were limited.

 

[athena53]

Be careful since having a person over 65 as a spouse costs the employers money, they are beginning to ask if you have dependents eligible for medicare, and kicking them off company plan.

In retrospect, I'm surprised this never happened to us.