Medicare and Via Benefits

[Dash man]

DW and I turn 65 in August, so we’re starting to get some junk mail regarding Medicare. We are currently using my retiree healthcare plan from Lockheed Martin, and are told to use Via Benefits for enrolling in a supplement and Part D plan.
What I don’t understand is what benefits there are by following their guidance to use Via Benefits. There is some indication I will lose a benefit if I do it on my own or go elsewhere, but they never say what that is.
Does anyone know what those benefits are?

 

[CardsFan]

In my case, former MegaCorp provides a HRA (Health Reimbursement Account) to the tune of $1,400 each. To get this, we Must Use Via.

I have no problem jumping over a small hurdle for $2,800 a year of free money.

You might check to see if this is the case for you.

 

[MichaelB]

Thread moved to the Health Care forum.

There were a couple of threads last year on Via Benefits. Here are two that may help.

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/via-benefits-formerly-one-exchange-94967.html

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...markets-and-medigap-plans-question-98236.html

 

[savory]

I posted in 2018 the Via Benefits worked for me after similar Megacorp change. Still does.

 

[kaneohe]

You might want to check HR to be sure. I have HRA w/ megacorp. If I recall correctly, if you did the setup w/ VIA then your reimbursement from HRA would be seamless. If you did the pt D plan on your own, the automatic reimbursement would not be triggered........you could still be reimbursed but would need to send monthly requests. Fortunately Medicare reimbursement only requires a single request........and Medicare amount plus the Medigap more than uses up the reimbursement so the pt D is excess and not missed.

 

[Dash man]

You might want to check HR to be sure. I have HRA w/ megacorp. If I recall correctly, if you did the setup w/ VIA then your reimbursement from HRA would be seamless. If you did the pt D plan on your own, the automatic reimbursement would not be triggered........you could still be reimbursed but would need to send monthly requests. Fortunately Medicare reimbursement only requires a single request........and Medicare amount plus the Medigap more than uses up the reimbursement so the pt D is excess and not missed.

I did find some information today, though a few years old, was useful in understanding how it works. I’m curious how much the subsidy will be.

 

[txtig]

I’ve been using Via Benefits since going on Medicare (almost three years ago) in order to get reimbursement of my Medigap policy under my old company’s post-65 retiree health plan. Unfortunately, the company is pulling the plug on that plan effective at the end of this year, and will cease all reimbursement. Without benefit of reimbursement, I do not plan to continue to use Via Benefits.

 

[kaneohe]

I did find some information today, though a few years old, was useful in understanding how it works. I’m curious how much the subsidy will be.

sounds like a call to HR would enlighten you?

 

[Katsmeow]

You will need to check. I get an HRA that is administered thru Via Benefits. To activate the HRA each year I must buy one of the following thru Via Benefits (1) Medicare Supplement Plan, (2) Medicare Advantage Plan, or (3) Part D prescription plan. Once I do that, I can use the HRA to reimburse those as well as Part B premiums and any vision or dental premiums bought anywhere (I can buy a couple of those from Via Benefits but don't have to).

In my case, I buy my Medicare Supplement Plan on me. ViaBenefits will not reimburse for that since I get it on my own. However, ViaBenefits does use my HRA to reimburse my Part B premiums and my Part D coverage that I buy through Via Benefits. This year I will have some money left over -- about $150 -- that will go to waste if I don't use it so I may actually buy a cheap vision program.

Anyway, every year we get something from DH's old megacorp in the mail that spells out exactly what I have to do to activate the HRA and exactly what can be reimbursed from it and it also says how much the HRA will be for the upcoming year.

 

[foxfirev5]

Next year I plan on enrolling through Via Benefits for a couple of reasons. In order for my younger DW to be eligible for my corporate retiree medical insurance I must be enrolled through Via Benefits for medicare coverage. Also, if I can be reimbursed for my medigap plan G through my current RMSA plan there would be a considerable tax savings. However I'm not so sure about this. According to the IRS medigap plans are not qualified expenses. The Via Benefits site is rather vague about this item. It simply says I have $$ available which can be used for premium reimbursement.

My old RMSA plan is kind of an odd duck. I've been using it for premiums the last 4 years and thanks to the market it has not gone down in value. It contains a fixed 20/80 AA with no other options. Also a mix of pretax and after tax dollars as well as employee and employer contributions. In the interest of simplicity I would like to continue the monthly payments for all my medical insurance. My other option is to pay myself for Medicare parts B & D and later get reimbursement from the RMSA. A lot depends on whether I can get the Medigap premium paid through Via Benefits using the RMSA account.

However today I have bigger fish to fry. I've got less than 18 hours to confirm my current enrollment in spite of a technical problem with the website. When I try to view/change my enrollment it simply states that due to the fact I previously did not have coverage I am ineligible. I (actually DW since I was a little off the hook) explained to the HR rep that we've had coverage for 40 years with this company with no lapse of coverage. Hopefully it will get straightened out. Then in January we can tackle Via Benefits -yippee!!!

 

[Dash man]

sounds like a call to HR would enlighten you?

They farm the call desk out to a third party company that follows scripts. Very annoying. They pretty much say we’ll get more information in the mail as we approach 65.