Planning for Medicare

[DFA]

Here is the situation:

I am retired Military, I have VA at 100% P&T (all care and Rx covered, I have Tricare too

My wife is retired under FERS with FEHB for both of us (Blue Cross Blue Shield) dental and vision for both, she also is military retired with Tricare, and VA at 50% all current Rx covered, also covered under my Tricare.

We don't have any medical co-pays since we both use the VA and are happy with the care.

Do we still need to sign up for Medicare?

What are our options?

I don't want to have penalties for Medicare, but don't want to pay the premiums if we don't have to.

 

[joeea]

Here is the situation:

I am retired Military, I have VA at 100% P&T (all care and Rx covered, I have Tricare too

My wife is retired under FERS with FEHB for both of us (Blue Cross Blue Shield) dental and vision for both, she also is military retired with Tricare, and VA at 50% all current Rx covered, also covered under my Tricare.

We don't have any medical co-pays since we both use the VA and are happy with the care.

Do we still need to sign up for Medicare?

What are our options?

I don't want to have penalties for Medicare, but don't want to pay the premiums if we don't have to.

According to https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/07/16/do-i-need-to-sign-up-for-medicare-at-65-if-i-have.aspx

"Who should sign up at 65, even if they have other insurance?

- You have TRICARE, the healthcare program for military service members, retirees, and their families. Retired service members must get Medicare Part B when eligible in order to keep their TRICARE coverage. (Note: If you're still on active duty, you don't have to enroll in Medicare until after you retire.)

-You have veterans' benefits."

 

[braumeister]

joeea's post is right.

The simple answer is that once you become Medicare-eligible at 65, your Tricare goes away and is replaced by TFL (Tricare For Life) which is only secondary to Medicare.

So your health providers will bill Medicare, and Medicare will bill TFL for what they don't pay. Most of the time that's the end of it, and you won't be billed at all.

To keep that TFL coverage, you have to pay for Medicare Part B, which currently starts at $134/month.

 

[Rustic23]

https://www.caring.com/questions/100-disabled-veterans-need-medicare

try this site for your answer.

 

[MBSC]

Do we still need to sign up for Medicare?

What are our options?

FEHB does not require enrollment in Medicare Part B. TFL does.

My understanding is the FEHB premium is more than the non-IRMAA Medicare Part B premium. Based on this I would enroll in Part B and suspend (not cancel) FEHB by choosing option D on OPM RI 79-9. This would give you VA benefits, FEDVIP dental/vision, Medicare A/B, and TFL (acting as a Medigap/Prescription Drug Plan with almost no copays).

OPM RI 79-9: https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/ri79-9.pdf

Employees must be eligible for the FEHB Program in order to be eligible to enroll in Federal Employees Dental/Vision Program (FEDVIP). It does not matter if they are actually enrolled in FEHB - eligibility is the key.

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/dental-vision/

Can I continue my FEDVIP dental and/or vision coverage into retirement? Yes. Your FEDVIP coverage automatically continues when you retire.

https://www.opm.gov/faqs/QA.aspx?fi...d8d2&pid=1a45a268-8c2f-4f8e-9952-f82c725e88b8

The other option is to not enroll in Part B and pay the higher FEHB premiums. This gives you VA benefits, FEDVIP dental/vision, Medicare Part A, and FEHB (acting as Part B and PDP with cost sharing).

 

[DFA]

Thank all for comments, I have heard so many bad things about Medicare and how some doctors will not accept new patients that I just wanted to avoid it. We wanted to avoid any penalties that not signing up for Medicare would be levied on us.

We like our FEHB and with Tricare and TCFL later we would have no co-pays or out of pocket costs.

As of now the VA covers all our medical expenses and RXs so we don't even use the FEHB, but wanted it to be there to cover any expenses that we would need covered while away from the VA.

We are also looking to spend some time > than a year overseas and we don't see using Medicare over there.

As for the premiums on FEHB they are already baked into the budget which we have been under spending for a while now.

Also if you take SS at 62, do you have to start paying for Medicare?

Thanks again

 

[REWahoo]

Also if you take SS at 62, do you have to start paying for Medicare?

No. Medicare eligibility doesn't start until age 65.

 

[Bir48die]

These people have given you very good advice. Yes you have to get Part B. We have been researching this for my wife. Tricare will handle anything that Medicare doesn't and will have drug coverage. Do not sign up for Part D