Is Employee Paying Medicare Part B Mandatory?

Drake3287

Full time employment: Posting here.
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Here's sort of a strange one and I'm hoping someone else here has maybe already dealt with this question. Being the ex union rep for my old public employer group, I'm now getting a lot of people calling me up regarding this question now that we're all turning 65. In my case, our past public employer guaranteed us all full medical coverage for life with the expectation that we would go on Medicare when we turned 65. At that point our old employer pays the full cost of a Medicare supplemental plan.

BUT, with Medicare charging $185. per month for part B now, this amount is either deducted from someone's Social Security check or like in my case, receives a quarterly bill. I'm now frequently being asked why retired employees are forced to pay this when the employer contract clearly stipulates full medical coverage for life. At the same time I've had someone once tell me that an employer is forbidden to pay this cost per the Medicare rules.

Has anyone ever come across this problem? I'd love to be able to find some documentation that covers this requirement if it's indeed true. That $185. a month adds up to some real money. I realize I can contact my old employer regarding this question but I'd be interested to hear an unbiased answer or prior experience with this. Thanks for any comments or suggestions you might have.
 
My retirement package from my last employer (the State of Connecticut) includes a free Medicare advantage plan. Additionally, they reimburse me for my Part B premium by increasing my monthly pension by an equivalent amount. So I get $185 taken from my social security check, but my pension is increased by $185 to compensate. If I ever trigger IRMAA, they will cover that as well (but I have to notify them, the regular Part B reimbursement is automatic). All this was set out in the union contract in force when I retired. I know that people who retired after I did get only half reimbursement for IRMAA because the union contract changed.

In any event, they don't pay Medicare directly, they just reimburse me. I don't know if this is a legal requirement or not. I would say your best bet is to contact your last employer
 
our past public employer guaranteed us all full medical coverage for life with the expectation that we would go on Medicare when we turned 65. At that point our old employer pays the full cost of a Medicare supplemental plan.
Two different things. A Medicare supplemental plan is not the same as Medicare Part B, which is what you're asking about. So apparently you were only guaranteed the supplemental plan's cost.

FWIW, this sounds like it's identical to the Tricare For Life (TFL) coverage for retired military. We pay nothing for the supplement, but do have to pay the basic Medicare Part B cost (including IRMAA if applicable) on our own.
 
Here's sort of a strange one and I'm hoping someone else here has maybe already dealt with this question. Being the ex union rep for my old public employer group, I'm now getting a lot of people calling me up regarding this question now that we're all turning 65. In my case, our past public employer guaranteed us all full medical coverage for life with the expectation that we would go on Medicare when we turned 65. At that point our old employer pays the full cost of a Medicare supplemental plan.

BUT, with Medicare charging $185. per month for part B now, this amount is either deducted from someone's Social Security check or like in my case, receives a quarterly bill. I'm now frequently being asked why retired employees are forced to pay this when the employer contract clearly stipulates full medical coverage for life. At the same time I've had someone once tell me that an employer is forbidden to pay this cost per the Medicare rules.

Has anyone ever come across this problem? I'd love to be able to find some documentation that covers this requirement if it's indeed true. That $185. a month adds up to some real money. I realize I can contact my old employer regarding this question but I'd be interested to hear an unbiased answer or prior experience with this. Thanks for any comments or suggestions you might have.
Everyone on Medicare has to pay for their Part B premium. My case is similar to yours in that my old employer is contractually obligated to pay full lifetime medical expenses. I pay my Part B premiums directly to Medicare and receive a reimbursement from my former employer. Who is your former employer? Call their HR department and have them send you a copy of the contract/ MOU in effect at the time you retired to see if you should be getting reimbursed.
 
My former employer reimburses you a flat amount toward a supplement but doesn't pay part B. If you don't buy a supplement, you do not get the amount.
 
I agree with the tenor of the previous answers. You are asking a question that nobody here can answer for you because it is entirely dependent on the specific documentation provided by your particular employer at the time of your retirement or any subsequent applicable changes (employers often reserve the right to change any of these benefits in the future).
I don't believe there are any "rules" by Medicare that forbid an ex-employer (or anyone else for that matter) to reimburse anything they wish. The only thing that matters is the specific deal between you and the employer.
 
Thanks for all the comments, and yes I realize only my ex employer can really answer my question, I was just curious if anyone else had a similar issue before I contact them. Unfortunately in the contracts (MOU) we had prior to me retiring the only wording was "the employer agrees to pay 100% medical and dental coverage for life for both employee and spouse". No where in the wording did it mention anything about Part B or being reimbursed.

Unfortunately when you're retiring in your early 50's you don't really think about these added costs down the road, you just assume 100% coverage mean's just that, 100% coverage. Most if not all employees never thought about it until they hit Medicare age. And unfortunately while I was union rep no retired employee ever contacted me with this problem. Would have been nice to iron it out while I was still working.

In my case, we're local government workers with a CalPERS retirement although our medical coverage isn't through the retirement system itself. I guess it'll be interesting to hear what the employer says although I'm guessing it'll be sorry, you should have brought it up years ago.
 
So, are they paying 100% of your medical costs? Or just paying 100% of the premiums for an advantage plan?

I can easily see where they say 'we are paying 100% of your advantage premiums'... and that the rest is federal gvmt charges and has nothing to do with your medical coverage...

Put another way... your get 100% of your medical through your advantage plan (could be copays, OOP etc...) and we pay 100% of the premiums for that plan.. so we are paying 100% for your medical coverage...
 
So, are they paying 100% of your medical costs? Or just paying 100% of the premiums for an advantage plan?

I can easily see where they say 'we are paying 100% of your advantage premiums'... and that the rest is federal gvmt charges and has nothing to do with your medical coverage...

Put another way... your get 100% of your medical through your advantage plan (could be copays, OOP etc...) and we pay 100% of the premiums for that plan.. so we are paying 100% for your medical coverage...
Even though I retired at age 54, I was given full medical and dental for life, I never paid a cent until I went on Medicare and now pay the Part B out of pocket. The city now pays 100% of my senior advantage plan which of course is a lot cheaper than the full coverage they've been paying for the last 11 years. In other words, my only medical costs are now $185. a month.
 
WOW.... that is a great plan.. and probably very expensive to them...

So even on dental you pay nothing? What about implants, crowns etc... I have paid over $100,000 on my DWs teeth...
 
WOW.... that is a great plan.. and probably very expensive to them...

So even on dental you pay nothing? What about implants, crowns etc... I have paid over $100,000 on my DWs teeth...
Yep, very lucky. 100% dental with a $3k yearly cap which includes implants, etc. They've since given newer employees a much lower level of medical/dental coverage because of the high cost. I dodged a bullet.
 
So, are they paying 100% of your medical costs? Or just paying 100% of the premiums for an advantage plan?

I can easily see where they say 'we are paying 100% of your advantage premiums'... and that the rest is federal gvmt charges and has nothing to do with your medical coverage...

Put another way... your get 100% of your medical through your advantage plan (could be copays, OOP etc...) and we pay 100% of the premiums for that plan.. so we are paying 100% for your medical coverage...
But - without Part B you are disqualified from having MA coverage. Even if the MA plan is restricted to the employer's union retirees or bought directly by the retiree from a carrier. The beneficiary needs to purchase the underlying coverage - that could mean you turn bills into HR for reimbursement or you are on your own to fund the premium.
 
It's employer specific. My employer pays me a lump sum to by a gap plan. There's actually some left over that can apply to other costs like part D and dental and vision. I'm quite happy with the arrangement but I don't recall them ever characterize my retiree healthcare as paying 100% of my medical care.
 
My old employer pays for 60% of DW and my medical coverage in retirement, based on 25 years of employment. Being under 65 years of age, my coverage will cost me $449/month (company pays $673/month). Because DW's age is over 65, her supplemental coverage cost $88/month in 2025 (company pays $132/month).

DW still pays $185/month for her medicare coverage (it was more last year due to Roth conversions and IRMAA).
 
Thanks for all the comments, and yes I realize only my ex employer can really answer my question, I was just curious if anyone else had a similar issue before I contact them. Unfortunately in the contracts (MOU) we had prior to me retiring the only wording was "the employer agrees to pay 100% medical and dental coverage for life for both employee and spouse". No where in the wording did it mention anything about Part B or being reimbursed.

Unfortunately when you're retiring in your early 50's you don't really think about these added costs down the road, you just assume 100% coverage mean's just that, 100% coverage. Most if not all employees never thought about it until they hit Medicare age. And unfortunately while I was union rep no retired employee ever contacted me with this problem. Would have been nice to iron it out while I was still working.

In my case, we're local government workers with a CalPERS retirement although our medical coverage isn't through the retirement system itself. I guess it'll be interesting to hear what the employer says although I'm guessing it'll be sorry, you should have brought it up years ago.
There's no need to mention Part B specifically since you won't have full medical coverage if you don't have Part B. Your approach to the City's HR department should be, "Since I'm now on Medicare, I get billed and pay for Part B premiums associated with my medical coverage. How does the City reimburse me for these medical costs?"

I'm from local govt, had similar language in our MOU and am reimbursed for Part B costs. It seems like you should be too.
 
Even though I retired at age 54, I was given full medical and dental for life, I never paid a cent until I went on Medicare and now pay the Part B out of pocket. The city now pays 100% of my senior advantage plan which of course is a lot cheaper than the full coverage they've been paying for the last 11 years. In other words, my only medical costs are now $185. a month.
You're on Medicare. That's you "medical" plan. Those costs consist of your "Medicare Senior Advantage Plan" premium PLUS your Part B premium.

Part B covers things like:
Ambulance services
Clinical research
Durable medical equipment (DME)
Limited outpatient prescription drugs
Mental health & substance use disorders
Oxygen equipment & accessories
Preventative services like flu shots, etc.

Can you imagine having "medical coverage that didn't include Part B coverage?

Go get your reimbursement.
 
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