Still Working with Company Benefits
and Totally Overwhelmed!
Hello Toni:
Your name was given to me by my company’s benefits administrator in North Carolina to assist me with my Medicare options. I turned 65 last December, 2015 and now I am concerned because our group company benefits are Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina and I work and live in the Houston area.
My concern is that I am an adult diabetic and I could lose my doctors because of healthcare reform and that I should get on Medicare ASAP.
I currently take 10 prescriptions for cardiovascular issues and an insulin diabetic with expensive diabetic meds. I’m concerned I may be receiving a penalty because I never did sign up for Medicare. Should I have signed up for Medicare Part B because I began my Part A when I turned 65? Garth from Southwest Houston, TX
Garth:
Don’t worry!
The good news is you have protection regarding receiving a Medicare Part B and even D penalty due to the fact that you have “true” company benefits.
Until you retire…you do not have to do a thing regarding your Medicare unless you lose your company health benefits.
The most important item to discuss when one is either turning 65 or retiring past 65 is what prescriptions you are currently taking. With you being an insulin dependent diabetic, at the Toni Says office, we perform a customized Medicare health and prescription drug consultation.
My concern is with 10 prescriptions you could go in the prescription drug donut hole but because you are still covered by your “true” company benefits you have protection. Your company health plan meets Medicare’s creditable prescription drug coverage that pays on average at least as much as Medicare’s standard prescription drug plan does.
You are “still working” and those are magic words when it comes to enrolling past 65 and losing your company benefits. On page 26 of the Medicare and You handbook, it discusses leaving your group benefits and “that you can sign up for Part B anytime during the 8 month period that begins the month after the employment ends or the coverage ends, whichever happens first”.
When we perform a Medicare planning consultation at the Toni Says office, whether just laid off or retiring, we stress the value of receiving Part B for the first time.
The process to enroll in Medicare Part B if you have delayed it is:
- There are 2 forms available from Social Security’s website or you can ask from the Toni Says office. (info@tonisays.com) On the top of each form write in red letters “Special Enrollment Period” this tells the Social Security agent that is processing them that you are signing up at the right time and keeps from giving you a penalty. You are applying for a SEP (Special Enrollment Period).
- Form #QMB No0938-0787 known as Request for Employment Information: for proof of group health care coverage based on current employment. If you have had 2 or more jobs since turning 65, then all companies have to sign this form.
- Form HCFA-40B known as Application for Enrollment in Medicare: this is your application for medical insurance from Medicare known as Part B. Social Security fills out this form.
Once the form is signed by your company HR, take both forms to your local Social Security office for your Medicare to begin when you have retired.
When leaving company benefits, there is an 8 month window for Medicare Part B enrollment and 63 days to receive Medicare Prescription Drug Part D plan without receiving a penalty.
Toni King, author of the new Medicare Survival Guide®, which is a simple guide that puts Medicare in “people” terms, is on sale at www.tonisays.com. Email questions to toni@tonisays.com or call 832/519-TONI (8664).
