Medigap News

The process of signing up for Medicare creates a lot of questions and confusion to the minds of seniors everywhere. While it’s not easy, it is possible to get a grip on the main concerns and decisions that seniors face as they get ready to turn 65 and they ready themselves for Medicare.

Kiplinger.com recently put out a great primer for seniors with questions about Medicare.

…you’ll have to figure out how Medicare dovetails with your workplace or retiree coverage and understand its coverage gaps. You must also choose between managed-care benefits or fee-for-service coverage.

Kiplinger reccomends that you contact the Social Security Administration three months before your 65th birthday. Your enrollment period starts here and extends three months past your birthday. You can contact the SSA at 800-772-1213 or www.SSA.gov.

Understanding the enrollment period has far reaching implications, so please read and understand the following:

Everyone is eligible for Medicare at age 65, even when an individual’s normal retirement age for Social Security benefits is later. If you were born in 1942, your full retirement age will be 65 and ten months. If you wait until then to sign up for Medicare, you’ll miss the initial enrollment period for Part B coverage, which covers outpatient care. You’ll have to wait until the general enrollment period, which runs from January 1 to March 31 for benefits starting July 1.

But you will incur a 10% premium penalty for each year you wait beyond your initial enrollment period. You’ll pay that surcharge as long as you have Part B, which this year costs $93.50 a month. You can sign up for premium-free Part A, which covers hospital services, at any time with no penalty.

For the Part D drug plan, you must apply during the initial enrollment period to avoid a penalty, which accrues monthly. If you miss the initial period, you can sign up during the last six weeks of the year for coverage that begins January 1. You can avoid the Part D late fee if you can prove that you had drug coverage elsewhere that is at least as good as the Medicare benefit.

If you opt for fee-for-service care, make sure you sign up for a Part D plan as well as private supplemental coverage to fill Medicare’s coverage gaps, called Medigap. An alternative is a Medicare Advantage managed-care plan, which includes gap and drug benefits. This option will likely be cheaper than traditional Medicare, but you may lose the provider choice of fee-for-service care.

The primer goes on to discuss Medicare coverage when you are still employed and coverage by your workplace insurance, so please make sure to read the full article for more inforamation.

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