Medicare request for employer information form
This post will explain about enrolling in Medicare A and B. There is also a link to the Medicare request for employer information form.
Here is the first question people ask: If I have insurance through either my own or my spouse’ employer, is it a good idea to enroll in Medicare?
The answer is: In short, it is a good idea to take Part A. Part A is hospitalization insurance and it is free to most people if they are have Medicare. Just about everyone is has Medicare Part A automatically at age 65 anyway so this is usually not an issue.
If your client chooses to take Part B, outpatient medical coverage at 80%, they will have to pay a monthly premium. This premium is ($134 a month for 2017). Before choosing this option, your client should ask the benefits manager at work how their employer insurance will work with Medicare. Also, they should double check with the Social Security Administration (SSA) or with Medicare. Clients need to know; when they qualify for Medicare, the way their employer insurance works may change. The client must decide whether paying for both types of coverage will be beneficial to them or not.
The First thing your client must do is:
Decide if their employer insurance will be primary or if Medicare will be.
- Primary insurance –
- will be the first insurer the providers (medical doctors and facilities) will ask to pay any covered expense your client has. For the most part, people who have primary employer coverage do not need Medicare Part B. If clients are unsatisfied with their primary employer coverage, they can always decide to pay for both kinds of coverage. At certain times, this option will be more cost effective for their needs. Losing or leaving group coverage will create a special election to enroll in Medicare Part B during the year.
- Secondary insurance –
- will pay either all or some of the unpaid portion of covered health care expenses after the primary insurance has paid. If a client does not have primary insurance, but in fact, has insurance that is usually considered to be secondary, the coverage they may not have coverage for most of their medical expenses. If your client’s employer insurance is secondary, they might want to consider taking both Medicare Parts A and B as soon they are eligible.
Medicare request for employer information form continued..
Clients who are newly qualified may enroll in Medicare without penalty at any time, while they have group health coverage. They can also enroll during anytime for eight months after they lose their group health coverage. Also if they or (or their spouse) stop working, whichever comes first.
In any event, sometimes an employee who has health coverage through either a union, a current or a former employer may convert automatically to a Medicare Advantage Plan when they become eligible for Medicare. Clients may either stay with the Medicare Advantage Plan, change to Original Medicare or some other Medicare Advantage Plan. Please inform your clients, if they switch to one of these plans, the union or employer has the power to either terminate or reduce their benefits or the benefits of their dependents. They should thoroughly check the facts before they make any plan changes, just to be safe.
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