Krteczech
TUG Member
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Towers at Mullet Bay, SXM
Silverado II, CO
So hubby's open enrollment period for 2019 is coming up at his job and we have to make some decisions.
He turns 65 in April. Not retiring. He has always contributed (the max) to an HSA since he has a high deductible plan, but if he applies for Medicare in 2019 he will no longer be able to do so.
If he does not apply for Medicare, and decides to retire April of 2020- when he turns 66- he will have had to stop contributing to his HSA 7 months BEFORE that date-around October 2019- or face tax penalties. Then he is going to have to immediately apply for Medicare when he turns 66 upon retirement.
So- my question is: Should he apply for Medicare Part A in January 2019 or should he wait until he retires in 2020 (or whenever he does retire)? What about Part B? Should he apply for that also or wait? He would be keeping his health insurance through his job no matter what. His employer is a large one so the insurance would be primary over Medicare.(I am also covered under that plan.) I heard sometimes it is a hassle to apply for Part B later on when you do retire- it takes a while to take effect and you could have a gap in insurance coverage(?).
And- what about D then? How does that come into play? Since he has employer insurance with drug coverage I assume we can forgo that- or can we?- there are so many rules my head spins. Will it be an issue later on when he no longer has employer heath insurance and need drug coverage through Medicare? Yikes.
My thinking is that Part A is free anyway. His insurance is high deductible and Medicare, though it has a deductible also, could pick up for anything his insurance does not should something happen medically before he retires. With Part B, since he would not be contributing to his HSA, he could divert some of that money for the Part B premium. (He does not pay a premium for his insurance at his job- at least up until now his company pays for him in full. We do pay a premium for me). Then Part B could also pick up for things his insurance does not pay for as well. My husband could also divert some of the money he would normally have put in the HSA into his 401K, which he recently had to cut contributions because of my job loss. Or honestly we could use some of the extra money in our household budget so it wouldn't be so tight.
Know that we have been healthy so far. We get preventative care. Hubby is on blood pressure meds (cheap through his employer prescription plan) and has to visit the doc every 6 months and have lab work. Have to lay out for colonoscopies because we have both had polyps in the past.
So the downside is that he could not contribute to the HSA (well he could for the first 3 months of the year, but why even bother- the tax advantage would be minimal) if he goes on Medicare and if he doesn't he still cannot contribute to the HSA for the entire 2020 year either, though he can get a chunk of money in there- again- not worth the hassle and tax advantage I would think (our income in 2019 will be lower than this year, since I am no longer working).
I contacted his HR dept and the reps there were useless. I finally was directed to a retirement specialist at the company (even though hubby is not retiring) and she was somewhat helpful but couldn't help me on this particular issue. She then directed me to another company called Via Benefits which supposedly handles his company's employees in transition when they are eligible for Medicare and retire and so forth. That rep also said she could not assist me because my husband was not Medicare eligible yet and would be getting a card in the mail from SS in January and at that time I could call back and ask questions. She said their advisors were sales reps. and could not answer these questions at this time. Huh? I tried calling Medicare and was on hold so long I hung up. Then I tried the local SHIP office via phone and they were not there. OMG...
How can someone plan and make decisions without the proper information? I don't get it.
Anyway, hoping someone here has some insight into this.
My recent experience- I didn’t apply for Medicare A when I turned 65 and neither did my husband. Reason? I was working and contributing to HSA account. Our health insurance was from my employer. I discontinued contributing 7 months before planned retirement date. Two months before retirement I applied for Medicare A and B effective following my retirement month. I paid for Medicare out of pocket until I started to collect SS benefits after New Year. When filing taxes I had to withdraw some $$ from my HSA because I went over limit.So hubby's open enrollment period for 2019 is coming up at his job and we have to make some decisions.
He turns 65 in April. Not retiring. He has always contributed (the max) to an HSA since he has a high deductible plan, but if he applies for Medicare in 2019 he will no longer be able to do so.
If he does not apply for Medicare, and decides to retire April of 2020- when he turns 66- he will have had to stop contributing to his HSA 7 months BEFORE that date-around October 2019- or face tax penalties. Then he is going to have to immediately apply for Medicare when he turns 66 upon retirement.
So- my question is: Should he apply for Medicare Part A in January 2019 or should he wait until he retires in 2020 (or whenever he does retire)? What about Part B? Should he apply for that also or wait? He would be keeping his health insurance through his job no matter what. His employer is a large one so the insurance would be primary over Medicare.(I am also covered under that plan.) I heard sometimes it is a hassle to apply for Part B later on when you do retire- it takes a while to take effect and you could have a gap in insurance coverage(?).
And- what about D then? How does that come into play? Since he has employer insurance with drug coverage I assume we can forgo that- or can we?- there are so many rules my head spins. Will it be an issue later on when he no longer has employer heath insurance and need drug coverage through Medicare? Yikes.
My thinking is that Part A is free anyway. His insurance is high deductible and Medicare, though it has a deductible also, could pick up for anything his insurance does not should something happen medically before he retires. With Part B, since he would not be contributing to his HSA, he could divert some of that money for the Part B premium. (He does not pay a premium for his insurance at his job- at least up until now his company pays for him in full. We do pay a premium for me). Then Part B could also pick up for things his insurance does not pay for as well. My husband could also divert some of the money he would normally have put in the HSA into his 401K, which he recently had to cut contributions because of my job loss. Or honestly we could use some of the extra money in our household budget so it wouldn't be so tight.
Know that we have been healthy so far. We get preventative care. Hubby is on blood pressure meds (cheap through his employer prescription plan) and has to visit the doc every 6 months and have lab work. Have to lay out for colonoscopies because we have both had polyps in the past.
So the downside is that he could not contribute to the HSA (well he could for the first 3 months of the year, but why even bother- the tax advantage would be minimal) if he goes on Medicare and if he doesn't he still cannot contribute to the HSA for the entire 2020 year either, though he can get a chunk of money in there- again- not worth the hassle and tax advantage I would think (our income in 2019 will be lower than this year, since I am no longer working).
I contacted his HR dept and the reps there were useless. I finally was directed to a retirement specialist at the company (even though hubby is not retiring) and she was somewhat helpful but couldn't help me on this particular issue. She then directed me to another company called Via Benefits which supposedly handles his company's employees in transition when they are eligible for Medicare and retire and so forth. That rep also said she could not assist me because my husband was not Medicare eligible yet and would be getting a card in the mail from SS in January and at that time I could call back and ask questions. She said their advisors were sales reps. and could not answer these questions at this time. Huh? I tried calling Medicare and was on hold so long I hung up. Then I tried the local SHIP office via phone and they were not there. OMG...
How can someone plan and make decisions without the proper information? I don't get it.
Anyway, hoping someone here has some insight into this.