You will pay 10% more for each year you did not enroll after age 65. This will go on forever. It isn't a one time late fee. So if you're 75, and you haven't paid for 10 years, that's about $100 a month more for each of you. I did the calculations, and if you live to an old age, you don't save anything by not enrolling in Part B at age 65. In fact, you will spend a lot more over the rest of your life.
There will likely be a late enrollment fee. The reason they do that is that they don't want people to wait until they are sick before they enroll. I can't tell you the fee but you can likely find out on the Medicare site at medicare.gov or at least you'll be directed to information. Signing up for Mymedicare is helpful. Take care, Carol
It's a little more complex than it may seem. My husband waited 11 years to sign up for Part B. This was because he took NO MEDS for all this time. He suddenly found himself taking 3 meds/month. I called in to one of the servers to check it out and found that he would pay $34 more per month. (his social security check is very small). The kicker was that if you signed up for a specific 3-month mail order only insurance he would pay only -- 0 -- yes, that's free for his meds. So be sure to call and ask what is available for your situation. They were very helpful.
If either of you were still working past age 65 AND covered by group insurance until now, I don't believe you pay a penalty. Or they would deduct the penalty for the years you had other creditable coverage.
Part D is for prescriptions so that may be the problem. Part B is more for doctors and some aids. I don't think there's a penalty for signing up for Part D late, but you usually have to do that during open enrollment which starts in November for 2016.
Edwinmiera, greetings from another retired fed. As to a late fee for Medicare Part B , there may or may not be a penalty. I'm going to make a guess here and assume that you did not sign up for Medicare B because you had some type of FEHB (Federal Employees Health Benefits) coverage. As you know you can continue to keep this coverage after you retire. If now you want to get Medicare B you can, without penalty, if you have kept your FEHB insurance until now. If you were covered by some other health plan under other employment, same story, no late fee to sign up. If you get Medicare B be sure to have proof that you have had this other creditable coverage for every year you passed on B. I have experience in this. My husband was on Social Security Disability for two years and thus became eligible for PartB. We passed on signing him up because I carried him on my FEHB coverage. The year we turned 65 we signed up for Part B. I had to show that he had had this other creditable coverage all those years between becoming elugible for B and when he actually signed up. At this point we carry both Medicare B which is our primary insurance, and FEHB, as a secondary. Caution, if you are thinking of dropping FEHB, call OPM and ask them about suspending your coverage instead of dropping it. Also, call SS and ask them to explain the late penalty or look it up in the ssa.gov website.
You pay medicare payroll tax the majority of your working life, then when you turn 65 you continue to pay into medicare for coverage. $104 a month per senior irregardless of income or collecting Social Security at age 65. It is outrageous to have to pay a penalty for waiting when you have other health coverage.
First of all, to put credibility behind what I'm about to say, I work on the business/patient advocate side in healthcare, I have been in this field since 1975, and I deal with these questions daily. If you do not sign-up for Part D (Rx coverage) at 65, yet you have "credible coverage" for prescriptions through a private health insurer, there is no penalty. Keep the documentation of this credible coverage in a safety deposit box! On the other hand, if you do not sign-up for Part D at 65, and you do not have credible coverage, a 12 percent penalty fee is imposed for every year, 65 and beyond, that you did not have Rx coverage and it is added to your Part D premium until the day you die. Medicare Part A is for hospital care and there is no out-of-pocket expense (premium) to you, and it costs nothing to join. Medicare Part B is for physician, office and all other outpatient services and you pay a monthly premium out-of-pocket. This premium is deducted from your Social Security check. Failure to enroll on time, at 65, adds a 10 percent penalty fee for each year that you could have been in Part B but were not, and remains part of your premium until the day you die. To avoid these penalty fees, you need to prove you had "credible coverage" during this time. This can be coverage from you or your spouse's employer, that contains prescription coverage, and is as good or better than Medicare A and B. Keep this documentation in a safe, locked-up place in case you need to use it to prove to the government you had coverage during this time and to avoid penalties. As long as you or your spouse are actively employed and covered per above, if you take out Medicare A and/or B, your employer's plan remains primary, Medicare is secondary. My best advice is this....take out Medicare A and B as soon as you are eligible, even if you are still working, to avoid delays in obtaining A and B once you retire. There are only certain times during the year you are eligible to apply to and receive A and B, so why take the chance? Also consider this...if you suddenly become ill and cannot work, the timing will most likely not coincide with acquiring Medicare A and B. I work in oncology and I cannot count the number of times patients, over age 65, come in with no insurance, for whatever reason, and tell us they've never been sick, or never took prescription meds so didn't think it was necessary to apply for Medicare. If you end up paying penalties, or going without coverage, you really cannot blame anyone but yourself. Prepare early by visiting the social security and Medicare websites to know the timeline you must follow, according to your birthdate, to get your ducks in a row and take the necessary action sooner rather than later. Be proactive! And please be careful about choosing your Medicare coverage. Medicare Advantage plans are not all they are advertised to be....beware! You best coverage is still standard Medicare A and B, with a Medicare supplement (aka Plan F).
It's too bad our greedy government penalizes seniors who've been paying into social security all our lives, then to be saddled with a late fee. I feel they should use some of the monies they spend on hostile countries whom HATE America in the guise of "foreign aid." I was still working at age 65 and hadn't had sense enough to do any kind of research into this kind of thing. I was working, making a somewhat "decent" salary and I had private insurance so didn't know (my mistake, totally) that it was IMPERATIVE for me to apply at a certain age; so now, I'm still paying a penalty and it increases EVERY year in the month of January. That and the mandatory $104 or more each month for the coverage causes a burden that I wish I didn't have to pay for my ignorant mistake takes its toll on my budget for the coverage that I wish I didn't have to pay... BAH & HUMBUG! Woe to unborn babies and the elderly in the USA
When husband turned 65 he was informed by his employer that he must take parts A B to qualify for the supplimental they would carry on him. His employer pays for perscriptions to we have no D.
Llamalover is likely to be wrong because you had creditable coverage and won't have a penlty. Merciful you sound kind of whiny. Medicare sends you your card when you turn 65 and if you don't want it you send it back. The info is pretty clear about what you are supposed to do and the consequences. This is a deal you've been involved in for years as the taxes have been withheld from your paychecks to cover Medicare. It wasn't a surprise that you are continuing to pay for this insurance was it?
If your income is below a certain amt. there is no penalty. Usually you need to qualify for the Medicare Savings Program to avoid the penalties. Contact your local SHIP office, usually in your local Office for the Aging. They can help you sort this stuff out.
Vegaslady, please note that the creditable healthcare coverage MUST be from WORKING, and from an employer plan. IT DOES NOT INCLUDE healthcare coverage that your employer allows you to carry forward into retirement or COBRA coverage. This can be from either spouse's job, but the person applying must have been covered continuously under such a plan for the Part B refusal to be allowed without penalties
vegaslady, let's not be calling names. Perhaps Merciful was so busy working a JOB at age 65, instead of basking in retirement, that the card that came in the mail was overlooked. How much bureaucratic red tape do we all have to wade through in just about every area of our lives? You wouldn't believe what my husband and I have to do just to combine our property and the lot next door that we recently bought for back taxes. This should not be, but the lawyers, banksters and corporate shysters have our so-called representatives in their hip pockets. We the People simply don't count.
No, I am not wrong. I know this firsthand. I did not sign up for Medicare when I turned 65 because I was still covered under my spouse's employee insurance. When it came time to sign up for myself on Medicare, we worked with a reliable insurance agent who instructed us to obtain a letter from my spouse's employer, stating that I was covered under his insurance and therefore, when I indeed sign up for Medicare, I would not incur a penalty.
Vegaslady: You are incorrect. Medicare does not automatically send you a card when you turn 65 IF YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN SS. That wasn't very nice of you to call people names. Thank you dejavuagain!
Llamalover, you are wrong. I retired before 65 and carried FEHB for myself and disabled husband as a dependent into retirement. When hitting age 65 and signing up for Medicare there was no late penalty for my husband. That was because he had creditable coverage both while I was working and after retirement. What you're saying now is the same thing I said....no penalty if you provide proof of creditable coverage.
I stand corrected. I went to the Medicare site and it states that retiree coverage does not qualify for exemption from the penalty. I got confused in ny previos answer because I had retiree health coverage, but also worked after early retirement andcthosr subsequent jobs also had health insurance. My husband did not have the Medicare penalty because I had carried him on my working health insurance for years before signing him up for Part B. Always better to go the source than rely on memory.
Vegaslady: That's right. You didn't incur the penalty when you signed up for Medicare when you obtained a letter from your non-retiree benefit emoloyer. But you are still wrong on Medicare automatically sending you a card at 65 if you have not taken Social Security.
Llamalover, I just have too many irons in the fire. Sometimes I have to use my husband's basic old flip phone to find my smart[sic]phone. His is always in the same place because he only uses it to dial out or answer incoming calls and doesn't take it with him when he leaves the house! Life is simple for some people....)
I'd like to add my experience with FEHB to Vegas & Edwin's posts as to things to keep in mind IF medicaid enters the picture. My dad was a fed and he& mom had a really good high option FEHB (w/BCBS). They both signed up for Medicare as well. No out of pocket ever.
Dad died in the 1980's. Mom went into a NH & applied for Medicaid 2011 but still had coverage with Medicare & FEHB/BCBS. Once mom got ineligible for Medicaid, FEHB suspended. Her Blues required either suspension or cancellation once another carrier (medicaid) could pay. As Medicaid application took almost 6 mos, there were a whole host of providers & vendors who billed BCBS & got paid for services during that period in the NH and then they got a letter & clawback from BC months & months later. Now I did send a certified letter to NH as to the changes and rebilling. But as so much of getting providers (PT, OT, Podiatrist, etc) is done by facility as per orders of the NH medical director, I don't know who or what for. Add to this that providers get all sorts of payments & corrections & clawbacks from all insurers so stuff is confusing. Flash forward & mom gets bills from all kinds of vendors. I sent letters to then that they needed to rebill to medicaid. I assume all done. Well over a year later mom got bills from therapists who did not take Medicaid and have had a full clawback of $ paid by Blue. 1 was ok with being paid over time. The other was not, would not take payments, threatened collections, etc but actually out of luck as his agreement was with the facility. So if you do FEHB suspension or cancellation, make sure to do your best to find out that the NH has vendors that accept Medicaid as well as FEHB & the NH follows through on insurance changes with their vendors.
Also once they suspend FEHB, their income is increased,so their Medicaid required copay to the NH will increase by the same amount.
Take care,
Carol
Please update us when you can.
Carol
True, but I can never remember where I put the danged source!
Dad died in the 1980's. Mom went into a NH & applied for Medicaid 2011 but still had coverage with Medicare & FEHB/BCBS. Once mom got ineligible for Medicaid, FEHB suspended. Her Blues required either suspension or cancellation once another carrier (medicaid) could pay. As Medicaid application took almost 6 mos, there were a whole host of providers & vendors who billed BCBS & got paid for services during that period in the NH and then they got a letter & clawback from BC months & months later. Now I did send a certified letter to NH as to the changes and rebilling. But as so much of getting providers (PT, OT, Podiatrist, etc) is done by facility as per orders of the NH medical director, I don't know who or what for. Add to this that providers get all sorts of payments & corrections & clawbacks from all insurers so stuff is confusing. Flash forward & mom gets bills from all kinds of vendors. I sent letters to then that they needed to rebill to medicaid. I assume all done. Well over a year later mom got bills from therapists who did not take Medicaid and have had a full clawback of $ paid by Blue. 1 was ok with being paid over time. The other was not, would not take payments, threatened collections, etc but actually out of luck as his agreement was with the facility. So if you do FEHB suspension or cancellation, make sure to do your best to find out that the NH has vendors that accept Medicaid as well as FEHB & the NH follows through on insurance changes with their vendors.
Also once they suspend FEHB, their income is increased,so their Medicaid required copay to the NH will increase by the same amount.