Q. I am 61 and a federal employee with FEPBLUE. My wife turned 65 last year and was enrolled in Medicare parts A and B paying the Part B out of her Social Security check. I recently took a CSRS retirement class that stated that Part B is a total waste of money because in our situation, Medicare is not only secondary to FEHB (which I knew), but Part B would pay nothing until it was primary. They advised us to cancel Part B until I retire because it is worthless until then. Please advise.
A. The person who taught the class was mistaken. Medicare Part B will be the secondary payer and it WILL pay its part of any covered service. To learn more about this, go to www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/02179.pdf and read “Who Pays First.” I don’t know if you can cancel your Part B enrollment now and re-enroll without penalty later. The publication I directed you to has a phone number you can call to find out.
