Q. My wife and I are covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan, but do not have Medicare Part B. She is 77 and I am 83. Consequently, to enroll in Part B now would be cost prohibitive. We are currently enrolled in an HMO, so Part B is not a problem. If we were not in an HMO, how much would we be penalized if we were in a service benefit plan without Part B? For example, if we were in Blue Cross Standard, what additional costs would we incur without Part B?
A. You’ll have to go to www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information and when the map appears, click on your state, then click on Compare Plans. You can then download individual plan brochures and look for the section on Medicare. Unfortunately, none of the brochures will give you an exact answer about your costs without Part B.
