Q. I am 65 and plan to retire in two years. I have Medicare now as my primary. I have federal Blue Cross as secondary and Tricare as third. (I am a retired Navy veteran.) My wife is 59. She has had four knee replacements and has a lot of issues with arthritis. Tricare says I have to have Medicare Part A and B. Once I drop Tricare, I understand I cannot get it back. I feel that my wife and I are grossly overinsured. However, it appears that I have to keep it all — Medicare A and B,…
Browsing: Medicare
Q. I am a retired annuitant covered under Federal Employees Health Benefits with the HMO Kaiser Permanente Family Plan. I have moved to Ohio to care for my 91-year-old mother. My wife remains in our home in California. I have no coverage in Ohio with Kaiser Permanente for personal physician/prescriptions. Can I enroll in Medicare Part B using a special enrollment period and without penalty due to the fact that I have had continuous health care coverage with FEHB/HMO and have now moved? Last enrollment period, I was informed that if I enrolled in Medicare B, my wife would have…
Q. I am 54 and my husband is 77. He is covered under my Federal Employees Health Benefits Blue Cross family plan. I am thinking of changing my plan to self-only and he to a Medicare supplemental plan. If I do this and retire next year when I’m 55, can I switch back to a family plan that covers both of us when I’m 62?
Q. I do not carry Federal Employees Health Benefits because I came to federal employment after retirement from the military and I have Tricare for Life. I have also turned 65 and have Medicare Part B. When I recently went to a retirement planning seminar, I was informed that I could sign up for FEHB during the open season this fall and then carry it into retirement in 2014. Although I would not have the five-year continuous FEHB coverage prior to retirement, I was told that having Tricare will satisfy the five-year requirement. Further, I was told I could sign…
Q. I’m retired military and a current FERS employee. My medical coverage is Tricare, which I’m very happy with. In six years, I would be eligible for a federal retirement. Those six years give me time to enroll in Federal Employees Health Benefits if I would like to carry that coverage into retirement. My health is good. What factors would I consider in deciding to stay with Tricare, or add FEHB coverage if I retire at age 56? Does Medicare coverage factor in?
Q. I am turning 65 in January. I am trying to decide if I should sign up for Medicare Part A. Am I required to sign up for that benefit, or is it an option? I understand that if I sign up now, my federal health insurance will remain primary and Medicare part A will become secondary. But after I retire, that relationship will flip. Here’s my concern about that: My 36-year-old daughter is mentally retarded and she has been and is covered under my federal health plan (Blue Cross/Blue Shield). If Medicare Part A becomes my primary insurance after…
Q. I am a Postal Service retiree with Federal Employees Health Benefits and will be 65 in February. My wife has good insurance through her employer but will lose that coverage when she retires in about two years. I plan on keeping FEHB to supplement Medicare. Since I will be on Medicare at the time my wife retires, is there any current issue adding her to my FEHB plan?
Q. I am a retired federal employee on CSRS Offset. Law enforcement with mandatory retirement at age 57. My wife is older than I am and is drawing on her own Social Security. Until I am 62, all of the money is CSRS. When I turn 62, I will start to draw Social Security and my CSRS annuity will be reduced. Would my wife then be able to draw the spouse one-half amount of my Social Security (or whichever is the larger amount between us), or is there any language in which she would be restricted from my Social Security…
Q. In a recent question posted on your website from a Postal Service employee turning 65 in December, you mentioned that it does not cost anything to sign up for Medicare Part A after 65, but you will have to sign up for Part B. My situation is similar. Before age 65, my Blue Cross/Blue Shield deducted payments are around $190 per month, single, standard option, CSRS. Would not these deductions from my monthly annuity be considered Part B after age 65?
Q. I am a retired civil service annuitant. I am approaching 65, and my wife is 61. We are enrolled in the family Blue Cross/Blue Shield health plan. What would happen to my wife’s coverage if I enrolled in one of the Medicare plans? Would I be better off to skip the Medicare options because she has not reached Medicare age?