December 02nd, 202112/2/2021 Should I Keep the Same Insurance Company I Have Now Once I'm Eligible for Medicare?When you’re near Medicare eligibility, you get tons of mail from insurance companies. Including your current insurance company. Your current health insurance company will suggest that you transition from its plan that you’re currently on to its Medicare plan when you enroll in Medicare. The question is: is doing that in your best interest? Insurance companies want to keep your business. Every company wants to keep your business. When you enroll in Medicare, your options for health coverage become very different from what was available before you had Medicare, so in this video, we’ll go through how to evaluate whether staying with your current health insurance company after you’ve enrolled in Medicare is a good idea or not. Confused about your Medicare coverage options? Watch our free video: How to Find the Best Medicare Coverage Without Paying More Than You Need To...
Is your health insurance tied to other benefits?
The first thing to consider is whether your health insurance is tied to other benefits. If you are on group health insurance provided through an employer or union, this may be the case. If you purchase your own individual health insurance, it is almost certainly independent of any other benefits. For all those on group insurance, whether you are going to continue working past age 65 or you are going to retire, your benefits administrator will be able to tell you if you have to stay with your group health plan to keep other benefits, which may include other insurance or retiree and pensions plans. If disenrolling from your group health plan would cause you to lose other benefits, it probably isn’t a good idea. If your group health plan is not tied to other benefits, it’s worth your time to look at individual Medicare plan options. Again, this is true whether you are going to continue working once you are eligible for Medicare or you are retiring. How to Compare Group Insurance vs Individual Medicare Plans We put these comparisons together for our clients. There are several factors to consider: any monthly premium you pay for your group plan, whether the size of your group requires that you enroll in both Medicare Parts A and B when you turn 65 with the added premium cost of Part B if that’s necessary (more about that in the video here), and the benefits of your group plan with associated potential costs like deductibles, copays, and out-of-pocket maximums. All of that needs to be compared with the costs and benefits of Medicare plans available in your area. Any Medicare plan will also have that Part B monthly premium cost in addition to any plan costs, so that needs to be included on the Medicare side of the comparison. Because individual Medicare plans are completely different from group health insurance plans, the company you currently have for your group health insurance isn’t really relevant. The individual Medicare plans are regulated differently, to some extent run differently, may have different provider networks, and have no association with the group plans from the same company. So, although we always include any available individual Medicare plans from your current health insurance company in comparisons, there’s no benefit to you in staying with that company. Its Medicare plans have to compete for your business just like every other company’s plans. If You have Individual Coverage before Medicare Eligibility For all of you, whether you are on health insurance you purchase through the Marketplace, a short term plan, or you’re with a health cost sharing organization, when you turn 65, those options all go away. In your case, at age 65, you need to sign up for both Medicare Parts A and B, and you’ll be looking at individual Medicare plans. If you have insurance through the Marketplace or a short term health plan, and if your current company has Medicare plans in your area, I guarantee it will contact you many times to encourage you to just transition to one of that company’s Medicare coverage options. The question to ask is: is there any benefit to you in doing that? The answer is: no, there is not. Your individual health plan has no connection to the same company’s Medicare plans. There is no benefit to you to just aging into the same company’s individual Medicare plans. Actually, doing so without comparison shopping all Medicare plans open to you could cost you a lot more money than you need to spend. We get calls from people who stayed with the same company they had for individual under age 65 health insurance and after a few years on Medicare, they get around to looking more closely at the plan and find it really wasn’t a good fit for them. Unfortunately, by then, Medicare plan enrollment options are more limited for some plans than they were when people were just aging into Medicare. Like in every other circumstance, you need to be an educated consumer. Yes, Medicare is confusing. And, yes, it does take a little time to compare your options. But doing that at age 64 will save you so much hassle and money down the line. You don’t have to do it alone. Medicare plan brokers can explain to you how each type of Medicare plan works and comparison shop with you to find the plan that best fits your finances and healthcare needs. That might be a Medicare plan from your current health insurance company. Or it might be some other company. If you are turning 65 soon and have questions about your Medicare options, please feel free to give our office a call at 877-312-1414 or schedule a free, no obligation Medicare Plan Consultation. . We provide clear explanations and comparison shop all available plans with you, so you can be confident when you start your time on Medicare that you have the best possible coverage for you. Leave a Reply. |
Tabitha MoldenhauerLicensed health and life insurance broker since 2005 serving Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Categories |