by wheeler.judy » Sat Nov 05, 2011 01:08 am
My husband is currently enrolled in medicare part A and B. He is also insured under my company plan with a BC/BS buy up plan that is a very good policy and also has a very good prescription drug plan. Can he safely drop Part B and then will he be able to pick it up later, such as when I retire in 4 years? Or would it be better to just keep the part B?
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 06:22 am Post Subject:
If your employer-sponsored plan covers your husband, there is probably no need to carry Medicare Part B until he is no longer covered by that plan. At that time, he will have 8 months to reenroll in Part B.
The only "gotcha" in all this, is that they have been tinkering with the Part B premiums in the past two years. Persons who paid Part B premiums in 2009 pay $96.40 per month in 2011. Those who first started paying premiums in 2010 pay $110.60, and those who just began paying in 2011 are paying $115.40. These amounts will all go up in 2012 due to the Social Security COLA coming on January 1. But they will probably create a fourth premium tier for those first paying Part B premiums in 2012, too. And so on, and so on.
In four years the monthly premium for your husband could be substantially more than what it is today if he is in a new tier then. It's a crap shoot, if you ask me. If he saves the Part B premium in an account of some kind (or even in a shoebox under the bed) at least he'll have several thousand extra dollars saved up over the next four years that he can use for something important.
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