Signing Up for Part B
(my own experience)
I had been deferring signing up for Part B for a number of
years since I had been covered
by a creditable employer group health plan since I reached Age 65.
What follows is a case of what happens when everything goes like clockwork ...
Last Thursday, November 20th, I
received notice that my share of the health insurance premium for 2016 was increasing to $284 per month (on wife's plan; she retires in March).
I usually spend about $200 or so in office copays and lab work PLUS another $400 or so in diagnostic type copays, etc. which brings my monthly total to maybe around $350 per month. In addition, I'm looking at a colonoscopy in 2016 and since it hasn't
been 5 years since the last one, it's not considered preventive (as in free).
The basic benefits in the employer plan were ...
- $500 Deductible
- $20 PCP Copay
- $35 Specialist Copay
- $150 Emergency Room Copay
- Local HMO Network
- Includes Prescription
Coverage
The basic benefits in the Medicare Plan F plan I would be selecting were ...
- $0 Deductible
- $0 PCP
Copay
- $0 Specialist Copay
- $0 Emergency Room Copay
- Every doctor and hospital in the country that accepts
Medicare
- Will need to buy a separate Part D Prescription Plan
My new Medicare premiums will be $204 per month (Plan F* + Part D) PLUS the Part B premium for 2016. For the average citizen, Part B premiums will most likely be either $121.80,
$170.50, or $243.60 depending upon one's income. There are two higher brackets which may make sense for some of us and even more sense if one has expensive health issues and/or may be retiring.
And if you recently retired (and not making the big bucks anymore), there's Form SSA-44 which considers 8 life changing events that can lower the income amount used to calculate your Part B premiums.
In my case, two forms were required to sign up for Part B ...
- CMS-40B (application for enrollment in Medicare Part B)
- CMS-L564 (request for employment verification)
I downloaded both forms from the Medicare.gov website and e-mailed the CMS-L564 to Human Resources at my wife's employer. It was signed on Friday morning and my wife picked up the form on her way home
Friday night.
The local Social Security office opens at 9:00 AM and the line can be quite lengthy and time consuming. So I dropped by the local office on Friday morning (the 20th) at about 8:15 AM and concluded that if I got there by 8:30 AM, I shouldn't have too much of a wait.
On Monday the 23rd, I got to the Social Security office at about 8:25, was 7th in line, submitted the two forms, and was in and out of there by 9:05 with my Part B coverage to
be effective December 1st. On Tuesday the 24th, my updated status appeared on the Medicare website which
means both the Plan F and Part D insurers verified my Part A and Part B coverages in order to effect my new insurance plans.
* Medicare Supplement 1 in Massachusetts is Plan
F
Russ Swallow
November 24, 2010
