Many employees who are 65 and older and still working remain on
their Employer Group Health Plan. When they retire, they'll have
a 60 day Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to elect
Medicare Part B.
Medicare does NOT consider COBRA to be
a creditable Employer Group Health Plan.
If someone goes onto COBRA, they still need to
elect
Medicare Part B within 60 days of leaving the group plan.
If they don't elect Part B within the 60 days, they
may be subject to the Medicare Part B penalty
and miss their Special Enrollment
Period (SEP).
That 60 day SEP also applies to the time period
for signing up for Medicare Advantage (Part C)
and Medicare Prescription (Part D) plans.
They'll also find that their Medicare insurance options will
be significantly less expensive than their COBRA costs.
