Recovering From a Medicare “Wrong Turn”

By Marc Manor

Much of what I do is problem solving.  Frequently, the problems relate to “wrong turns” through the streets of the Medicare “Metropolis”.  By wrong turns, I mean when someone that has been enrolled in Medicare Part A and Part B beyond their initial enrollment period finds themselves outside the traditional open or annual enrollment periods and wants to transition to or from Original Medicare.  Sometimes the constraints of the Medicare “system” prevent immediate relief. However, there are solutions in many cases depending on when and how the “wrong turns” occurred.

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Under the Medicare system, there are two basic paths: 1) Original Medicare and 2) Medicare Advantage (or Medicare Part C).  You can only be on one path or the other.  Typically, the path you choose occurs at the time you initially enroll fully into Medicare Parts A and B.  The choice initially of which path you take is very important so is necessary to give some basic information about these choices:

Employee Group Plans vs. Medicare; When to Cut the Cord.

by Marc Manor

If you are coming up on age 65 and you are still working and are using an employee group health insurance plan you may be asking yourself if you should dump the employer plan to take advantage of your Medicare benefits.  If you thought that, you are not alone.  This situation comes up frequently and as an agent, I can only really answer by making a recommendation that you seek assistance from your company benefits advisor.

Seeking assistance from your benefits advisor is really the only answer because they should be the most knowledgeable about the group plan benefits.  Human Resource professionals earn their living managing employee benefit plans.  So, as you ask yourself the question of whether to part ways with your employee group plan to join Medicare, you need to go to HR.  You may be fortunate and get the HR professional that provides you with all the information you need to make an informed decision; or you may just be handed a form and be left on your own to make the decision.

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Either way, you need to know the questions to ask just in case you aren’t presented with enough information to make a determination best suited for your situation.  Here are some tips: