Is Your Spouse Covered Under Your Work Insurance?

This is the continuation of a series of blogs that are meant to help those who are still working and will continue to work after they turn 65.

I am still working with insurance coverage, what do I need to do about turning 65 and Medicare?

Let’s look back at a few things that need to be considered if you are still working.

- Cost of your current coverage through your employer (covered in part 4);

- Are you insuring a spouse or is a spouse is insuring you;

- What is your prescription drug load;

- Size of your current employer;

- Are you collecting your Social Security benefit?

We covered the first point in the previous blog. Now let’s look at the second point.We will cover the other points in the next three blogs to follow.

Are you insuring a spouse, or is a spouse insuring you?

If you are working and insuring your spouse, the first thing we will want to look at is their age.Are they younger or older than you?

If they are older than you and Medicare eligible, you both might end up leaving your coverage through your employer.You may go onto Medicare Part B plan and choose one of your two options: one option is a Medicare Supplement coupled with a Medicare Part D stand alone prescription drug plan. The other option would be a Medicare Advantage Plan.You must consider the cost for the both of you to be insured.We know that Medicare Part B in 2020 cost $144.60 at a minimum per person.So if your employer coverage costs less than $458 per month to insure the both you, you might want to consider staying on your employer coverage and delay enrollment in Medicare Part B.We will want to look at the amount of liability that your employer coverage has to make sure you are getting not only the best cost but the lowest amount of risk.

If your spouse is younger than you, there are a few things we will want to consider.Is your spouse working and eligible for coverage through their employer?This would remove them from the equation altogether and we would only consider what we covered in the last blog entry.If your spouse is not working and not eligible for Medicare thru disability, this is where we would look at cost.Most likely we would tell you to continue with your coverage through

your employer until you were both eligible for Medicare Part B. It would most likely be more expensive for your spouse to enroll in an ACA plan while you are on Medicare coverage.This may depend on your income and if your spouse was eligible for ACA credits toward their premium.Most ACA plans might have more risk or liabilities than your employer plan.Doing an in depth cost benefit analysis would flush all this out showing us which way to go.

Is your spouse insuring you through their employment?If so, have them check what they are paying each month to insure the both of you. Then, have them check with their human resources department how much it would cost to take you off. We would take the difference between the two numbers to find out your cost of insurance.Now that we would know the cost, we would look at the employer policy and compare the cost and liabilities to you going onto Medicare Part B along with one of your two options for coverage.

Let me say this loud and clear.You do not want to enroll in Medicare Part B and stay on your employer’s coverage. When you enroll in Medicare Part B, you have a guaranteed enrollment into any Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage Plan with no health questions asked.You do not want to start Medicare and let this opportunity slip by if you have health issues.You may not be able to get the coverage you want in the future when you go to leave or lose your employer coverage.

Meeting with one of our agents from Sun Coast Legacy Advisors can help you answer these questions and more.We recommend that if you are getting ready to turn 65 that we get together for our Meet and Greet appointment about 5 to 6 months before you are getting ready to turn 65.We will be able to educate you on your options for coverage and present you with a timeline of key date and benchmarks leading up to starting Medicare at 65.

Turning 65 can be simple and easy.Sun Coast Legacy Advisors is here to help you through the process.Email or Call to schedule your appointment today.

Bill Gay: