Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Raising the Enrollment Medicare Age

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 20, 2024
9 replies
4411 views

If we raised the enrollment age of Medicare to correspond to the Full Retirement Age of Medicare - (almost 67) - then it would be so much easier for people to understand the process and timely complete their enrollment.

It was like this before - I think it should go back to that way again.

There would be far fewer late enrollment penalties assessed for Part B particularly.

There are other + reasons too like saving cost to the (Part A) program while adding contributions.

Your opinion?

This topic has been closed for replies.

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SherryBabyy

Contributor ⭐

Yeah no. Stop taking stuff away!

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Tonster521

Community Champion ⭐

@GailL1 I thought you would receive a number of opinions that are against raising the Medicare Enrollment Age. So far, only one. I will be number two. As you know, age 65 is acceptable for the vast majority of folks. IMO,many would be acceptable to reducing the enrollment age to somewhere between ages 62 to 65. In other words, folks become eligible for Medicare when they elect to begin SS Benefits. I believe a lower enrollment age would allow folks to retire earlier because health insurance (Medicare) is available. I found an article that addresses pitfalls with Part B enrollment. It is usually due to the person not knowing the Medicare provisions. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.medicarerights.org/pdf/PartB-Enrollment-Pitfalls-Problems-and-Penalites.pdf Another concept is to require folks who work beyond age 65 to enroll in Part B at age 65. I do not know why the Medicare provisions allow those folks to delay Part B enrollment which is creating adverse risk. Some may argue that those folks are covered by perhaps an employer's Plan. So, Medicare is avoiding Part B claims. However, if they are working, they are generally in good health and not filing claims. The Medicare Part B premium that they will pay may offset current Part B expenses for the Medicare eligible as a whole.

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LG322302

Contributor ⭐⭐

TEFRA, enacted in 1982, allows employees who are still working at 65 to continue with their employers health insurance provided that they work for an employer who has 20 or more employees. If the employee does choose to also sign up for Medicare, Medicare pays second after the employer insurance pays its part, so Medicare would pay little to nothing. This came about because even at that point in time (the early 80's), the government was realizing Medicare is not a sustainable program. LOWERING the enrollment age would make this problem even worse.

We chose to stay with employer insurance because, frankly, Medicare sucks and would be far more expensive than our employer insurance given that Medicare pays for nothing without a medigap plan, its deductibles are higher and it doesn't cover vision, dental or prescriptions. Yeah, no thanks.

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Tonster521

Community Champion ⭐

@LG322302 Electing to separate from service (i.e.,retire, etc.) will vary from person to person and depends on facts and circumstances. I am providing a link to an article from U.S. News (updated in March 2024) which informs us of an average retirement age. You may be surprised that it is approximately 63. So, those folks are not eligible for Medicare unless they are disabled for two years. They may find health insurance coverage through an employer's retiree coverage, a spouse's coverage, COBRA, buy it through the marketplace, VA, etc. or just go without coverage. I worked for a manufacturer wherein approximately 2/3 pf the employees (100,000 plus) were exposed to weather. That means cold winters and hot summers. Although many can perform the job requirements, the changing weather conditions, especially cold winters, were brutal. So, many retired in January and February. For the employees in production (mostly outside work), they retired on average by age 59. For employees in administrative and management (mostly in heated and air conditioned offices), they retired on average by age 63. Because there was retiree insurance coverage, early retirement (before age 65 for Medicare) was doable even if some paid anywhere from 20% to 50% if the retiree insurance cost. This has to be a greater cost for the folks whose employers do not provide retiree insurance coverage which is the case for many folks.

Managed Care with cleverly worded Coordination of Benefit and Non-Duplication of Benefit provisions were implemented in the 1980s and 1990s with just about every employer. Cost shifting was the strategy. Let some other organization pay the bill. Medicare benefit provisions followed along trying to be the secondary payer. In fact, Medicare allowed folks who continued to work for an organization with employer sponsored insurance coverage to delay Part B enrollment and not contribute (pay) toward the cost of Part B. I believe this waiver of paying the Part B premium and not requiring Part B enrollment was implemented because Medicare simply eliminated all potential Part B claims rather than accept Part B claims and deal with cleverly worded COB and Non-Duplication provisions. So, for a handful of folks that work beyond age 65, Medicare allows delayed enrollment in Part B which is, in effect, adverse risk. As you know, other folks who elect to delay Part B enrollment for a period of time because they are healthy and will not need or file claims with Part B are assessed an increased Part B premium.due to adverse risk. In effect, they have not made the contributions that others have made who enrolled in Medicare Part B when eligible at age 65. Lastly, Medicare Part B will be part of your health insurance program after you stop working unless you elect to self insure yourself. As an alternative to traditional Medicare Parts A and B, you may elect Medicare Advantage which will be similar to coverage offered by most employers (i.e., medical, dental, vision, prescriptions). In fact,your primary physician may already participate in Medicare Advantage.

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