Less than 20 employees?

[WilliamN605255]

Maybe someone can answer this for me.  I am semi-retired but my wife has a full time job.  Her company is willing to cover both her and myself at no cost.  However, because her company has less than 20 employees, the people I have talked to at Medicare told us we both have to register for Medicare part B and pay the premiums. So now, rather than getting healthcare paid for, my wife and I are paying over $1000 a quarter for Medicare!  Is this correct?  If it is, this sucks!  And people want "Medicare for all"???

[GailL1]

@WilliamN605255 

Did you think Medicare was free - only part of it is premium free - Part A - you & your employer paid for Part A during your work years by payroll taxes.

Part B has a premium - for most people the 2022 premium is $ 170.10 per month.  That can be higher based on your (higher than) income or lower to none at all also based on (low) income.

Medicare.gov - Cost At A Glance

You need to make sure that the employer plan that you currently have is considered creditable for your prescriptions drug coverage by Medicare cause if not you need to sign up for a Medicare Prescription Drug plan too OR pay a late sign-up premium penalty when you do sign up.  

If it is creditable, that's good but as soon as you no longer have it - sign up for one.

Might be a good time to just get the basics down - a good starting point is the link below - cause there will be other decisions that you and wife will have to make when the employer coverage ends, like how you each want to get your Medicare coverage (original or Med. Advantage) and if Original is your choice, do you want a Medicare Supplemental plan (Medigap) to pick up some of your out of pocket cost.

Medicare and You 2022

100+ pages of informative reading but you two might be able to do it together on date night. 😉

[somarco]

@WilliamN605255 

• If the employer has less than 20 employees and isn't part of a multi-employer or multiple employer group health plan
  , then Medicare pays first, and the group health plan pays second.

Part B is for outpatient health care. As indicated above, Medicare pays first, the group plan pays second.

If you don't have Part B there is nothing for the group plan to pay.

So yes, you must enroll in Part B (as your primary coverage) and the group plan will be secondary