Medicare Question

[mjarrels]

I did go to medicare.gov but site wants to signup for SS that I don't want yet. Seems to be a government web sight that is very confusing. Locked me out for the next 24 hours.
One insurance salesman told me I don't need a supplemental policy because I do have Tricare for life.

mark

 

[KennyG]

You should have a local Social Security office. You can sign up for Medicare there. I found the website difficult and then there were mistakes in the initial signup. When I went in to local office they straightened everything out and were very helpful. I would suggest trying that. Most people find they need an additional policy above Medicare for good coverage. The "civilian" choices are Advantage plans or Supplemental plans. Tricare may provide the same coverage.

 

[radios1]

my friend and his father are retired military, and the VA pays for all medical care, if you get medicare, it's not free, there are co-pays, and I don't see the need to get that when the VA will pay for all treatment..

 

[KennyG]

I have several relatives who have VA and they also have Medicare. The reason is choice. There are some very good VA hospitals and some very bad ones. Within a VA hospital there are good doctors and bad ones.

 

[TractorGuy]

Social Security has a good call back service so you don't have to sit on hold. When I registered I needed help and our local office had long waiting lines. I call SS and chose the call back option. Got all my questions and issues handled over the phone.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

With Tricare for life you do not need any other supplement policy. TFL is your Medicare supplemental policy that covers co-pays and deductibles. The TFL prescription service is fantastic, for generics the cost for a 90 day supply is 0 except for a $7 mailing fee. They take care of contacting your doctors) for refills and renewals. If you opt out of the on line mail program the cost is higher at the local pharmacy. There are no co-pays. My medical bills are never enough to claim on schedule A. You need o update your DEERS file when you turn 65. All your retired benefits relate to that and your new ID card. Dependents can be covered under TFL at no cost and identical benefits but must be included in your DEERS file and also have an updated ID card. Any military base or reserve center can provide assistance on these matters including Coast Guard.

SS is the most understood of the government benefits. There is a lot of bad info floating around. I recommend enroll at 65. If you want to continue working your annuity is automatically recalculated at the end of each year. This can be done till you are 70, then you are at the max you will never get more. I did that, Because I had 26 years under the civil service pension plan I was short some high pay years. Those extra 5 years at even higher pay made a huge difference. I went from $600/mo to $1800/mo over those 5 years. Remember the 39 year averaging. Missing years or low pay years really skew the averaging especially when they add a bunch of 0s. Years over the 39, then the low pay and 0s start dropping off the equation. Do the math.

Medicare with TFL is as good as it gets for medical insurance. Congress is probably the only other group that may be better. That is a close hold secret they do not talk about.

Do not listen to others, find out these things for your self. I found the civil service retirement seminars were full of a lot of BS and misinformation, even their own program.

Ron

 

[KennyG]

Looks like a lot of good advice here. The only thing I would (respectively) take issue with Seabee on is the best age to start social security. There is no one answer for everyone except that you should delay as long as you can with financial comfort (up to age 70, when SS benefits no longer increase). To come out "money ahead" by delaying SS till 70, you have to live to about 83 or 84. However, if you have adequate assets to delay taking benefits until you are 70 and you die early, you don't really have a negative impact because you didn't need the money anyway. On the other hand, if you live to be 90 or 100, you have a lot more income at the end of life when you might need it - and it is inflation adjusted which many pensions and other benefits are not.

Just something to think about.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Looks like a lot of good advice here. The only thing I would (respectively) take issue with Seabee on is the best age to start social security. There is no one answer for everyone except that you should delay as long as you can with financial comfort (up to age 70, when SS benefits no longer increase). To come out "money ahead" by delaying SS till 70, you have to live to about 83 or 84. However, if you have adequate assets to delay taking benefits until you are 70 and you die early, you don't really have a negative impact because you didn't need the money anyway. On the other hand, if you live to be 90 or 100, you have a lot more income at the end of life when you might need it - and it is inflation adjusted which many pensions and other benefits are not.

Just something to think about.

Good supplement Kenny. I did caveat that age 65 was personal preference of mine. You clarified that, thanks. I saw no benefit (in my case) to delay drawing at 65 as the increases are the same net gain just 5 years done incrementally. I did not need the annuity in my case so invested it for a bigger end gain.

Ron

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Seabee, I didnt understand the extra 5 yrs at higher pay? You took SS at 65? But kept working?

 

[phiferpharm]

Be very careful about doing ANYTHING other than using your TRICARE and Medicare. I made the mistake of getting some additional coverage thru AARP and ended up getting billed for copays. Seems as though TRICARE wouldn't pay anything as it thought I had three insurance policies. As was stated earlier, just having TRICARE and Medicare is awesome. My total bill for a quad bypass was under $300.