Hello Happy People! Welcome back to another episode of 65 and Counting! I’m your host, Adam Frye. I’m a certified Medicare Planner and I’m here to ask the important questions that you want answered by industry professionals. This show is for anyone and everyone coming up on that important milestone of 65 years old. That means retirement, it means medicare eligibility, or it means that you’re just plain interested in the world of retirement planning. Whatever it is, on this show, you’ll hear from the people that know it best.
Here we are! It’s AEP! Right about now you should be receiving by email, your 2021 plan recommendations! It’s very important that you take a look, they’ll start going out to you today and continue for the rest of the month. These recommendations are based on the research we’ve completed for you across all plans available in your area!
The recommendations are going to either tell you that you’re still on the most appropriate plan for 2021 and there’s nothing you need to do! They’ll automatically renew on the first of the year. OR they are going to let you know that we’ve found something more appropriate for you for 2021 and to get in touch with us to schedule an appointment! There could be many reasons for this. Maybe it’s that one or more of your doctors aren’t in network anymore, or maybe we just found we can save you some money on your prescriptions. Whatever it is, we’re here to help!
Also, did you miss workshops this month? Do not worry! There’s still a chance to attend. We’ve got some more online workshops this month and next month we’ll have online and las vegas will have in person workshops! For a complete schedule please visit www.123easymedicare.com or just give the office a call at 602-281--3898 and we’d be more than happy to get you signed up!
Ok! Enough of that. This week we’re going to talk about one of American Retirement Advisors “Success Stories of the Month”! I’m going to have David Edge come on in just a moment to read you the story “Messed Up” and then we’ll talk a little more about it. This one is important for all those still working and covered on their employee group insurance! Take it away Mr. Edge!
(Edge read success story from June 2019 “messed up”)
Reading: Dave and Diane had met with us a few years ago and had determined that at age 65 they would both keep working and keep their employer plans for healthcare, and not sign up for Medicare. We reminded them that is okay if the health plan at work is “Creditable Coverage” and there are at least 20 employees on the plan. They both worked for large organizations and stated that meeting these requirements wasn’t an issue.
Fast forward three years. They were now both age 68, still working, and called and asked for a meeting to discuss Medicare…again. No problem! We meet with folks multiple times to make sure they are educated about their health coverage before they make a decision.
Dave and Diane were both very concerned that all of their friends and their HR staff at their employers insisted that they had messed up big time and were going to pay a large penalty because THEY FAILED TO SIGN UP for Medicare A & B when they turned 65. Their friends proudly showed them their Medicare cards and told them “We did it correctly and you didn’t.” Even the HR staff at their employers scolded them and directed them to get to their local Social Security office as soon as possible because they had to sign up or else!
Their question to us was “You told us we didn’t have to when we met last time. Why are all these people telling us we messed up?”
I smiled and explained that when your friends and HR staff are telling you how Medicare works, simply ask them “are you licensed and certified to discuss Medicare?” HR departments at employers are notorious for giving out poor or outdated information and have no idea what current rules and regulations are in place. We do.
As long as you are working and your employer health plan has 20+ employees on the plan, and the plan at the employer is “Creditable” (basically meaning “as good as Medicare), and if the employer health plan includes prescription drug coverage, you do not have to sign up for Medicare A, B, C, or D. Then about 5-6 months before you think you are going to retire, come see us so that we can assist you. We want to create a comfortable glide path into retirement and what you need to do for Medicare and when.
They thanked us for reassuring them they had indeed made the
correct decision and were relieved that they had not “Messed Up”!
Got questions? Call us we can help!
Wow! There’s a lot to unpack there. Thanks Mr. Edge. So Dave and Diane experienced what so many people who are medicare age and still working experience! Misinformed friends, family, and co-workers can cause great deals of anxiety to those not sure what to do once they get to age 65.
There is so much confusion and mixed messages when it comes to staying on employee group insurance! Thankfully, companies like The Medicare Architects and American Retirement Advisors have solutions to this. Your Human Resources department never has the intention to lead you in the wrong direction and that’s where the Medicare Architects come in. If you remember back to my episode with Loraleigh Drummond, The Medicare Architects provides a great deal of support and resources to HR departments across the country to help their retiring and Medicare Age employees make the right decisions.
The long and short of it is that if your employee group insurance is considered Creditable Coverage by CMS and there are at least twenty employees in the plan you can stay on that plan! You don’t need your A, your B, or any other letter of the alphabet! But how do you know if it’s creditable coverage? And how do you know if you want to stay on that plan or go to one of the many different plans available with Medicare?
That’s where you may benefit from the services of a Certified Medicare Planner! We can help you, for no charge, take a look at your plan and make the right decision with our “Stay or Go” Analysis. It’s a very simple three column tool developed in house. We take a look at things like your Employer Group premium, annual deductible, annual maximum out of pocket, and monthly/annual prescription cost and calculate a “worst case scenario” and a “best case scenario” as far as an annual cost to you. Then we compare that to what it would look like if you had one of the many Medicare Supplements with Prescription Drug Plans or Medicare Advantage Plans. We won’t tell you what to do, the numbers on the comparison are going to tell you what to do.
So while Dave and Diane ran in to quite the scary situation by having their coworkers and human resources insisting they made a mistake, they were happy to find out that really they were A OK! And we were able to help them make the most appropriate decisions going forward.
That’s why we do what we do. Like you have heard in all our Certified Medicare Planner interviews, the most rewarding thing for everyone is that we alleviate the stress that comes with transitioning into retirement!
That’s our episode for this week folks! Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to like the video, follow our page, and share this with all your friends! And as always, have a great week!