Medicare Support Group

I have part A & B , but they say the more coverage you have the better off you are

I'm 44 and have retired military benefits (Tricare Healthnet) through my husband. I was approved for Medicare A & B after being approved for SSDI last November..
Basically Tricare is primary and Medicare is secondary. Part A covers inpatient, part B covers outpatient. You will still have to pay your copay for outpatient medications, but Medicare B picks up what ever Tricare doesn't cover including your copayments other than prescriptions. If you don't pay as much out of pocket as the Medicare costs it may not be worth it. If you spend alot in outpatient copays including counseling therapy it's worth it.

How much does the Medicare cost?

Medicare is a Joke Freddie its not worth the $98 a mnth im looking for a different plan .. Medicare Part D is costly as well for medications

If you are happy with your current insurance plan and it is working well for you, then I would not take part B unless your current coverage becomes too expensive and you want to look into getting a Medicare Supplement plan. I would advise against going on part B at this point because you would be losing your open enrollment period that you will need to obtain health insurance if you ever decide to get a Medicare Supplement to replace your employer plan.

When you say you are looking for a different play Barr where are you looking? And do people opt not to participate in Medicare altogether?

Dear Freddie,

I was approved for SSDI, 6 yrs ago, when I was 40 yrs old. I am perm. disabled and living with chronic, intractable pain 24/7 following a couple of failed spinal surgeries.

At the time I became disabled, I still had insurance through my previous employer, but still signed up for Medicare, parts A & B. Part A costs me $98 per month. Part B costs me $45 per month, however, it depends on what insurance company you decide to go with (if you choose to do this). When my previous employer found out that I finally had Medicare, they DROPPED my coverage, so I would make absolutely sure of how long your employer is willing to offer insurance to you before you miss out on any "open enrollment" opportunities with Medicare.

What helped me the most in understanding the entire Medicare process and whether I should sign up for Part B, etc.. was calling Medicare directly. They were so helpful and made me understand the pros and cons of signing up for Part B. I will tell you that no matter what insurance company you go with for Part B, Medicare will only pay for $2,700 per year in prescriptions. After that, you have to pay 100% of all prescriptions until you reach a certain amount (it equates to thousands of dollars). Every January 1st, the $2,700 amount starts all over again. I personally have to keep all of my meds as cheap as possible to stay within the $2,700 amount.

BTW, the Medicare phone number is 1-800-633-4227.

I hope this helps!

~Carrie

Check with Medicare - My wife was on disability for 20yrs - when I became disabled I continued to pay COBRA ins to keep the entire family covered - when kids were all gone and I got my approval for disability I found out that we had to pay a "penalty" of 10% of the current MEdicare premium BECAUSE MEDICARE does not count COBRA ins as "company" coverage and we did not switch my wife to Part B coverage as soon as I was "out of work" Good luck on your journey.

Hello, All very interesting and confusing to me .
I will be 65 Nov .2010.
I'm on VA right now due to a recent divorce. and will have to make those choices soon Any advice is appreciated .
I mean ..I'm happy with the VA right now ... I don't know what to do .
Thanks for all your input.
Bob