743
uhc_video
[Opens with judge entering courtroom.]
Dr. Kevin Soden, RLTV Chief Medical Expert
After nearly three decades as an attorney in a thriving private practice in Richmond, Virginia, my brother, Denis Soden, saw a life-changing opportunity come his way.
Judge Denis Soden
The general assembly appoints judges, and so I was fortunate enough to be named to the bench almost 11 years ago.
Dr. Soden
He’s a juvenile court judge who has to make tough emotional decisions, such as which parent gets custody.
Judge Soden
When you have to decide where a child is going to be placed, it could affect their entire life, so you really have to think through those things.
Dr. Soden
Denis will also have to think through another vital decision that’s going to affect his life. Just months from turning 65, he’s now eligible to sign up for Medicare. Making that choice is nearly as tough as some of the cases he decides.
[Dr. Soden to Judge Soden]
Are you familiar, or could you explain Medigap or Medicare Advantage to me? Would you even feel comfortable doing that?
Judge Soden
You might as well be talking in a foreign tongue.
Dr. Soden
For help understanding this complex subject, Judge Soden turned to a Medicare expert, Linda Barnhart. She works for Virginia’s Medicare help agency, which is called VICAP, and sees many people as puzzled as Denis.
Linda
Now you’re lucky because you’re working for the government.
Dr. Soden
That means his health benefits continue until he hangs up his robes. But then what?
Judge Soden
When we talk about part B, part D, or supplementing, that’s where I’m lost. That’s where my concern comes in – that I would run afoul of some missed deadline in signing up for those things and then have coverage lost forever.
Dr. Soden
He’ll want to make the right choice, with the right timing.
Linda
It’s like precise, fine-tuning. Your Part A should already be in place if you’re working, and you’re over 65. Add that Part B so your coverage starts the day your retirement starts.
Dr. Soden
Judge Soden will have to weigh the evidence carefully before he renders his verdict.
[Panel discussion]
Deborah Norville, Host
So he’s really in a desired position. Working for the government, he will most likely have some sort of coverage even after he retires.
Hilary Dalin, National Council on Aging
That’s correct.
Norville
And because he’s a strong and healthy guy, my guess is your brother is going to sit on the bench for quite some time to come.
Dr. Soden
He hopes for another six or seven years.
Norville
Yeah, so this is not an immediate concern for him. One of the things that they talked about, Amy, was creditable coverage. Explain to us what that means and how the rest of us can apply that in our own situations.
Amy Larrick, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Creditable coverage is basically what we call other coverage as good as Medicare’s. The big, important thing about knowing whether you have creditable coverage is that it affects whether or not you can delay taking parts of Medicare, like Part B and Part D, and not having to pay a penalty when you enroll later.
Norville
Who tells you that you have creditable coverage? There’s got to be some Medicare guru who sits on high who says, “This is creditable.” Who is that person?
Larrick
It’s the person in your office. Someone in your HR office will be that Medicare guru in your office, and they’ll be able to tell you whether or not your coverage is creditable.
Norville
I think one of the things that’s important to point out here too is just because you’re working and you’re over 65 you may or may not be working at job that has the creditable coverage. For instance, if you’re working part time, as we know many of the people over 65 do, you still need to make sure you meet these deadlines and sign up. Amy, tell us a little bit about how that works.
Larrick
That’s right. Not everyone who continues to work does continue to work full time. Even people who do continue to work after 65, if they don’t work for a large employer, let’s say they work for a small company, they also might still need to sign up for Medicare Part A and Part B.
Norville
Are there penalties if you don’t make the deadline? We know it’s not a good thing, but what are the penalties?
Dalin
The penalties for not making the decisions on time can be rather Draconian. In Part B, as in “boy,” and that’s Medicare coverage for most outpatient services, when you go to see your doctor, all of Medicare’s wonderful screening and preventive benefits, there is a penalty premium that is the amount that everybody pays for Part B. It’s 10 percent per year that you failed to enroll when you should have. That can add up to a lot of money.
In Part D, for drug, if you go without coverage for more than 63 days when you were eligble to sign up for Part D, and you don’t have other creditable drug coverage, there is a penalty of 1 percent of the national average monthly premium per month that you did not sign up, if you’re out for 63 days when you should have had the coverage.
Norville
If someone’s listening and they’ve just gone into a state of cardiac arrest because they realized they’ve missed the deadline, what do you do when you realize you’ve missed the deadline? Can you quickly rush and get signed up or do you have to wait for the magic October re-enrollment period?
Dalin
Most people are going to have to wait for the magic enrollment period. For Part B as in “boy,” for most of that outpatient coverage, that magic period is every year from January through March.
Announcer
Making Medicare Work for you is brought to you by UnitedHealthcare.
