Medicare Enrollment in Texas is handled by the social security office. When you get original Medicare, your traditional benefits will be made up of Medicare Part A hospital coverage as well as Medicare Part B outpatient coverage. Don’t let signing up for social security confuse you – it is a separate process from enrolling in Medicare.
If you are already receiving social security benefits, you might be surprised to see your Medicare card arrive in your mailbox a couple months before your 65th birthday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will assume that if you are collecting social security, you may not be working, so they set your Medicare up to begin right at age 65 unless you tell them otherwise. You’ll want to pay attention to this, because while Part A is free for anyone who has worked 40 quarters in America in their lifetime, you do have to pay a premium for your Part B coverage. Sometimes if you are still working and have employer group health coverage, you might want to disenroll from Part B until you are ready to leave your job.
For everyone else, there is action required on your part. Following these simple steps should help you keep everything on track.
1) Get in touch with the Social Security office to find out whether you are eligible for Medicare. You should do this at least 3 months before you turn 65 if you aren’t taking social security payments yet. The mistake some people make is to assume they get Medicare at their full social security retirement age, but that age occurs later than your eligibility for Medicare. You are eligible for Medicare at age 65 regardless of whether you already receive SS benefits.
2) Determine if you need Medicare to be your primary insurance, or if it will coordinate as a secondary insurance to an employer group health plan that you are covered under. You could decide to delay your enrollment into Medicare Part B if you have great insurance at your job and the benefits are really good. There’s no point in paying for Part B benefits if your employer already provides comparable benefits to you at a good price. However, if you have group insurance that is expensive for you or has high deductibles and expensive copays, you may decide you want to enroll in Part B after all, because it will coordinate with your employer plan to pick up some of the expenses you would normally be responsible for.
3) Put in your application for Medicare benefits via social security’s website, toll-free phone number or even in person at the closest social security field office. They will provide you with application forms, including one that your employer needs to fill out if you are voluntarily opting out of the group health plan. This form notifies Medicare when to have your benefits begin. After this is completed, you will usually see your Medicare card arrive via the post office in just a few short weeks.
After these steps have been completed, you’ll be set up with either Medicare for your primary coverage or a secondary coverage aftter your group health plan pays. Remember that Medicare Part D is optional, but if your group health coverage is not as good as Medicare Part D’s standard benefit, then you could be racking up a late enrollment penalty. Texas carriers offer several inexpensive Medicare Part D plans that you can enroll in to help offset the cost of your prescription drugs.
Finally, get in touch with an insurance agency specializing in Texas Medicare supplements if you don’t have any coordinating group coverage. There are lots of things Medicare does not pay for, and your agent can help you find solutions for bridging these gaps, as well as explain your Part D options. Since both medicare supplements and Part D drug plans have enrollment windows when you turn 65, you’ll want to very sure that you don’t miss your opportunity for a guaranteed issue plan during the short window that they are available to you.
Figuring out Medicare on your own is always difficult. For assistance with your Texas Medicare Enrollment, contact Danielle Kunkle’s agency for free assistance in getting properly set up.