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I am shortly going to be eligible for Medicare but I am still working and will continue to work for several more years. I have health insurance for me and my husband through the City government, for which I work. How do I avoid paying a penalty for deferring my enrollment in Medicare Part B?

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Suggestion: if you need to call SS - look up your local office number and call there. Calling the 800 main SS number could put you in a holding pattern for a very long time! I found dealing with the local office MUCH better.

Although you can get information here and from your HR, the REAL scoop would come from SS. You do not want to make mistakes. Definitely sign up at age 65 +/- 3 months for basic (free) Medicare. I don't know all the rules, but I did think it meant Medicare was first in line for hospital care, then your existing coverage kicks in, but I could be wrong. It also might reduce how much your current coverage costs. I would highly recommend you choose wisely later when your retire - you say you have a city gov job - more than likely YOUR insurance plan will be MUCH better than any Medicare Advantage plan (supplemental to Medicare.) You also have a limited time to sign up for parts B and D (doctor and drug plans) and C when you retire. C is for Advantage plans, but I suspect your employer will offer a *much* better supplemental plan than is offered to the rest of us! Our mother still has a govt medical plan, and while it is a bit more expensive, she never pays anything between it and Medicare.

As for collecting and working - several have said there is no limit when you reach FRA - that means the MONTH you reach FRA, not the year.
From the SS website:
"You can get Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time. However, if you are younger than full retirement age and make more than the yearly earnings limit, we will reduce your benefit. Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, we will not reduce your benefits no matter how much you earn.

We use the following earnings limits to reduce your benefits: If you are under full retirement age for the entire year, we deduct $1 from your benefit payments for every $2 you earn above the annual limit.
For 2018 that limit is $17,040.

In the year you reach full retirement age, we deduct $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above a different limit, but we only count earnings before the month you reach your full retirement age.
If you will reach full retirement age in 2018, the limit on your earnings for the months before full retirement age is $45,360.

Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, you can get your benefits with no limit on your earnings."

So, it is based on age AND income. However, you continue to pay into SS. You don't really "lose" those dollars - at some point when you fully retire you do get them back, just not all at once. Continuing to work and pay into the system will increase your benefit - but beware. You should check online what your current estimated benefit is at FRA. There is a MAXIMUM amount that SS will pay. The latest figure I could find was for 2017, and it is $2,687. If your estimated monthly is close to or at this amount, working longer will NOT change that!
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At my work I have health insurance & was told if your still employed & working when you become Medicare age you only sign up for hospitalization at that time. If your retired I would need to sign up for medi-care medical then and my health insurance becomes secondary. Be sure to ask the question of still working or retired when you become medicare age. Check with your HR department. Don't know if different companies are different.
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Thank you very much for that Information ak. Very easy to understand.
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Thank you, AKA!
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Here is what I understand about both of your questions: If you have health insurance with your employer that will continue after you turn 65, you should still sign up for Medicare Part A. This is the part that covers hospital costs. Most employer coverage requires that you have this as primary for hospitalizations. If your employer coverage is at least as good as the Medicare Part B, which you need to pay for, you can forego Part B as long as you have the employer coverage. Your HR department should have information about your coverage. If you already have coverage that pays for prescriptions, then you don't need to pay for Medicare Part D. When your employer coverage stops, you should get a form from that company that proves that you had coverage that replaced the need for Parts B and D. It is this form that protects you from the late enrollment penalties. Be sure to sign up for Parts B and D right away when your employer coverage ends.

Second question - you can start receiving SS benefits at age 62 at a reduced rate (75% of your FRA benefit), but your benefit will be reduced if you earn over the allowed amount. When you reach your Full Retirement Age (FRA), you can earn an unlimited amount without having your SS benefit reduced. Special rules apply in the year that you reach FRA. If you were born during the years 1943 - 1954 your FRA is 66. For every year that you delay taking benefits after reaching FRA, your benefit will increase by 8% up to age 70. So if your FRA age benefit is $2,000, you would get $1,500 if you take it at 62, $2,000 at age 66 and $2,640 at age 70. There are also some special benefits for couples who turned 62 before 2016. If one spouse is taking benefits, the other spouse can take spousal benefits (50% of their spouse's FRA benefit) at FRA, and then apply for their own benefit as late as age 70.
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You will have to get a letter from your employer stating that you had health insurance through them. Then you will not incur a penalty when you do sign up for Medicare. How do I know this? Because that's what I had to do.
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Thank you, Mr. Heiser. I need to talk to my HR department, as the instructions I've gotten are to sign up for Medicare as soon as I am eligible. Need to straighten this out before July!
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Thank you, Mr. Heiser
Do you also know a link to share to find out about working and collecting social security? A grandfathered situation as mentioned earlier in this thread.
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This may help: medicare.gov/sign-up-change-plans/get-parts-a-and-b/employer-coverage/i-have-employer-coverage.html
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This government can go to hell. If I receive a telephone call concerning my Medicare and all that sort of thing, I just tell them Wrong Number and hang up
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Veronica; did your employer have under 20 employees?
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In my case i worked full time till age 68 and the day I turned 65 my employer told me I had to sign up because my Medicare was primary and the employers health insurance secondary.
Sounds like the way Medicare supplementary insurance is set up.
The supplementary follows the allowances allowed by Medicare so they pay the provider whatever Medicare would pay. Supplementary then collects whatever copays they have agreed for their subscribers.
For example if there is a $2000 charge for an investigation and Medicare rate for that is $900 that is what the provider receives plus whatever copay you are required to pay. If my copay is $200 which I know ahead of time the provider will eventually receive $1,100 of the $2000 billed to the insurance company. This is the reason some providers do not accept Medicare patients and the elderly experience long waits for appointments.
The insurance company usually follows Medicare guidelines when they refuse to cover the cost of a proceedure or medication.
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Call your local Area Agency on Aging. They usually have experts that can help you through any questions that you have.
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Glad, there are limits to what you can make in salary and still collect SS benefits, up until the age of 70, I think it is.

If you are still working and eligible to collect SS, there is a dollar amount above which they start reducing your benefit.
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Really? Still work and collect? That is new info to me. Thanks!
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While you're asking HR, yes you MUST sign up for Medicare 3 months before your 65th birthday 3 months after; just went thru with husband who still works.

He checked everything out with Medicare while working, told ONLY need Hospitalization until you retire; then it becomes a horse of a different color.

BEWARE OF CALLS WANTING TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT YOUR MEDICARE. NO ONE SHOULD BE CALLING YOU PER MEDICARE CSR DEPT!

You may also want to inquire about your Social Security benefits.

Baby boomers (check the cut off year) are able to collect FULL retirement benefits AND still work making same salary or change jobs.

There isn't a penalty $$ wise, so you are able to make as much money as you want while collecting benefits.

My husband will soon be retirement age, but plans to keep working and place the retirement benefits in CDs, 401, savings etc so when he does retire.
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Barb - also ask HR if once Medicare eligible will it be the situation that for any scheduled / preadmit hospitalization (anything that would fall into Part A coverage) will Medicare be your primary insurer.

Hopefully NOT as just another layer of complexity...... but do ask.
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Thanks all
I'll call HR and the Union.
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Geewiz is spot on.
I’d like to add that if your or your hubs’ current employer based is HSA type of account, you’ll need to get with your HR/benefits Dept as you cannot contribute pretax $ into a HSA once signed up for Medicare.
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Medicare dot gov has all the details, as does a phone call to 800-medicare.
AND yes there is a fine for not signing up even if you have employer insurance.
Alternatively, you may make an appointment with the local social security office and they will process your application with you --- and tell you what you have to bring to the appointment. The process is truly easy whichever method works best for you.
You should also check with your employer benefits group to understand which plan is primary for you and any covered dependents.
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I also will have to deal with this next year. I am not sure. I think we have to sign up for Medicare just so they know we are here. Our employer health insurance would be primary with Medicare secondary. I am sure someone around here knows for sure. There is someone at my office that did not register because they had coverage from work. And yes, they were fined.
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